Winter Preparation

[nebulae]

Personaly I always empty my water tank.If a pipe freezes and comes of the water in the bilge will take forever to dry out.

[Tony Brooks]

You can use oil filled radiators for heaters (Argos), we have 2 on ours, a 500watt and a 750 watt I think. Over last winter they used £60 or so of electricity.

 

 

But check your insurance small print first. As of last winter at least one company required such equipment to be marked as suitable for marine use.

 

Don't shoot the messenger, check your small print.

[Suzie_q]

Is it safe to leave the webasto on it timer for say an hour a day? Or does that cause more problems than it solves?

[Guest]

Is it safe to leave the webasto on it timer for say an hour a day? Or does that cause more problems than it solves?

 

I don't think the timer on a Webasto can be programmed to repeat each day (I know ours cannot) - they can only be programmed to do one 'on' then 'off' and then you have to set it again, unless the newer ones can be (ours is 6 years old mind)

[STIG]

Thanks I will take a look as for the covers I have just received a reply from Wilsons they currently have a 6 week waiting list.

Bethsaida covers, based at Shebdon wharfe on the shroppie, don`t know how much work Tony has on but he`s deffo quicker and cheaper

PM me if you need his number, you only have to ask

[RichLech]

I'm just buying a narrowboat with Eberspacher central heating and it has been tested as working by the surveyor.

 

There also seems to be a non-adjustable thermostat that I am told is a frost stat that activates the Eberspacher at 5 degrees.

 

Is this a recognised configuration? Is there a way I can test it without sitting on the boat until temperature gets down to 5 degrees?

[plainsman]

Hi and welcome-

 

Our prep last year (the first year we owned owned a NB) -

 

A check of the antifreeze strength in both the engine and the central heating system.

 

Isolate the water tank from the pumps using the fitted taps between.

 

Turned off both hot and cold water pumps.

 

Opened all taps and drained the system as best we could.

 

Detached the shower head and drained it (They split if water freezes in them)

 

Isolated the cassette loo water supply and pressed the flush switch a couple of times to let water out of the flushing system.

 

Wrapped up both pumps in a thick blanket/cushions to insulate them against frost damage.

 

Topped up the batteries and left the charger on. (we were/are on shore power)

 

All was well despite one of the harshest winters ever, well apart from one small pipe that split from the bottom of the water filter tap in the bathroom, stupidly I'd forgotten to open that particular tap.

 

HTH

 

In addition I suggest some diluted antifreeze down the shower/bath waste and if a flushing loo some antifreeze in the bowl flushed through and then the bowl dosed again. Bubble wrap is a good insulator but needs quite a few wraps to be safe.