[Nathanael Jones]

Mr Sol,... how does your reel invention work???

I could do with one! It sounds like a great time/energy saver,.... defo something I'd be interested in trying!

[[GQC] Tim]

He hasn't replied the last two times that I've asked that, so he probably wants to keep it for himself.

[windowwashers]

A really interesting topic here, I'm enjoying reading it's development.

Thanks for sharing it with us, Nathaniel.


Just one little thing, on your van you have written "up to 60' hight"
I'm sorry I notice these things.  The spelling is "Height".
Strange but true

Hes got high! on there not hight 

I thought it said hight also till I looked again.
but system is coming on well Nat 

[Village Gleam]

GQC
I'm only on my second day of using the reel, and there are currently issues with snatching and guidance, but i'm working on it and it's definitely better than winding it in manually.

The other thing is, on the diy gutter vac thread I saw how upset Glynn was and I felt a bit sorry for him.I don't expect at £2,500 for a retro fit anyones particularly thrilled about how much Nat's system cost either. There are parts of my electric reel device that supercede others creations in a similar way(Not copy, different but better and for very small cost against the proprietory product).

Nat,
About temperature and flow regulation. (prefaced with in my opinion)
Firstly I found the Marizboa you have almost perfectly balanced without any further need for control. The flow was a bit higher than I would have liked (the burner wont light if the flows too low), but only a bit.
I do not beleive it is possible to regulate our simple LPG on demand systems in the same way that the diesel systems can be mixed and thermostaticly controlled. However it may be possible to divert some water back to the tank after the heater if the pressure at the brushhead can be maintained.

The Marizboa is my reserve heater, and the one i'm using does have too high a flow rate.Matt, you may recall gave me a link for an inline hoselock regulator. I've fitted this and it doesn't work (feeble pressure at the brush head). What I'm thinking now is that if I fit another in series this might help, and also if the pipe to the tank is uphill, so that is what I shall try next.

As you know I have two of everything. For the price and lead times involved I suggest you get another Marizboa for back up. Just a suggestion.

[Nathanael Jones]

Did you have problems with the heater breaking down then Mr Sol??? I got mine in 5 working days with the express delivery,.. cost a little more, but no way was I waiting 6-8 weeks!!

[Village Gleam]

When the gas pressure dropped (it was very cold or the bottle ran out). I found it a bit confused and not shutting off. I don't know if there is a safety device but it sometimes used to hiss. This never did any damage because i kept my eye on it.

When my hose pipe burst (twice) this was because it was ordinary garden hose and not up to it. I put car radiator hose on but have since found that tricoflex does the job (it balloons a bit over time).

My heater is attached by wing nuts and can be switched in ten minutes as I have them both pre attached to regulators.This backs onto nothing so i removed the need for a fire retardent. The one i have fitted at the minute has a pilot light.

My Marizboa works perfectly as far as I know and I can re attach it if required.

My suggestion of another heater was only that,a suggestion, it wasn't a dig saying give it a few weaks and it'll break or anything like that.

In the wider scheme, we have very, very, cheap systems, so to me a second heater is worth having for the marginal extra cost. Your gas will probably last you three to four weeks which works out at about an english pound a day.People running diesel pay six times this.

[Nathanael Jones]

I'm feeling the need for thermal hose today,... I had most of the 100 mtr reel out today,.. and the water was only lukewarm hitting the glass, even with it almost scalding hot at source. 

Still,.. I find lukewarm water works a lot better than cold water,.. 

[Nathanael Jones]

I decided to leave the vents open yesterday and see how I got on. I've been driving with them open,.. there's been storms and plenty of rain,..... and not a drop of water leaked in!!!
 

Even open, they're well below the height of any roof rack,.. here's a pic:

[[GQC] Tim]

Looking very good.

[matt]

Matt, you may recall gave me a link for an inline hoselock regulator. I've fitted this and it doesn't work (feeble pressure at the brush head).

i think you must have got the wrong idea

its just a simple by-pass set-up and you just direct A LITTLE back to the tank by just opening the tap / valve a little, the more you open it, the more goes back into the tank which inturn means less to the brush head

edit, it seems this site will not allow pics to be shown that are hosted on i  i dont see why ? ? ?

[matt]

I decided to leave the vents open yesterday and see how I got on. I've been driving with them open,.. there's been storms and plenty of rain,..... and not a drop of water leaked in!!!
 

they are desinged to stay open mate, thats why people in campers and caravans use them, this is why i said to try them

[Nathanael Jones]

OK,.. I'm officially converted. I was doing regular domestic cleans today,.. and after 10 mins I went back to the van and switched the heater on!

