water tanks

[Guest]

need a little advice here

while aboard curlew we noticed two water tanks one in midships where the bilge is what looks to be your standard blue clarifier then we have this home made tank well sort off which is mounted just before the front steps which lead out on to the bow.

for the last couple of times we have been on curlew the water will get warm ish then will go stone cold?

any ideas see photo below

Jonny

[Guest DAYTONA-BILL]

Hi Jonny, could it be a seperate water tank for the toilet?, just an idea. As for the water getting warmish, then going cold, could the calorifier tank, or the hot water heating pipes from the engine to it be furred up inside?. That could cause the water to stay cool i would have thought. Regards..................... Neil.

[Guest DAYTONA-BILL]

Another thought, does your engine have a thermostat to control the running temp?. If so, the thermostat may not be keeping the temp high enough. Regards.......Neil.

[C.Ricko]

Hi Jonny,

That is more than likely your clarifier tank as it is also insulated.

The words 'flow' and 'return' probably indicate the direction of water going through the heat exchanger in the tank. The interesting thing is that the flow and return have tees in them which most likely go to some kind of warm air blower which if it is competing for engine heat is probably the reason the water is not heating up much.

Neil could also have a point regarding the lack of a thermostat or pipes being blocked,

[Guest]

to the right hand side of the tank there is a mini radiator with a fan when the engine has been running for a while the heater also gets warm ish. i wounder if the flow things have been open fully??

Jonny

[Mowjo]

Jonny! first thing I notice when I enlarged the piccie, was the shut off valve in the flow pipe isn't fully open, the slot in the valve needs to be exactly in line with the copper pipe, those valves are basicaly a ball bearing with a hole drilled through, the smallest bit of crud if it's out of line can get caught on the ball edge and build up over time and can completely stop the water flow, it may clear it if you stick a screwdriver in the slot and turn it 180% so it faces the other way, and check any valves you have like this one in all the pipework, it sounds more like a restriction in the pipe somewhere, if it were me I'd drain the tanks take all the stop valves off and replace them, Screwfix do ones like yours but with a little plastic handle for around £2 each or any plumbers do them, it's not hard to change them, looking at that pipework I'm supprised you havn't had a few leaks in it, when it was done they never cleaned the Flux off the join and that stuff eventually eats through the copper, I don't like solder joints on boat pipework as the vibration from the engine can cause the solder joints to fail, and like most leaks you won't notice it until your bilge is full of water, it might be worth replacing it if you have to drain the tanks,,

Regards Frank,,

[Guest]

Hi Jonny, could it be a seperate water tank for the toilet?,

Hi Niel

from what i know the toilet takes water from the river i think!

Hi Frank

thats more like it mate i have never liked this home made job as it looks so bad but maybe a proper tank might not fit??

Jonny

[C.Ricko]

Hi Jonny,

Most boats went over to this type of tank but there is normally a good space under the rear deck behind the steps on a Calypso where you could put a different tank. personally I would not bother, I would re pipe your one doing away with the heater or putting a 3 way valve in.

[jimbo]

What's the idea of the valve Clive? I ask because mine just has a pipe coming from the engine to the coil in the tank and a return straight back to the engine.

[C.Ricko]

I would assume that the valve would be to divert or regulate the flow to the heater, we dont use them, I would suggest an either/or option so you know where the heat is going.

[Guest]

sounds like a good idea Clive

were looking at putting a 240v element in the tank but from the looks of it we cant

Jonny

[Guest DAYTONA-BILL]

Hi all, I totally agree with mowjo`s comments on soldered joints . Whenever i`ve done pipework, i`ve always used the old tried and trusted method with compression joints. They give a much better seal, and are easily replaceable in the unlikely event of a leak, which is exactly what i`d want on a boat miles from anywhere. Sound advice Frank. Regards to all.................... Neil.

[mbird]

When I replumbed Tranquil Breeze, I went for the plastic pipe and Hep20 fittings. They are a doddle to use (as long as you remember to put in the metal collars at each joint), the pipe bends so minimising joints (an hence potential leaks), and the best thing is that it can expand 7% so any freezing doesn't split the pipes.

