Category: Essentials

Posted on

Eberspächer D4W Diesel Powered Frost Protection – Update

Winter is not over for us yet, there will be a lot more opportunities for our canal boat Floydtilla to freeze.  In November I fitted a frost thermostat to control the Eberspächer D4W Hydronic diesel heater, before that it was just a pull button start and it would run until the water returning to the diesel heater was to hot, now with the frost thermostat we have it switching on if the internal temperature of the boat reaches between 2 and 4 degrees.

Diesel Tank Usage
Diesel Tank Usage

We have mains power at the marina, and also a large diesel tank, but I was still worried that our tank would run out or a prepaid electricity would run out, either could have stopped the heating working.

So last weekend we went to visit the boat and check everything was working, and to our great good fortune, it all had been working very well. We can see the diesel tank gauge had dropped, but not by much, less that a eighth of a tank used in two months, and our prepaid electric which was at about £25 when we last left was down to about £10. The electric in the marina is not cheap, but this summer may be the time I fit some solar panels for complete independence.

Electricity Topup Card
Electricity Top-up Card

Went we left on Sunday, we topped up the electricity with another £20 just encase, we do hope to be back within a month, but you never know.

The next project for Feb is to fit a thermostat so we can set and maintain a temperature, and also add some isolation switch for both thermostats so we can override them if needed after that we want a remote control for the heating so I can turn it on before we arrive on a cold day.

Posted on

Winterizing final things

Having setup the frost thermostat during the day, the last things I did when leaving the boat was to switch off the water pump and leave all the taps open, just encase this freeze, the main boat water tank is not full after our last trip.

Final check and the diesel tank is full and we have nearly £30 on the electricity meter.

Posted on

Frost Protection options with our Canal Boat

This is going to be our first winter with a canal boat, and I have been looking at how we can protect the boat against freezing.

I had a few options:-

  • I could drain all the water out of the boat, i.e. the water tank and the heating system. But we intend to visit the boat over the winter as a jumping off spot for visiting relations.
  • We do have mains power, so I could place some oil filled radiators in the boat, they would need an anti frost setting. This looks like a viable and popular option, but we have to prepay for electricity and I have no idea how much we would need.
  • The boat is fitted with a very effective diesel powered heating system, with radiators around the boat. At present, the control system is very primitive, with just an on/off switch, we have used it a few times. I would need to fit a frost thermostat to make it effective.

After much studying and asking questions on Facebook and the online forums, I decided to go with the third option and use the built-in diesel heater. We have a large diesel tank, so this I hope will last the winter.

Eberspacher Heater Switch
Eberspacher Heater Switch

Our boat is fitted with an Eberspächer D4W Hydronic water heater which heats the radiators and provides hot water when required, which in the summer is not often. It is controlled by a simple pull switch.

I then tried to source a 12v frost thermostat, from what I could see a 12v Honeywell frost thermostat part no 4111263a would do the trick. The prices of these seem to vary from each supplier, but in the end I selected PB Auto Electrics as the price and delivery seemed reasonable.

But when it arrived, it was the T4360 240v frost thermostat, A quick check with PB Auto Electrics and, they confirmed it was exactly the same device, I wish I had known before it would have made finding one a lot simpler.

NOTE: This type of thermostat is a very simple device, that uses a bimetallic strip as a switch when temperature changes see here for a more detailed explanation.

My plan was to fit the thermostat is parallel with the current switch, so I could still use the switch when needed, the frost thermostat could then operate independently when the internal temperature of the boat gets too low.

To install the thermostat, I made some extension leads from the switch to the new thermostat and mounted it on an internal wall near the control panel.

The switch had two wires attached, a yellow wire and a red wire. The red wire has 12V supply from the heater, and the yellow goes back to the heater to trigger it to start.

Inside Thermostat
Inside Thermostat

Inside the thermostat, I extended the red wire to terminal 1 and the yellow to terminal 3.

When you remove the cover of  the frost thermostat it revels a wheel with the temperatures marked on it, it is pretty much a normal  thermostat with a cover that stops adjustment.  To test the setup changed the setting to  above and below the current temperature.

Everything worked as expected, so I finally set it to between 3 and 4 degrees.

Before I left, I did take a photo of our fuel gauge, so I can see roughly how much diesel we use.

Next I will add  a frost protection switch, so I can isolate this in case of problems, I could have done this with the current switch, but I expect to add a normal thermostat later which will work with the switch or replace it.

 

Posted on

Returning back to Black Prince

If you have been reading our blog you will know we had a little problem with the paint on the roof, we purchased the boat from Black Prince only a few weeks ago, they have looked at the peeling paint and are going to repair it.

Paint Problems on roof
Paint Problems on roof

It is an odd problem, looks to me, a non-expert, like some surface contamination under the primer as caused it to lose adhesion, I have seen similar problems this caused by the oil used to lubricate the air tools used when removing the old paint.

 

Worcester to Stoke Prior

We have been on a trip to Worcester and are going to drop the boat off at their base in Stoke Prior before we set off home.

We broke the trip up this time, turning around at Diglis Basin just in front of the Diglis Lock, we had decided to try and get past all the locks and then rest up  for the night just after the M5 bridge at Tibberton, we would then have a simple trip to our mooring at Droitwich Spa Marina the next day, before heading off on the Saturday to the Black Prince Base at Stoke Prior.

Sonia and Obi the dog collected the car from the marina and drove to Stoke Prior while Mary and I moved the boat. Once Sonia had arrived at Stoke Prior, she let them know we were coming and check where they would like us to moor before walking down the canal to meet us.

The trip took us just under 3 hours at a leisurely pace,  with just the 3 locks at the top of the Droitwich Canal and then 7 on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. We finally arrived and moored up next to another Black Prince customer boat, “Pub Trawler II” which was known as Ava when she was a hire boat.

We have since heard that they will completely strip the roof and repaint it, should be ready in a couple of weeks. Furthermore, we are hoping to get a battery monitor fitted while she is with them. I have selected the Victron BMV-712 as I can talk to this via the onboard monitoring system I am developing (More on this later).

Back to top