What can I say,... my hands were cold!!! 

Yes,.. hot wfp does make you soft!

[Village Gleam]

I know you are only supposed to open it a little. But when you open it a little you lose all of the internal pressure.That's why i've tried putting a second inline.(isn't it handy that I always get two of everything?). So I open the first hoselock regulator going back to the tank just a little, then after about eight inches I open the second hoselock regulator just a little. And this may work.

I think it does but I can't say for definite because I keep having leaks from one of the regulators.

Who was it who got this to work?because I don't believe them in the simplistic form.As more and more users convert to an on demand  system this or some form of bypass is set to become very important to the point of being standard or integral to a system. The benefits are that you can use almost any heater with almost any flow, and instead of leaving the system hot and pressured at packing up time you can release it back into the tank.
Anyone reading this who hasn't a clue what we're going on about the problem  is releasing some water back into the tank without a large drop in pressure. The reason this needs to be done is to maintain a high flow through the heater, and the reason this high flow is required is that for safety the main burners wont operate without it.

Anyone know how plumbers would approach this?
Or how conept 02 got round it?

[windowwashers]

forgive me if I am wrong here hoselock regulator are they not meant for cold water hoses ??

maybe just maybe you guys may want to look at correct fixings and then your problems may stop happening.

Just a thought.

Ian

[Nathanael Jones]

I know you are only supposed to open it a little. But when you open it a little you lose all of the internal pressure.That's why i've tried putting a second inline.(isn't it handy that I always get two of everything?). So I open the first hoselock regulator going back to the tank just a little, then after about eight inches I open the second hoselock regulator just a little. And this may work.

I think it does but I can't say for definite because I keep having leaks from one of the regulators.

Who was it who got this to work?because I don't believe them in the simplistic form.As more and more users convert to an on demand  system this or some form of bypass is set to become very important to the point of being standard or integral to a system. The benefits are that you can use almost any heater with almost any flow, and instead of leaving the system hot and pressured at packing up time you can release it back into the tank.
Anyone reading this who hasn't a clue what we're going on about the problem  is releasing some water back into the tank without a large drop in pressure. The reason this needs to be done is to maintain a high flow through the heater, and the reason this high flow is required is that for safety the main burners wont operate without it.

Anyone know how plumbers would approach this?
Or how conept 02 got round it?

I've been puzzling this problem myself, and the only idea hitting me at the moment is a higher flow pump. This will allow you to loose more water to the bypass whilst showing less of an effect at the brush head. Not an Ideal solution though, as it'll decrease your battery life.

[Village Gleam]

Maybe the hoselock things werent right for hot.Ie window washers may have been right!!!

Anyway the problem is now resolved. For simplictitys sake I am going to call this Mr Solubility's progressive pressure relief bypass to tank gadget. It will be standard on on demand systems from now on. There are three main benefits.
1. any heater can now be used with any flow
2 water can be saved back to the tank if the flow is too high
3The pressure can be relieved at any time and water in the system returned to the tank

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Nathanael Jones]

How far do you open the valve before it affects the flow at the brush head? I've got a very similar valve going back to my main wfp tank, but I was only using it to heat the tank on frosty nights,... I was going to install a separate (Smaller) line as the bypass,... but if it works I can just use the existing valve opened a fraction?
Here's a pic,... my solution for the last few days was just to kink the cold inlet on the thermostatic valve!!

[Village Gleam]

Yes it seems to work with the brush head pressure remaining okay or workable, the angle in the the photo is how I have it set, just a little, as Matt would have it.(in line being fully open, 90 degrees being fully shut)
From your daigram I thought your bypass was before the heater, that's why I didn't think it would work.
I had a lot of problems with the hoselock regulators leaking, and even the tricoflex was failing so i've gone back to car radiator hose.

[Nathanael Jones]

I'm using minibore for all hoses except for the line that returns back to the tank, and the short connector between the hot outlet on the heater and the thermostatic valve. So far it's holding up very well,.. looks like it'll do the job fine. I can't wait for the thermobore from Gardiners tho!

[Village Gleam]

Thermobore? that's good, where did the name come from.
Mini bore- microbore- thermobore, yes it works doesn't it. Is that someyhing Alex has thought of?
The all New Gardiners Thermobore does have a certain ring, if it is his he wants to stick some protection on it.