If I was doing any plumbing at all on a boat again, I wouldn't hesitate to use this stuff, as it's far more forgiving than copper, and you don't need spanners to fit it. After replumbing ever inch of pipework, we didn't have a single leak - ever!

[RedRover]

When I replumbed Tranquil Breeze, I went for the plastic pipe and Hep20 fittings. They are a doddle to use (as long as you remember to put in the metal collars at each joint), the pipe bends so minimising joints (an hence potential leaks), and the best thing is that it can expand 7% so any freezing doesn't split the pipes.

If I was doing any plumbing at all on a boat again, I wouldn't hesitate to use this stuff, as it's far more forgiving than copper, and you don't need spanners to fit it. After replumbing ever inch of pipework, we didn't have a single leak - ever!

Where did you get the Hep20 fittings from Mark?

[mbird]

Hi Barry

I bought them online from http://www.plumbworld.co.uk, as they worked out a lot cheaper than any of the local plumbers merchants. I ordered a 25m coil if the 15mm pipe as I was replumbing the whole boat, and I think it cost around £30. The fittings are a bit pricey, but it still a lot easier to deal with than copper, and probably about the same price, given the cost of copper these days.

I can't stress enough, though, they importance of making sure you put the metal sleeves into the pipe before you push it into a fitting. These stop the plastic pipe from crushing and so leaking. The other great thing about it is that you can also use the same fittings on copper pipe, or to join copper to plastic etc. It's dead easy to use, and even cutting it, with the special shears, is a piece of cake.

[Guest]

Hi Everyone

time to start this link back up again if you dont mind?

we have decided to go down the 240v immersion way to get constant hot water instead of running the engine all the time ill give you what we have got so far.

as posted earlier in the thread we have what looks like a home made jobbie tank in the saloon area of the boat see pic below

(see page 1)

we think we have found a small Calorifier in the shower area under the floor we think its only small. how would we go about doing this would we need to take both tanks out and just stick one of these things in the saloon replacing the home made jobbie & the small calorifier?

http://www.norfolkmarine.co.uk/shop-online/surecal-40ltr-single-coil-calorifier-p-3411.html

thanks

Jonny

[Guest]

anybody

[jimbo]

Some pictures might help us Jonny, as to be honest, I have never seen a system quite like yours

[Guest]

Some pictures might help us Jonny, as to be honest, I have never seen a system quite like yours

dont blame me i dint put the thing in

well i might have to call on Clive lads for some advice or if Rods about

Jonny

[Mowjo]

Jonny! that tank in your picture! is that the one that gets warm?? because you say you have a small blue calorifier as well, if thats the case then I'd say that cylinder type tank is your main cold water tank, which in turn should feed the calorifier, so if you wanted a 240v immersion you'd only need to change the calorifier for a newer one with the immersion boss built in, to be honest the first thing I would do, is change all that old copper pipework for either new copper using compression joints, or better still something like Hep2o,

Regards Frank,,,

[jimbo]

The problem you are going to face with your existing setup Jonny, is that there is no facility in your tank for adding an immersion heater element, so I think a new Calorifier would be needed.

[Mowjo]

Jonny! you can't just fit a calorifier, you need a main cold water tank to feed it,

Frank,,

[jimbo]

The main tank will be alot bigger than the one in Jonny's picture Frank. I think the tank pictured is the Calorifier with no blank for an immersion element

[Mowjo]

Thats what has lost me Jimbo! Jonny said he has found a small calorifier in the shower area, the only thing I can think is that it may be a small expansion tank, without pictures everything is just a guess at this point,, that tank does look a bit small for a main tank but having said that I only had a 15 gallon tank on my Freeman,,

Regards Frank,,,

[Mowjo]

If thats the case Rod! then I think Ken Nevard is the guy Jonny needs to speak to, he's good and he's cheap, the only thing is Jonny will need to take the tank out, which would also be a good opportunity to change that dreadfull pipework, the more I look at it the more supprised I am that jonny hasn't had a major leak yet,,

Regards Frank,,