BSS fail - what happens next?

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, alias said:

 

When a BSS inspector told me to put a 100A fuse in a big lead from a battery he directed me to the bottom lock chandlery at Braunston who did it for me for the price of the fuse and holder.  They've closed now, but do other chandleries do the same perhaps? 

They were handy like that, crimped the cable I bought from them for free, just paid for the bits.

[David Mack]

2 hours ago, agg221 said:

There doesn't appear to be a requirement to fit a fuse in line to the bilge pump

Yes there is.

[Rob-M]

Doesn't the bit on the other side say a bilge pump is continuous supply and doesn't need a fuse...?

[MtB]

2 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

Doesn't the bit on the other side say a bilge pump is continuous supply and doesn't need a fuse...?

 

Not that I can see. The other side also says check "Automatic bilge pumps" for "presence of a fuse or circuit-breaker"...

[Peanut]

In the hading, 3.6,2, " ...those requiring a continuous supply otherwise protected."

[David Mack]

3 hours ago, agg221 said:

This does raise one question though - how do I ascertain the diameter of the wire if it is not written on it? In theory, I could strip back a length, count the strands and measure a strand with verniers, but the only end I currently have access to has a crimp connection on it and measuring over the insulation isn't going to tell me much. Ideas?

From https://www.12voltplanet.co.uk/cable-size-table.html

3 hours ago, agg221 said:

 

To the left you have a link cable between the two batteries with all the other positive connections taken from the bottom battery. But on the right the main fat negative cable is taken from the top battery, but there are three smaller wires attached to the bottom battery, which ideally would be connected to the top battery.

[Peanut]

If space were limited, it seems that you can use a cube fuse on the battery terminal. Available fron 12 volt planet, other suppliers are available. Some, may not like them.

[Rob-M]

27 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

Not that I can see. The other side also says check "Automatic bilge pumps" for "presence of a fuse or circuit-breaker"...

I read it that the list of items requiring a continuous connection didn't require a fuse or breaker.

[MtB]

34 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

I read it that the list of items requiring a continuous connection didn't require a fuse or breaker.

 

Then you didn't read all of it! 

 

This bit in particular, at the end of the list:

 

 

Edited October 26, 2025 by MtB

[jonathanA]

26 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

I read it that the list of items requiring a continuous connection didn't require a fuse or breaker.

No you are misunderstanding it. The requirement is simple enough, if the thing requiring  continuous connection is not isolated by the isolator switch it must be protected by a fuse or breaker. 

[agg221]

1 hour ago, David Mack said:

From https://www.12voltplanet.co.uk/cable-size-table.html

 

To the left you have a link cable between the two batteries with all the other positive connections taken from the bottom battery. But on the right the main fat negative cable is taken from the top battery, but there are three smaller wires attached to the bottom battery, which ideally would be connected to the top battery.

Thanks for the table - if all else fails it should give me something to go on as at least I can stick some Verniers over the cable and have a hope of crimping it.

 

Point noted on the battery connections - to an extent I am working with what I have. You may have gathered from my previous comments, not least that I am not up to speed with the BSS electrical requirements, that so far I have left the electrics alone (with the exception of getting the lights to switch properly from switches at either end of the engine room). As such, some of the cables are placed where they are due to the available terminals and how many I can sensibly bolt on to a single fitting. I will have another look and see whether there is sufficient length to move any of the smaller wires to the top battery to improve things.

 

Point noted on the in-line fuse for the bilge pump. I will find something suitable - Midland Chandlers appear to have an in-line blade fuse type. At least I can crimp that one!

 

One of the difficulties of doing this is that I can generally get to the boat at weekends, and it is out in the wilds of Shropshire. It's a nice place to be, but it does mean that as soon as I start taking the domestic electrics to bits I have very limited options for how to get someone else to crimp them, and if I do it on the Saturday I will have no lighting or charging points overnight (I am happy with the oil lamp but I make more progress if my family come with me and they seem to prefer electric power - teenagers!) I am likely to need a very short cable and may be able to cut the end off what is there, fit a new crimped terminal and then crimp another terminal on the other end and install the fuse in between. This will have to be done on the boat as I can't remove the cable to the inverter without dismantling the lining. I think I will therefore need to do the crimping myself.

 

Alec

 

 

[agg221]

A bit of an update.

 

Went to the boat last weekend to try and figure things out.

 

Electrics - the good news is that the bilge pump did in fact already have an in-line fuse fitted. I have confirmed that a megafuse will fit where I thought it would, and that the inverter is 1200W, the cable is 25mm and although it is not marked, conveniently the crimp terminal was marked accordingly and the OD over the insulation lined up with the table kindly provided by @David Mack. I have obtained the fuse and ordered stripping and crimping tools via Ebay, which were not too expensive. I also found a supplier on Ebay who would engrave brass labels with text of your choice, so that sorted the battery isolation switch sign.

