HURRICANE DIESEL HEATER

[pablothetrucker]

Hello folks,

Just bought a 40' 1998 Chas Harden Narrowboat, generally in good order but with a 2002 Hurricane Diesel Water Heater system with 3000 hours on it. Once switched on, after about three minutes, the unit "flames out" and smoke billows from the unit. I don't have time to diagnose or fix this myself as I'm in the middle of a house move and job change so am seeking any info on engineers in the south west who could fix it. The boat is in Bristol, so somebody from the south west would be favourite as I dont really want to shell out 40p/mile for Calcutt's guy to come all the way from from the Midlands, especially as their call out charge is £140 plus £55 p/hr labour costs!

Any help/recommendations would be very much appreciated.

Thanks very much,

Paul.

[mrsmelly]

16 minutes ago, pablothetrucker said:

Hello folks,

Just bought a 40' 1998 Chas Harden Narrowboat, generally in good order but with a 2002 Hurricane Diesel Water Heater system with 3000 hours on it. Once switched on, after about three minutes, the unit "flames out" and smoke billows from the unit. I don't have time to diagnose or fix this myself as I'm in the middle of a house move and job change so am seeking any info on engineers in the south west who could fix it. The boat is in Bristol, so somebody from the south west would be favourite as I dont really want to shell out 40p/mile for Calcutt's guy to come all the way from from the Midlands, especially as their call out charge is £140 plus £55 p/hr labour costs!

Any help/recommendations would be very much appreciated.

Thanks very much,

Paul.

Cant help re your location. However just like to mention that Calcutt checked my Hurricane over for me, stripped it down and showed me how knackered it was and even when I said I didn't want it repairing and asked what I owed them thus far they said no charge. Good in this day and age I thought. They are a great bit of kit but very expensive to sort out.

[jonesthenuke]

I have a Hurricane and generally they are simple mechanically. Before calling someone in there are some things that would be worth checking either by yourself or anyone reasonably practical

I had a somewhat similar problem with ours a few years ago and posted about it on here:-

When the unit is running in the first three minutes does it fire up?  It sound like it does as you say it smokes. There is a small window at one end where you should see the burner flame.

Is the fuel supply adequate?

Is the air inlet hose blocked?

Does the fan run? This gives a whirring sound on initial start up

Does the compressor run? This is more of a thumping sound

If the above are OK I suggest having a look at the jet and the inside of the burner tube. If all is ok then you may have a duff compressor like we had (running but inadequate air output)

The manual is on the net if you search for it.

 

 

 

[OldGoat]

 Could it be something simple - such as not enough voltage??

So may folks come on here with knackered / insufficiently charged batteries....

[jonesthenuke]

Hurricane heaters are sensitive to low voltage as it causes mine shutdown. I do not think you get smoke etc as a result, just a shutdown.

[Mohsen]

Didn't realise Calcutt charged so much. That's extortionate. 

Does yours have a return fuel line ?

[pablothetrucker]

Thank you all for your responses.

Jones the nuke, checked everything on your list, all ok, so looks like its probably the compressor. Batteries are fine, fully charged and recently installed so not a power issue. Think I might bite the bullet and get Calcutts to sort it due to time constraints!

Paul.

[BruceinSanity]

11 hours ago, Mohsen said:

Didn't realise Calcutt charged so much. That's extortionate. 

Does yours have a return fuel line ?

£55ph is not unusual in the boatyard world, I fear.

58 minutes ago, pablothetrucker said:

Thank you all for your responses.

Jones the nuke, checked everything on your list, all ok, so looks like its probably the compressor. Batteries are fine, fully charged and recently installed so not a power issue. Think I might bite the bullet and get Calcutts to sort it due to time constraints!

Paul.

It's usually the compressor which is a piece of ... Dont understand why, it's not as if a fuel line compressor is an unusual device these days!

Having watched ours being changed at Calcutt, it doesn't look like a difficult install as long as you can get to the left hand access panel easily. Might be worth getting the spare from Calcutt and getting your local fitter to do the job, thus saving the travel costs.