There are a couple of options I think, but so far it's cold feed from tanks to accumulator, split the feed off to mixer tap and into calorifier. A non return valve takes care of hot backfeeding into the cold system. The PRV will exit through the floor, and the thermostatic mixer will deal with hot temp to the hot tap. In line, on the hot out, will be a small expansion vessel. I think it's either 10 percent or 5 percent of tank volume recommended for expansion vessel size so it'll be either 1l or .5l. That means as the heat rises in the system when it's not in use, the non return valve on cold blocks convection that way, and the expansion vessel deals with the pressure increase. Hopefully the PRV will never be required but is there as a safety component. Small stuff but it all takes up space. I have a 12v solenoid valve water valve that I can wire into the existing dash fan switch. That will on and off the hot supply from the engine to the coil. It should only need 15 or 20 minutes of running to heat the water, so I can switch it before we plan to park up. The valve is default closed, so ignition off will shut the valve. The VW rear heater has a hand operated valve for closing off hot feed in the summer, so it's the same principle as far as the plumbing is concerned. Simple eh!!!!
@Pickles , Perhaps aught to start a new thread? But to close this water thing off here is the calorifier. There's plenty of room here under the fixed bed for the kit and the Planar diesel heater fits to the left, leisure battery to the right
I don't really have much to add, I do have to add an expansion tank on the boat though as it would save me losing a litre of water every time I run the engine for a couple of hours. You are certainly taking your camping to another level looks fab-u-lous.
Just chipping in (ffs Ive already got me coat on) I think quite a few on here would be interested in the syncro and what you are doing with it, its something different to the norm, Jim is doing a great, enjoyable thread with his baja project and that's not Baywindow oriented, its nice reading about something different! Travel thread though, maybe a good informative travel thread with some great pics would encourage people to get planning future road trips, its lead us from the NC500 to Northumberland250 to Snowdonia300 and on to the Irish Atlantic Way being the tip of the iceberg..its got Michelle wanting to go further afield!
Fair point Mark. I shall start thinking of the journey that's led us to this point with the T3 and chuck some stuff up on the syncro thread and keep it all in one place. One of the issues is that if I start to think about what I've got stashed here to be fitted when G gets back from the engine conversion my head may explode! We're planning on disappearing this weekend to spend some 'us' time in Chip, be a good place to contemplate the future. Baby steps...
Have fun in Chip I'm off work later next week to finish Major off, get the leisure battery and solar gubbins wired in and we're done!
We’re all good here, hope you and Mel are too? I’ve read about systems like that, for anyone with a water cooled engine, it sounds an interesting way to go. I just can’t believe all these years I’ve not had any running water in the camper and I’m now thinking about a hot water system for the rebuild As others have said, I think a thread about the syncro would be interesting and go down well on here.
I notice that the June 2021 issue of Practical Boat Owner has quite a long article on solar power. They give a URL of a "official" EU solar panel calculator re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pvg_tools/en/tools.html Also an article on a new build diesel-battery-electric canal boat a@zedders .
Yes we are all interested in neat things people do when they design their own setups and build them. If you have an oil cooled engine, theres possibilities there too..
MONKEY you shall not go on holiday until I have at least 1000 words, about your adventures, on my desk.
This is an interesting article on solar power on the water. https://www.canalboat.co.uk/canal-b...ip-marine-s-solar-powered-semi-trad-1-6215195 We have a friend who has an electric boat. Well it's quite unusual in that it has a Mastervolt 16kVA 3 phase diesel generator supplying power to 1000kg of battery bank that drives an underwater induction propeller pod. Well I think Its silent but questionable if it's eco....I don't think that was the point
My copy arrived by post yesterday, must get round to reading it in full. I got the impression that the author wasn't enthused about flexible panels and preference was for those hard framed rigid ones.
Yes because he felt they were better than the flexible. Strange then that the Solbian flexible panels claim the same efficiency (23% new) as the glass fronted ones. Mine still work after peeling them off Tiger Seal ( big mistake too strong !) Another thing that gets forgotten in marine installations is that if you connect panels in series, all of the panels are progressively 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 volts above "earth" . And that means if water gets into connectors all of the high voltage connections fizz away.. its why I was given my panels where sea water got into the panels at 80 volts and up. And that both positive and negative of the top (60,80,100 volt at 5 amps) panels could be killers if you touch the connections with the sun shining on them.. I can pull a pretty good arc off my two panels in series. Domestic installations have series connected stacked panels .. its why the "solar" cables have thick insulation rated at 600 volts but cores rated at 5 amps..
It's been a long established fact the glass / rigid panels are far superior performance wise than the the flexi panels but the weight is the problem , fine if you have a tin top but difficult to mount properly on a fibreglass roof due to the weight ... Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk
08.41 this morning, 17th April. Van facing due east so into the low sun and not ideal. Roof down, coz it was bloody cold last night. Happy with that. The panels are still doing their thing.. Note, we are hooked up coz Chip has been in storage since October. Dragged him out last night and stuck the batteries on charge via the ctek overnight
And that was why I was happy to sacrifice the roof bars in the rack on a front hinged older style Westy roof as it allowed me to fit a 100W rigid panel and a smaller leisure battery. Many people who need significant solar input on their yachts end up with a big stainless steel gantry at the back on which they mount rigid panels, ours isn't big enough for that. Fortunately our power demands on our boat aren't so big so we can survive on a smaller flexible and accept the inefficiencies, and take our really efficient Waeco toolbox along rather than using the onboard fridge.
I'm still looking at flexible panels and trying to decide what to go for, must do something soon as we have moved permanent berth and where we are now down have electrical hook up. I suspect my choice of flexible panel(s) will be down to cost as well as size. I am also trying to work out whether two smaller panels where one gets shaded is going to be better than one which has part shaded. Any view?
You can do it without sacrificing the bars too and keep a bit of space for storage. I still need to shunt it backwards to maximise space though. Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk
is that a 100W panel? We never used the bars and I thought it was better mounted low down secured to the roof, where it is out of the airflow and no one can see it.