 

Diesel - something of a pain as every joint turns out to be a soft soldered one. I have removed and rebuilt the day tank to engine pipe, and the hand pump to day tank pipe. I have removed the top half of the main tank to hand pump pipe, but it feeds in at the bottom of the diesel tank, which is currently full. I have therefore bought a diesel transfer pump (conveniently being sold on Ebay at a very reasonable price) and scrounged up a series of 25l metal drums from work. It will still be a right pain, but at least I am now set to sort out the rest of the 15mm pipe, with a combination of brazed joints and compression fittings as appropriate. The tricky one is the fuel filler pipe which is a really awkward shape and uses 1.5" BSPP at the tank end and 42mm copper at the outlet end. I have figured a combination of bits which work - just having to do quite a lot of machining as it is not an off-the-shelf option. Should finish it next week, ready to take back and reassemble.

 

Gas - sealant is now in place and the bracket to mount the test point on is made and fitted. Have also managed to dismantle the front bulkhead to show the entirety of the gas locker drain pipe. I need to make some custom clamps to hold the pipe next to the test point (1/2" clamps are only available from the US so it is easier to bend some up) and then fit it in place.

 

That's all but one of the issues now in hand and it should be possible to address them next weekend. The remaining difficult bit is the gas leak. There is no smell of gas anywhere and I cannot find it with Snoop, so it is pretty small, but it is causing examiner's bubble tester to drop. I don't really know how to progress this one as, since I can't find it, I have no way of knowing whether I have fixed it.

 

Alec

[ditchcrawler]

54 minutes ago, agg221 said:

 

 

That's all but one of the issues now in hand and it should be possible to address them next weekend. The remaining difficult bit is the gas leak. There is no smell of gas anywhere and I cannot find it with Snoop, so it is pretty small, but it is causing examiner's bubble tester to drop. I don't really know how to progress this one as, since I can't find it, I have no way of knowing whether I have fixed it.

 

Alec

Could it be the actual appliances 

[Tony Brooks]

I think I would be inclined to regrease (special grease) the controls on the cooker, they develop very slight leaks when they get old.

[David Mack]

1 hour ago, agg221 said:

I also found a supplier on Ebay who would engrave brass labels with text of your choice, so that sorted the battery isolation switch sign.

Brass labels will look the part, but in my experience marker pen writing on the wall is sufficient to pass the BSS labelling requirement

32 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Could it be the actual appliances 

Had this problem on a BSS inspection once. The examiner said 'I'm not telling you this, but if you take the gas valve apart, grease it and reassemble, it will probably pass when I come back for the retest".

He was right. I think we used vaseline, but there is proper grease for the job.

[Ex Brummie]

If you isolate each appliance you can narrow down the options

As you have no manometer, but a sniffer, remove the diffusers from the gas rings and test each jet at the injector. The oven and grill injectors are a little more difficult to access.

[Arthur Marshall]

1 hour ago, agg221 said:

A bit of an update

That's all but one of the issues now in hand and it should be possible to address them next weekend. The remaining difficult bit is the gas leak. There is no smell of gas anywhere and I cannot find it with Snoop, so it is pretty small, but it is causing examiner's bubble tester to drop. I don't really know how to progress this one as, since I can't find it, I have no way of knowing whether I have fixed it.

 

Alec

May not be any help but I had a minimal gas leak that my bss bloke took a while to find. It turned out to be one of the isolation valves, he said if they aren't used they dry out and leak. It caused a drop in the tester that was within the tolerances for a bss pass, but being gassafe he said he couldn't leave without sorting it. About which I did not complain, especially as it turned out to be the one by the cooker, which is not a good place to have a leak.

[agg221]

Thanks @David Mack and @Tony Brooks for the pointer. It could well be the valves on the appliance - the cooker is around 25yrs old and I doubt it has ever had anything done to them. The hob and the oven have separate supplies (there is a T-piece external to the installation) and each has its own isolation valve, so it should be possible to validate this.

 

Really I think I need to get hold of some kind of tester - otherwise I'm not sure how I will know that I have identified and cured the issue, unless I can get bubbles to blow on the valves of course. What actually connects to the test point?

 

Alec

Edited November 8, 2025 by agg221

[Ronaldo47]

The gas grease I inherited from my father, a fitter at the local gas works,  contains Graphite.  

In the 1970's, a time when DIY gas fitting was legal, I installed central heating in my house using a gas back boiler. When checking for leaks prior to getting the gas board to check and approve it, my DIY manometer (made using a length  of transparent plastic tubing bent into a U and clipped to a piece of wood) detected a leak that turned out to be the tap of a disused  gas wall light (only the tap remained). Re-greasing fixed it. At that time , the manufacturers' information expressed gas pressure in terms of inches of water (water gauge),  so you only needed to measure the difference in height between the water columns in the  respective arms of the U-tube using a ruler, and didn't have to bother with millibars.

