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Common issues with diesel heater?


Tasemu

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Hello!

 

My girlfriend and I are going to be renting a boat starting Febuary, with the intention to buy in the future if we enjoy it. The boat itself looks in decent condition but one point that the owner has told us is that they have a diesel heater, which is connected to a calorifier which is used to supply hot water to the taps (and maybe radiators?). They heat up their own water for baths etc, so they have said a while back it stopped working and if we wanted to look into it then we were welcome. I imagine i'm going to want hot water, so was hoping to get some advice regarding diesel heaters. Are there any common issues you have run into that would cause it to stop working? Any ballpark ideas how much it may cost to get someone in to look at repairing this one? How much would to cost for a new one?

 

Cheers in advance for any advice you can give at all, otherwise thanks anyway for reading. :)

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6 minutes ago, Tasemu said:

I imagine i'm going to want hot water

It would be an unusual narrowboat if the hot water isn’t heated by the engine unless said engine is an air-cooled lump. 

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2 minutes ago, WotEver said:

It would be an unusual narrowboat if the hot water isn’t heated by the engine unless said engine is an air-cooled lump. 

Let's face it members, the principal enquiries for this sort of 'issue' on here is from CCCers - so rightly or wrongly I'm going on that basis.

A well designed boat with a water cooled engine would have some form of water heating for when the engine isn't going to be run OR after the daily battery charging run has completed.

IMO the most common issue(s) for an Ebersplutter water heater not working are -

The unit being 'coked up' by running without an effective load - 'cycling'

followed by poor fuel quality / blocked filter.

 

 

There are several threads on this subject recently - perhaps the OP might perform a search on those topics and then come back for more info?   

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Just now, OldGoat said:

Let's face it members, the principal enquiries for this sort of 'issue' on here is from CCCers - so rightly or wrongly I'm going on that basis.

A well designed boat with a water cooled engine would have some form of water heating for when the engine isn't going to be run OR after the daily battery charging run has completed.

IMO the most common issue(s) for an Ebersplutter water heater not working are -

The unit being 'coked up' by running without an effective load - 'cycling'

followed by poor fuel quality / blocked filter.

 

 

There are several threads on this subject recently - perhaps the OP might perform a search on those topics and then come back for more info?   

Ahh... there ya go... when I read ‘diesel heater’ I assumed ‘diesel stove’. I don’t know why I made that assumption because I was probably wrong. 

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19 minutes ago, roland elsdon said:

Its warm  tonight ( 31 degrees now

i will sit outside with a stubbie and some popcorn.

 

lets start with

rent boat, ( where)

move on to safety certificate

landlords liability .

co 2 alarms smoke detectors gas certificate

Insurance

licence

 

and last why would you fix their broken heater?

 

 

 

- Kennet and Avon

- Safety Cert till 2021

- As for liability, they told us about the diesel heater when we first viewed it, they said that we were more than welcome to have a look at if we want, and we decided we were keen to rent the boat regardless

- I'll ask about co2 alarms, smoke detectors and gas certificates when I see them next

- Not sure about insurance

- Not sure about licence, but they have been cruising on this boat themselves legally for over a year now, so i assume licensed?

 

I was thinking of fixing the heater, just because i want hot water and it didn't look like they were gonna do it.

4 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

Let's face it members, the principal enquiries for this sort of 'issue' on here is from CCCers - so rightly or wrongly I'm going on that basis.

A well designed boat with a water cooled engine would have some form of water heating for when the engine isn't going to be run OR after the daily battery charging run has completed.

IMO the most common issue(s) for an Ebersplutter water heater not working are -

The unit being 'coked up' by running without an effective load - 'cycling'

followed by poor fuel quality / blocked filter.

 

 

There are several threads on this subject recently - perhaps the OP might perform a search on those topics and then come back for more info?   

Cheers for the info, i spent some time trying to search for a similar thread before making this but could only find threads about buying a new one. I'll have a scroll through here manually, because i'm having some issues finding relevant content using the search functionality

Edited by Tasemu
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Just now, WotEver said:

For hiring out? Very unlikely. 

Not quite sure what you mean sorry, they have been living on the boat, but now need to move onto dry land for a new project. so they want to rent/sell the boat. We want to rent it for a bit first to see what issues it has.

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2 minutes ago, Tasemu said:

Not sure about insurance

Ensure that you, as the hirer, are covered. 

 

For the avoidance of doubt, it is illegal for anyone to hire out their boat unless both license and insurance have the boat listed as a hire boat. The owner can ‘loan’ you a private boat (insurance permitting) but no money can change hands. 

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3 minutes ago, Tasemu said:

- Kennet and Avon

- Safety Cert till 2021

- As for liability, they told us about the diesel heater when we first viewed it, they said that we were more than welcome to have a look at if we want, and we decided we were keen to rent the boat regardless

- I'll ask about co2 alarms, smoke detectors and gas certificates when I see them next

- Not sure about insurance

- Not sure about licence, but they have been cruising on this boat themselves legally for over a year now, so i assume licensed?

