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Alde Slimline Boiler


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I find that ours can be quite temperamental about gas. And totally inconsistently temperamental. Will often require the knob held down for quite a while (10 - 15 secs) before the pilot will ignite after a while out of use. Seems like the gas pipe 'empties' - not sure of the physics of that. Standard operating procedure now is to light a ring on the gas hob to re-establish gas through the pipes - still takes a while to light the Alde pilot but works happily after that.

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On 18/10/2017 at 18:54, Opener said:

. Seems like the gas pipe 'empties' - not sure of the physics of that. Standard operating procedure now is to light a ring on the gas hob to re-establish gas through the pipes - still takes a while to light the Alde pilot but works happily after that.

That's the excat process I go through to start mine after a period away. 

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  • 5 weeks later...
On ‎17‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 22:31, Nightwatch said:

FIXED!!! Took apart again tonight, with the help of someone on this forum, and his blowing skills, that are far more superior to mine, a tiny bit of s**t was cleared from the pilot housing. Put back together and wowee we have a boiler.

Didn't need a new thermocouple. Hey ho!

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions, as usual all welcome.

Had a similar problem. Thought rather than blowing, I would use a can of "Air Duster" with a small tube on the nozzle. You know the things - they sell them to clean your keyboard I think. Ideal I thought, can get right in there.

I am not sure if it was this or the resulting explosion that blasted the muck out when I tried the igniter!!

Lesson learned. Cans of "air duster" do not actually contain air!

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On 18/10/2017 at 18:54, Opener said:

I find that ours can be quite temperamental about gas. And totally inconsistently temperamental. Will often require the knob held down for quite a while (10 - 15 secs) before the pilot will ignite after a while out of use. Seems like the gas pipe 'empties' - not sure of the physics of that. Standard operating procedure now is to light a ring on the gas hob to re-establish gas through the pipes - still takes a while to light the Alde pilot but works happily after that.

 

Its a tiny gas leak. When you leave the boat ans turn the gas bottles off, the leak allows the gas pressure to fall to zero. Then overnight it cools and the gas inside shrinks a bit more and sucks a little bit of air in through the leak. Then next day the slightly diluted gas in the system expands and a bit more escapes through the leak. And so the process contunues diluting the gas in the system a bit more each night until it is full of air, and you have to purge it on return to the boat.

Lots of boats do this including one of mine. Nothing to worry about as long as is passes a BSS gas tightness test. 

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1 hour ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Its a tiny gas leak. When you leave the boat ans turn the gas bottles off, the leak allows the gas pressure to fall to zero. Then overnight it cools and the gas inside shrinks a bit more and sucks a little bit of air in through the leak. Then next day the slightly diluted gas in the system expands and a bit more escapes through the leak. And so the process contunues diluting the gas in the system a bit more each night until it is full of air, and you have to purge it on return to the boat.

Lots of boats do this including one of mine. Nothing to worry about as long as is passes a BSS gas tightness test. 

That what happens to mine, just had a new cooker fitted, bubble tester and pipe on the boiler, When the gas man tested it it had a very slight leak on the pipe that goes into the boiler only when it was not running. Leak didn't show on the bubble tester but his gas sniffer pen picked it up.

It seems to be a common occurrence getting the pipe/ joint to seal on the inlet of the boiler, its very temperamental.

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1 hour ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Quite. 

Bubble testers are not very sensitive. I'm surprised the BSS is willing to rely on them. Nobody else does!

Completely agree,  I mean how hard would it be to ensure all BSS testers know how to use a manometer?

 

Edited by cuthound
To remove a space masquerading as a letter.
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12 minutes ago, cuthound said:

Completely agree,  I mean how hard would it be to e sure all BSS testers know how to use a manometer?

 

They probably all know how to use one, but they’re not allowed to use one on a liveaboard boat due to a ludicrous quirk of the GSIUR legislation. Unless they become Gas Safe registered and learn about all sorts of irellevant stuff just so they can remove and replace a screwed in plug.

Edited by nicknorman
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33 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

They probably all know how to use one, but they’re not allowed to use one on a liveaboard boat due to a ludicrous quirk of the GSIUR legislation. Unless they become Gas Safe registered and learn about all sorts of irellevant stuff just so they can remove and replace a screwed in plug.

