Boatingbiker

Here's an extract for sale data for a previous narrowboat may be of use

Why not overplate the area complete with a centre support to give a high point in the middle ! or have i missed something !

answering your questions a) are double panel radiators suitable? better? Hotter? The selection between single or double panels would normally be made based upon required output for the room in question followed by the space available on the wall. For a given output there is no benefit of double panel over single. If fact most radiators come in four styles that is Single panel, Double panel and Double panel with one or two internal fins. On a narrowboat the selection of the Double radiator with fins will result in a wider radiator and could reduce space to pass by, more critical in corridor locations. Irrespective of radiator select they will or operate at the same temperature which is primary set by the boiler controls. b) TRV's The use of TRV's will enable you the regulate the temperature of the rooms in which they are fitted and at different temperatures. Do not fit TRV's to all radiators unless a balancing bypass valve is fitted which is abnormal on boat or small house systems. This enables the pump to operate when the other TRV's have closed down. If you don't fit TRV's then all room will heat up to the same temperatures assuming the balancing has been carried out correctly. c) Balancing: In theory to balance a heating system you want to reduce the flow to each radiator to equate to the design flow rate equal to the heat load required. In practice this is achieved by i) with boiler cold remove all TRV's and set all other valves on both ends of each radiator fully closed and then open one valve on each radiator 1/2 a turn, ii) turn on boiler to operating temperature and pump on, iii) check the temperature of water arriving at all radiators (by hand if no surface thermometer is available) Ideally they should all be the same. However, in practice the radiator nearest the boiler/pump will be hotter getting cooler as you move along further away from the boiler. iv) Then you need to slightly close the one valve on the hottest radiator to move hot water onto the next radiator and so on along the line of radiators, You may need to move between radiators a few times until you obtain the same temperature to each radiator at which point you have balanced the flow . v) Only after you have obtained this balance you can refit the TRV, since if the TRV's are left in situ and they start to close down you will not be able to balance the system. The U tube video above may help to demonstrate this. Hope this helps

A few years ago we were based at Acton Bridge on Trent and Mersey with a Friday pm start time. This resulted in us arriving at Middlewich on Saturday. We soon learnt that it paid to arrive at Big Lock no earlier than 11am and be cleared of Wardle Lock by 2pm to avoid the returning boats to the two hire bases at Middlewich and before their new crews commenced their holidays on Saturday pm. Otherwise it was a very slow journey though MIddlewich after which all boats appeared to be spaced out. There was no clear direction of travel for traffic as Middlewich boats were above the three locks and Anderson boats below the three locks. Not so these days as I understand Middlewich boat no longer trading !

Nay, the bogget was having a crafty fag

Since my original post in response to MtB comments, I have now obtained access to the Building Regulation documents and would amend / clarify my original post as fpllows: a) Building house standards for unvented hot water systems in excess of 500 litres PRV are covered by Building Regulations document G3 and do not apply to boat installations and I agree with MtB do not disagree that the PRV should be located as close as possible to the item being protected. This document also states that PRV should be mounted directly on the calorifier and that discharge pipes may be made with Polybutane, Polyethylene or Polypropylene materials.

The photos published were intended to show the location of the PRV on a boat we previously owned. In response to MtB comments I would say a) house standards for PRV are covered by Building Regulations and do not apply to boat installations and I do not disagree that the PRV should be located as close as possible to the item being protected. b) the pipe used was Wavin Hep2O, which according to manufacturers data sheet is intended for installation on boats and can be used for short (duration) malfunction at 114 deg C and 3 bar pressure. The pipe in question is also fully enclosed behind side panels throughout it's length. Therefore IF in the event of the PRV operating AND the pipe failing due to prolong temperature /pressure the escape of water / steam would not cause risk to personnel. with is the purpose of PRV's c) I also strongly agree that an isolation valve should NOT be installed between the calorifier and PRV, and was surprise to find one installed. However, in this instance the valve was in a concealed location and could only be operated by use of a dumpy screwdriver, the valve head being rotated to almost face the side of the boat. Certainly not ideal but normally not found by Joe Public

Hi, our shower pump and PRV was accessible behind a small (24" high x 18" wide approx) panel with 6 screws located at floor level and between bath and cupboard with basin on top. Panel had towel ring attached on outside of panel. Photo attached has been auto rotated by computer. Rotate anticlockwise to correct with pump at lower level.

Yea, but I did not like the fact that they had no bow access door for at least emergency exit. The double bed filled the whole width at the bows.

in addition to above, a good way of location small leaks is using a sheet of tissue paper in your hand , which will easily show up any water. Start at the lowest point and move up with a clean sheet until on water found. This is good for finding small leaks from which water travels in different directions SWD also built a lot of boats for the Canaltime hire boats,

We had a 2005 SWCC boat and whilst the calorifier was a horizontal unit located below the rear steps, the PRV was located behind the panelling in the bathroom amidships and next to shower pump with discharge via skin fitting at that point. only minor leak we had was from the drain cock fitted to the calorifier due to brass DC in plastic pipe connection

Basically, the frictional losses of an elbow is greater than a 90 degree bend which in turn is greater than a pulled large radius bend. For gravity systems to work the resistance of all fittings and the pipework need to be the lowest possible. Pipes need to be installed with a good rise to highest point ideally the radiator to promote flow. However, we had a boat with a reflect stove as shown, which used 15mm pipework and a circulation pump. Once the pump was stopped the stove would lockout on high temperature. The stove would then need to let cool down over a couple of hours before being relit.

we spotted it many times before slowing down (we were the last boat in a line) to capture the image shown albeit missing one arm and a leg LOL