Calorifier plumbing protocol

[Captain Fizz]

Is there a recognised protocol for the indirect pipe work ?

My boat is plumbed with the engine feeding the upper coil and the boiler to the lower.

This seems counter intuitive as I would have thought it better to use the coils the other way around so as to heat the entire cylinder when the engine is running.

What do the panel think?

[dor]

Depends how much you use the engine. My calorifier came with instructions to connect it as you have done, but that it probably aimed at the yotties. I connected the engine to the lower coil.

[steelaway]

Depends how much you use the engine. My calorifier came with instructions to connect it as you have done, but that it probably aimed at the yotties. I connected the engine to the lower coil.

 

So did I

 

Alex

[RLWP]

This part of the panel thinks you are expecting more of the canal boat industry than actually happens

 

If you start off by assuming every boat is a one-off prototype, so every pipe, bolt, wire, fuse, joint and widget will be entirely different to every other boat, you won't go far wrong

 

Protocols? I don't think so

 

Richard

 

MORE: Oh yes, assume that you are the chief designer as well, so all the choices are yours

Edited August 21, 2013 by RLWP

[ditchcrawler]

Is there a recognised protocol for the indirect pipe work ?

My boat is plumbed with the engine feeding the upper coil and the boiler to the lower.

This seems counter intuitive as I would have thought it better to use the coils the other way around so as to heat the entire cylinder when the engine is running.

What do the panel think?

That is how I did mine

[MtB]

I agree with Richard. The cauliflower plumbing protocol for your boat is whatever you'd like it to be.

 

 

MtB

[rjasmith]

Just a thought but have you peered in through the top water outlet connection (I'm assuming you have a vert rather than horiz calorifier)?

 

I found the coils in mine are placed concentrically, one inside the other and both are at the same level, near the bottom. This is despite the fact that the connections on the side are made so that it looks as though the coils are at upper and lower levels.

 

The upper pair of connections are extended downwards inside the tank to the inner of the two coils and the lower pair just go conventionally, straight in to the outer coil.

 

This means that either heat source should heat the whole thing in my case. This came as a pleasant surprise as I had assumed the coils would be upper and lower when I got the calorifier (from Kuranda)!

 

Richard

[Tony Brooks]

I reasoned that the central heating boiler would be on 24/7 giving plenty of time for convection to heat the whole cylinder while the engine run time is limited so its coil should be at the bottom to heat a such of the cylinder as possible in the shortest time. Seems to work for me, but maybe the other way round would as well.