eggpie

So I left the fridge turned off for a couple of days, came back to it today, and it's behaving perfectly. Weird. So I fitted a new 15a breaker and ran away. Neighbour seems happy for now, anyway. Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try the controller next time it stops working...

Yep. The breaker was tripping long before the voltage dropped enough to set the !ow voltage light off. There's still around 12.5v with it running, so it has to be the fridge. Shoreline said they'd only ever seen a handful of compressor failures. They were more evasive when I asked about the controller though.

Its a dedicated fridge circuit. I traced the cables to look for stray connections and there's nothing else. If I turn the fridge off there's no current. This makes me suspect the fridge.. The 20a was measured with a clamp ammeter and may not be exact. Its not enough to blow a 15a blade fuse. I probably need to make a more accurate measurement

It's a dc breaker, attached to an old switch panel. I've given up on the breaker. What still concerns me is the warm 15a blade fuse, and the high reading on the clamp meter. My shoreline draws somewhere around 5a when running, and the 15a fuse is definitely not warm. Neighbour says his was working perfectly, but his definition and mine may be different. I'll check the fan and grill for dust though.

What would make a 12v fridge trip a 15a fuse? Yes, another fridge thread. It must be summer. Essentially, my neighbours fridge has been repeatedly tripping the 15a breaker since yesterday. It runs for up to a minute, then blows the breaker, so at least the compressor definitely starts. I've temporarily replaced the breaker with a 15a blade fuse,which doesn't blow, but it definitely gets warm. My clamp ammeter suggests its drawing around 20a when running (may not be entirely accurate due to survival of 15a fuse). I've checked the connections from the isolators forwards, and remade all of them (except for some previous soldered ones where the 16mm2 cable joins a short piece of 6mm2 cable behind the fridge). Could those be creating resistance? Shoreline told me earlier that the danfoss compressors never draw above 13a when theyre running, which might be enough to make the blade fuse warm? Also there are no flashing lights on the fridge to suggest faults, and I've tested it with the engine running at >13v, and there's still no obvious voltage drop at the fridge due to wiring. Any suggestions what I'd try next?

Chandlers are closed on Sunday due to January. Retired for consolation beer. I'll give you a call tomorrow about the housing and possibly a better bolt. Thanks for the help!

There's no more than 5mm of thread. The whole bolt is c.24mm long. I think the stripped part of the filter housing is only the first couple of mm, so potentially a longer bolt could be a (possibly temporary) solution. I'm going to poke around the local chandlers this afternoon as a first step.

So I should just replace the one I have? Is the banjo bolt meant to only fit in by a couple of turns? It doesn't seem like enough, but maybe that's just the weakened metal.

The banjo fitting on the engine side of my fuel filter was leaking, so my initial plan was to replace the copper washers and tighten it all up again. However, the thread inside the housing has stripped, so it's not going to tighten. Also, the banjo bolt that was in the stripped housing is only long enough to engage by 2-3 turns. That seems a little short. Is that the correct bolt? Are there replacements easily available? Or should I take this as an opportunity to fit a Cav style pump somewhere? There's no lift pump, just a hardi electric fuel pump by the tank, and the whole supply is made of 1/8 copper, so would it be better to remove the banjo/filter, join the ends and fit an alternative filter off the engine? Suggestions that are likely to be obtainable from Uxbridge boat centre (or nearby) on a sunday will receive extra credit..

I'd second (third? Fifth? Seventeenth?) the series / parallel wiring. My only concern is putting 4 x 150w panels into a controller that is rated "Max Rated Charging Power (20A), 260W"..

Assuming I wanted to make one (or find someone with better welding skills to make one for me), does anyone have any pictures of existing designs? Are the bottles chained inside, or would a bar of some sort be enough to keep the bottles secure? I assume that the doors would bolt shut from the outside? Google doesn't seem to be much help with the pictures, and I can't get out stalking piper boat owners until the weekend..

Which is exactly what 7.2.4 seems to be checking. And 7.2.3 says "Door seals with no signs of gaps or damage must satisfy check 7.2.4 or pass the smoke pellet test." As everyone has said, there's no point having seals on an external side opening locker that's required to have a drain to the outside anyway

Exactly! Is 7.2.3 (which Alan quotes above) meant to apply only to side opening lockers on a deck, not outside? The 2005 BSS guide also says (after 7.2.1) "Best practice : Lockers that open from the top or from the outside of the boat are easier to make and keep LPG-tight. "

Has anyone got a gas locker that is accessed from the cabin sides? Would making such a thing be easy? . The boat project I'm looking at has an extended cabin that covers what used to be the front deck, so there's no room for a gas locker. Obviously the trad stern has no room either. I'm thinking about side doors, like a hatch, that open to an enclosed steel cabinet for a couple of gas bottles. It'd only be really used for cooking, so potentially using one bottle, or two smaller ones, would be an option to make the locker smaller. Making sure it drains outside should be relatively easy. Is there any other BSS requirement that I'd need to be aware of? I was thinking about the retrofit hatches that kedian makes, but with an attached locker that sits in the cabin. It'd take up some headroom, but if that was in the engine room it wouldn't be in the way.

If you use an equally decent relay, powered via the ignition key, instead of the manual isolation switch, the problem of forgetting goes away (as long as you remember to turn the key off..)