 

A few years ago I had to re-grease one of the taps on our gas cooker, which had also gone dry. 

 

Ar my old house, I had also found a leak from the main stopcock, but only when it was in the Off position, established by the soapy water test my dad used to use . I then had a problem when reporting it, as  the call handler, obviously working from a script,  insisted  that I must turn off the gas, and me refusing, saying it doesn't leak when it is On, and if I did turn the lever to the Off position, it would cause a leak.  Eventually I managed to speak with someone more senior who had enough intelligence to realise I was not being difficult.  When the emergency team came round, they tightened the nut on the stopcock so it couldn't be turned off, and fitted a new stop cock a few days later.

Edited November 8, 2025 by Ronaldo47
Stop cock saga added

[ditchcrawler]

7 minutes ago, agg221 said:

Thanks @David Mack and @Tony Brooks for the pointer. It could well be the valves on the appliance - the cooker is around 25yrs old and I doubt it has ever had anything done to them. The hob and the oven have separate supplies (there is a T-piece external to the installation) and each has its own isolation valve, so it should be possible to validate this.

 

Really I think I need to get hold of some kind of tester - otherwise I'm not sure how I will know that I have identified and cured the issue, unless I can get bubbles to blow on the valves of course. What actually connects to the test point?

 

Alec

[agg221]

9 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Perfect - thanks. I can now see how this is done.

 

Alec

[Tony Brooks]

44 minutes ago, agg221 said:

Perfect - thanks. I can now see how this is done.

 

Alec

 

Look up the exact procedure because you need to burn off some of the gas in the regulator and flexible hoses. If you don't the pressure in it tends to hide any leaks. 

[agg221]

Next update:

 

The electrics and diesel system are done. Re-plumbing the diesel was a right pain, but it did eventually work without having to re-manufacture all the pipes.

 

Gas is more of an issue. The problem is within the hob. I have managed to strip it down, but the screws that hold the burner caps on are completely seized and need to come out to remove the valves as the whole assembly has to come off the top as one. In two minds at the moment as to whether to drill them (will work if there is enough length below to grip with mole grips) or to weld onto the tops of the screws. If anyone happens to have taken the burner caps off a SMEV 8003 and knows what is under there it would be useful information. The valves are held on with nuts, which have collars around them and no direct line of sight. It needs some kind of very thin walled box spanner to get them I think.

 

Given how difficult it is to get the hob dismantled and that the parts are unavailable, I have put a WANTED post up to see if anyone has anything that will fit. Only the SMEV 8003 or PI8003, or the Dometic HBG 3440 appear to be the right size. The latter is allegedly still available but I can't find a single one online for sale. To be honest, if anyone has any other early 2000s SMEV hobs that have been scrapped out it would also be of interest to see if I can salvage parts.

 

I really don't want to end up having to completely replace the galley worktop just to pass the BSS!

Alec

Edited November 16, 2025 by agg221

[Ex Brummie]

On 08/11/2025 at 17:38, ditchcrawler said:

A 30mb manometer will not be much us when testing 37 mb!

https://www.bes.co.uk/u-gauge-manometer-24in-6905/

but this will do.

Edited November 16, 2025 by Ex Brummie

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, agg221 said:

Next update:

 

The electrics and diesel system are done. Re-plumbing the diesel was a right pain, but it did eventually work without having to re-manufacture all the pipes.

 

Gas is more of an issue. The problem is within the hob. I have managed to strip it down, but the screws that hold the burner caps on are completely seized and need to come out to remove the valves as the whole assembly has to come off the top as one. In two minds at the moment as to whether to drill them (will work if there is enough length below to grip with mole grips) or to weld onto the tops of the screws. If anyone happens to have taken the burner caps off a SMEV 8003 and knows what is under there it would be useful information. The valves are held on with nuts, which have collars around them and no direct line of sight. It needs some kind of very thin walled box spanner to get them I think.

 

Given how difficult it is to get the hob dismantled and that the parts are unavailable, I have put a WANTED post up to see if anyone has anything that will fit. Only the SMEV 8002 or PI8002, or the Dometic HBG 3440 appear to be the right size. The latter is allegedly still available but I can't find a single one online for sale. To be honest, if anyone has any other early 2000s SMEV hobs that have been scrapped out it would also be of interest to see if I can salvage parts.

 

I really don't want to end up having to completely replace the galley worktop just to pass the BSS!

Alec

 

 

This is one of 7 on Facebook Marketplace, several different models but I expect they are mains gas, but you have bottled gas jets