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Morco water heater flame pattern


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I'm just putting my boat, which I've just bought, back into use after being laid up for a few months. After getting the air out of the gas and water pipes, I finally got the water heater running, and while it generates a lot of hot water, the temperature of which is controllable from lukewarm to "Ouch!!!", the pilot light is slightly yellow, and the main burner flames, while blue with basically the right cone pattern, are lifting off at the back of the burners. The heater is an 11Kw unit.

 

Is this likely to be caused by a misadjustment of an internal gas pressure regulator which can be corrected with a pressure gauge and a screwdriver, or is it something that needs a full service by a professional gas engineer? All the venturis are immaculately clean. The boat gas pressure is correct within the limits laid down under the BSS tests. If I turn the temperature down, the flames settle back onto the burners.

 

Or, is this, in fact, just normal behaviour for a Morco water heater?

 

I'm in a bit of a hurry with this, as the boat is due to be launched in a a week or so, and I will be moving on board a week after that.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Bye!

 

John.

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Remove it from the boat and blow it out with compressed air. This is what I found in my 6L when it wasn't working to well and setting off the CO alarm

 

1001947_10201724642263640_862465069_n.jp

 

Before

 

578378_10201724642343642_9509394_n.jpg

 

After

 

I found the middle row of burners seemed to get less oxygen and burned a little orange.

 

Hope that helps

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I had a look round the burner and heat exchanger areas and they're clean as a new pin. The only flame that's not pure blue with a deeper blue "cone" in the centre of it is the pilot light. The only problem seems to be a possible excess of gas pressure at the burner, as I remember seeing occasionally on a cooker ring when the regulator was playing up. The flames lifted off the ring slightly just as the heater burner flames are doing.

 

I'm back on the boat tomorrow, and if I can work out how, I'll post a video of the flame problem.

 

Thanks anyway.

Edited by John Williamson 1955
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The heater is an 11Kw unit.

 

Is this likely to be caused by a misadjustment of an internal gas pressure regulator which can be corrected with a pressure gauge and a screwdriver, or is it something that needs a full service by a professional gas engineer? All the venturis are immaculately clean. The boat gas pressure is correct within the limits laid down under the BSS tests. If I turn the temperature down, the flames settle back onto the burners.

 

Or, is this, in fact, just normal behaviour for a Morco water heater?

 

I'm in a bit of a hurry with this, as the boat is due to be launched in a a week or so, and I will be moving on board a week after that.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Bye!

 

John.

 

Tricky.

 

First of all, which 11kw Morco exactly? Just to avoid confusion.

 

No, 'flame lift' is not normal and shouldn't be happening. Something is wrong. Probably the gas pressure is above 37mB if you are running propane (or 28mB for Butane). You say the boat pressure is correct, what IS the boat gas pressure (measured at the Morco inlet)?

 

The gas rings doing the same points at a problem common to both, ie the gas pressure.

 

MtB

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According to the BSS tester, the boat gas pressure is correct for the propane in use. When I mentioned flame lift on a cooker, I was possibly not clear that it was a previous cooker in a caravan many years ago that was lfiting off.

 

Reading the manual for the D-61 and G-11 heaters online, it seems that they use line pressure for the burners, so maybe a new boat regulator might be the first step.

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According to the BSS tester, the boat gas pressure is correct for the propane in use. When I mentioned flame lift on a cooker, I was possibly not clear that it was a previous cooker in a caravan many years ago that was lfiting off.

 

Reading the manual for the D-61 and G-11 heaters online, it seems that they use line pressure for the burners, so maybe a new boat regulator might be the first step.

Possibly, but measuring the inlet gas pressure first would be a better idea to find out if you need a new regulator.

 

Another idea would be to call Morco and ask them what causes flame-lift on your specific appliance. They have a pretty competent technical support although the girl technician there can get a bit snappy if you ask probing questions that challenge her own understanding of the appliance!

 

MtB

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Hi

 

My name is Steve Williams, I am a BSS examiner. You say that you had an examiner tell you that the LPG pressure is correct, do you know what pressure you had?

 

There is a specific flame pattern that a BSS examiner will look for on an appliance 'flame pattern test' and this will determine not only whether or not your vessel passes a BSS examination, but also whether the examiner needs to issue a warning notice and dangerous appliance labels are applied.

 

Although you issue doesn't sound too serious I would advise that you have a Gas Safe engineer look at the appliance on your behalf.

 

Best of luck with your issue.

 

Steve Williams

BSS Examiner PIN614

iwabss-limited.co.uk

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Morco D61B is s'posed to use 0.88kg/hr of gas at full chat.

 

If you have some decent digital luggage scales you could weigh the cylinder before and after running the Morco for say 15 mins, should use 220g of gas. Check the scales against something of known accurate weight.

 

If the gas hoses were lifted above the reg while changing the cylinder then some 'gas goo' from the hose could have run into the reg.

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

Edited by smileypete
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Hi

 

My name is Steve Williams, I am a BSS examiner. You say that you had an examiner tell you that the LPG pressure is correct, do you know what pressure you had?

 

There is a specific flame pattern that a BSS examiner will look for on an appliance 'flame pattern test' and this will determine not only whether or not your vessel passes a BSS examination, but also whether the examiner needs to issue a warning notice and dangerous appliance labels are applied.

 

Although you issue doesn't sound too serious I would advise that you have a Gas Safe engineer look at the appliance on your behalf.

 

Best of luck with your issue.

 

Thanks for that, I'll be getting it looked at on Monday when the gas guy comes back to work, I was wondering if there may have been a cheap and simple cause such as someone fiddling with a screwdriver. I'm finding the normal number of bodges for a boat of her age, including a number of places where when a circuit has failed, a previous owner has just run an extra cable without removing the old one. I've lost count of the unused bilge pump pipes....

 

The pressure was apparently very close to the 37mbar for pro[ane, but I've bought a regulator and a new flexible pipe anyway.

 

We couldn't do the flame pattern check on the water heater during the check, as when he arrived, I'd only owned the boat for a couple of hours, and I hadn't yet worked out why the water system wasn't working. The cooker had and has a good flame pattern , though. It turned out that, while the engine battery was fully charged, the domestic ones were totally flat. They've now been on charge for a couple of days while I've been working on board, and they are running stuff, but appear not to be holding their charge overnight. Another expense....

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Hi Mike,

 

I'm hoping to grow into it :).

 

We seem to be regarded as villains of the boating world. Perhaps because of peoples bad experiences?

 

I like to think that I am there to help, and being a long standing boater myself, I also like to think I am 'understanding'.

 

Doing BSS Exams is my retirement plan, and its working. I will never be rich, but I will always be meeting new people and hopefully making new friends.

 

Always happy to help. Never one to screw my clients and Advice is most certainly ALWAYS FREE!

 

Happy boating

 

Regards

 

Steve Williams

BSS Examiner PIN614

Iwabss-limited.co.uk

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Try again....

 

The Gas Safe guy dropped in on his way to another job, took one glance at the flame and said, in effect, "They all do that, sir".

 

He's due back tomorrow to do a full check anyway, as I'd rather check it twice than die of CO poisoning or have it explode on me.

 

Thanks for all the replies.

 

Bye!

 

John.

Edited by John Williamson 1955
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