All mod cons (well almost)

The main aim this week was to finish off the hot and cold water installation again the warm weather has not been conducive to a lot of work. I started by mixing up some thickened epoxy and glueing a wooden block to the inside of the galley moulding so that I could finish securing the pipework to the galley taps. I made a visit to Screwfix on the way to the marina to pickup some fittings so that I could connect the heads taps up and once this was complete I installed the expansion vessel/accumulator in the space occupied by the calorifier and domestic water pump.

Expansion vessel/accumulator installed

After a bit of research it would appear that it is possible to either install a single expansion vessel/accumulator or two separate units with either the accumulator connected close to the pump discharge and an expansion vessel connected to the hot water flow pipe from the calorifier with a non return valve in the calorifier cold feed or with one unit doing both duties connected close to the pump discharge. The only possible problem is that with the second method as the calorifier warms up it is possible that a small amount of hot water will be forced into the cold water pipework but later on when testing the system I found that this did not appear to be sufficient to cause any problems.

The first job on Wednesday morning was to jury rig a cold water supply to the system in the absence of the proposed water tank this consisted of a flexible hose connected to the pump suction, the black hose in the above photograph, which was then led into a bucket of water.

Temporary water supply

System filled cold water from the tap

Once everything was connected I switched on the pump and filled the system, the bucket needed to be replenished several times in order to fill the calorifier it was then just a matter of waiting for the tide so that I could run the engine in order to test the calorifier, there is an immersion heater fitted but this will require the 240v shore supply to be installed which is a bit down the list in order of priority at the moment. After the engine had been running for about half an hour I opened the taps and voila hot water.

Hot water

The hot water is very hot I have fitted a 72 degree thermostat to the engine as recommended in the Perkins manual but the calorifier will of course reach this temperature as it has no separate temperature control but as the calorifier is only about 15 litres capacity careful use of the mixer taps will in effect increase the amount of hot water available. 

Another hot day today so most of the day was spent musing on the water tank installation trying to get the maximum amount of water capacity which is not easy due to the small size of the lockers under the quarter berth in fact all the under berth lockers in the saloon are on the small side. I am going to have to settle for two flexible tanks giving 120 litres capacity. I shall be off sailing for most of next week so the plan is to order the tanks ready for installation when I return.