So just how much is the Gas Safe training and exam, plus annual registration? (perhaps MtB can advise) And how many BSS inspections does the average BSS bod do in a year? I know several are BSS registered.

I suspect they don't want to do it because it takes them out of their comfort zone rather than because it is not economically viable. It will almost certainly be cheaper to use a GasSafe registered BSS bod, than employ a BSS Sbody and a Gas Safe technicIan just to do the manometer test. 

 

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32 minutes ago, cuthound said:

So just how much is the Gas Safe training and exam, plus annual registration? (perhaps MtB can advise) And how many BSS inspections does the average BSS bod do in a year? I know several are BSS registered.

I suspect they don't want to do it because it takes them out of their comfort zone rather than because it is not economically viable. It will almost certainly be cheaper to use a GasSafe registered BSS bod, than employ a BSS Sbody and a Gas Safe technicIan just to do the manometer test. 

 

The BSS bod doesn’t need to be GSR to do the manometer test on a non-live-aboard boat and there are plenty of them around.

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On 11/24/2017 at 18:51, cuthound said:

So just how much is the Gas Safe training and exam, plus annual registration? (perhaps MtB can advise) And how many BSS inspections does the average BSS bod do in a year? I know several are BSS registered.

I suspect they don't want to do it because it takes them out of their comfort zone rather than because it is not economically viable. It will almost certainly be cheaper to use a GasSafe registered BSS bod, than employ a BSS Sbody and a Gas Safe technicIan just to do the manometer test. 

 

According to our (now retired) GasSafe (Boats) bod, quite a bit.

He wanted to do gas work on caravans, and had to do a course on mains gas, before doing the LPG course. He did the "boats" bit because it was only an extra day, "only" another  hundred quid or so, and meant he didn't have to go back to work until after the week end ... (As it turned out, luckily for us, as we needed a gas certificate for a trip boat)

I think it was well over a grand in total to get the qualifications. 

 

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10 hours ago, Iain_S said:

According to our (now retired) GasSafe (Boats) bod, quite a bit.

He wanted to do gas work on caravans, and had to do a course on mains gas, before doing the LPG course. He did the "boats" bit because it was only an extra day, "only" another  hundred quid or so, and meant he didn't have to go back to work until after the week end ... (As it turned out, luckily for us, as we needed a gas certificate for a trip boat)

I think it was well over a grand in total to get the qualifications. 

 

Thanks Ian,

So relatively cheap to add, assuming you do mains gas as well.

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2 minutes ago, cuthound said:

So relatively cheap to add, assuming you do mains gas as well.

 

No, you have to do the LPG Changeover course as well as Core Gas Safety. 

My Core Gas Safety initial training and assessment cost about £2k back in 2001 and was full time for two weeks, so two weeks loss of earnings too. Then a further week or so doing all the appliance classes for about a further £1k IIRC. LPG Changeover initial training and assessment was about £1k and took another week ISTR, and mine came with boats included in that cost.   

Renewals every five years are much cheaper - about one third of the cost. Initial training and assessments are far more thorough and penetrating than the subsequent reassessments. 

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4 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

No, you have to do the LPG Changeover course as well as Core Gas Safety. 

My Core Gas Safety initial training and assessment cost about £2k back in 2001 and was full time for two weeks, so two weeks loss of earnings too. Then a further week or so doing all the appliance classes for about a further £1k IIRC. LPG Changeover initial training and assessment was about £1k and took another week ISTR, and mine came with boats included in that cost.   

Renewals every five years are much cheaper - about one third of the cost. Initial training and assessments are far more thorough and penetrating than the subsequent reassessments. 

Thanks Mike.

Do Gas Safe bods get paid more for LPG work compared with mains gas work as there is presumably less competition?

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4 minutes ago, cuthound said:

Thanks Mike.

Do Gas Safe bods get paid more for LPG work compared with mains gas work as there is presumably less competition?

The last time I needed one that didn’t appear to be the case. £35 for half an hour including (short distance, only about 6 miles) travel. 

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