 

I was thinking of fixing the heater, just because i want hot water and it didn't look like they were gonna do it.

Cheers for the info, i spend some time trying to search for a similar thread before making this but could only find threads about buying a new one

As soon as you hire a boat it becomes a cpmmercial undertaking and the laws are very very very different than for a 'private boat'

 

The boat must be subjected to a much more 'severe' safety inspection

It must have 'hire boat' insurance

It must have a minimum height of any hull fittings above the water line of 10"

It must have a 'landlords' gas safety certificate

It must have a different boat-licence from C&RT

 

and more ………………………….

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I strongly suggest that you go carefully.

i believe the following

they need a commercial safety certificate,

they need a gas safety certificate

they need a hire boat licence

i believe it needs an approved mooring.

there has been a lot of tightening up on renting out boats in the last few years unless it is on fixed term holiday hire.

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Just now, WotEver said:

Ensure that you, as the hirer, are covered. 

 

For the avoidance of doubt, it is illegal for anyone to hire out their boat unless both license and insurance have the boat listed as a hire boat. The owner can ‘loan’ you a private boat (insurance permitting) but no money can change hands. 

Interesting, i'll ask about that. If they are planning to rent the boat out then they should have the license and the insurance updated.

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1 minute ago, Tasemu said:

Interesting, i'll ask about that. If they are planning to rent the boat out then they should have the license and the insurance updated.

It’s a bit (lot) more involved than simply updating. See the posts above. 

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Just now, Tasemu said:

Fair play, assuming that I get all this done though. Does anyone know how much it costs to repair a diesel heater?

It will depend on what's wrong with it and where you are located, (Down Sarf will cost much more in labour than Up-Norf)

I'd suggest anywhere between £200 and £1000

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Just now, Tasemu said:

Fair play, assuming that I get all this done though. Does anyone know how much it costs to repair a diesel heater?

It entirely depends on what’s wrong with it. It could be as simple as tired batteries or maybe a blown fuse. Exactly which model is it and what are the symptoms?

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I feel like i've poked a bee hive here. I just wanted some hot water. I'll get someone to make sure everything is legal before I agree to anything. This is just early days. ?

1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said:

It will depend on what's wrong with it and where you are located, (Down Sarf will cost much more in labour than Up-Norf)

I'd suggest anywhere between £200 and £1000

Thanks mate

1 minute ago, WotEver said:

It entirely depends on what’s wrong with it. It could be as simple as tired batteries or maybe a blown fuse. Exactly which model is it and what are the symptoms?

I'll check that info on the weekend and post it here. :)

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1 minute ago, Tasemu said:

I feel like i've poked a bee hive here. I just wanted some hot water. I'll get someone to make sure everything is legal before I agree to anything. This is just early days. ?

I suspect that when trying to get everything legal either the offer of the boat to rent will evaporate or the price of rental will increase by a very large margin

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2 minutes ago, Tasemu said:

Interesting, i'll ask about that. If they are planning to rent the boat out then they should have the license and the insurance updated.

It's not quite as simple as licence and insurance. What a number of members have trying to tell you is that it's not as simple as your friends might have you believe. To repeat a question asked earlier, where to you intend to moor? Are you going to genuinely Continuously Cruise? If so where and over what distance? This forum has many,many enquiries from couples such as yourselves. Most have the appearance of coming from individuals who have not seen beyond somewhere to live. Unfortunately, so far, your enquiry seems to fall amongst those.

Honestly, people are trying to help not hinder.   

  • Greenie 1
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1 hour ago, Tasemu said:

Interesting, i'll ask about that. If they are planning to rent the boat out then they should have the license and the insurance updated.

If you are hiring/ renting this boat it will the owners responsibility to repair the heater.

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24 minutes ago, Flyboy said:

If you are hiring/ renting this boat it will the owners responsibility to repair the heater.

And their responsibility to ensure you will be safe from the potential hazards in the boat (and do not underestimate the risks from a defective heater - of whatever sort). It is best to be careful is what all these posts are saying. That is why the rules and the inusrance requirements are very different if you rent a boat.

Edited by jonesthenuke
Typos!
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1 hour ago, Slim said:

It's not quite as simple as licence and insurance. What a number of members have trying to tell you is that it's not as simple as your friends might have you believe. To repeat a question asked earlier, where to you intend to moor? Are you going to genuinely Continuously Cruise? If so where and over what distance? This forum has many,many enquiries from couples such as yourselves. Most have the appearance of coming from individuals who have not seen beyond somewhere to live. Unfortunately, so far, your enquiry seems to fall amongst those.

Honestly, people are trying to help not hinder.   

Sorry I wasn't meaning to sound bitter, just dont have the info yet. Will post it here as soon as I find out more. :)

1 hour ago, WotEver said:

Thanks, reading through this now. :)

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