Boiler – fixed!
I’m not quite feeling myself today. Don’t worry, I don’t have a permanent cough or a high temperature. But I just feel a little shattered. Not sure why. Oh well.
We got back from the campsite on Monday and the next 24 hours was a Doris boiler solving session. In the end all was sorted, but it wasn’t without a trial. If you remember I was convinced the boiler (which delivers both hot water and blown hot air) had ruptured, hence water was dripping from one of the hot air ducts. Well I dismantled the furniture, fired it up and waited for an obvious leak. Nothing. Not a sausage.
[image error]furniture dismantled. Exhaust and air inlet is the black tube on the left. Fawn pipes on the right are the hot air vents
So I checked all of the water-pipe work in the van, most of which is between the two floors – finding the pipework wasn’t without a struggle – and that was almost all ok. Eventually I spotted water falling from a vent under the van. The vent is for a fan in the loo to stop the place smelling. And then C joined me and pointed to a pipe in the loo compartment which looked like it had come undone. Sure enough, the outlet from the sink in the bathroom had popped apart at a join. The break was causing the water to leak out of the loo vent and also track down to the hot air vent and drip from there. It had also tracked across the van into the battery compartment. And, I found a couple of other places. Mmmm.
Fixing it should have been straight forward. Alas, no. No matter what I did I couldn’t get the pipe to connect – it wouldn’t reach; not enough to be leak free with a jubilee clip. I reckon it’s been leaking for some time. In the end I replace the pipe with a longer piece and all is well in the leaking department.
[image error]the offending article. I replaced the top grey pipe.
Ahh, but now the boiler doesn’t actually light! How does that work (or, in this case, not)? I was flummoxed as all I had done was remove the hot air ducts and the exhaust. The boiler (a Truma 4) has a hidden LED panel which tells the mechanics what the problem is. Having downloaded the manual, my set of LEDs told me that there was either an airflow problem, or a low voltage. Well, with 200 amphours of Li-Ion batteries, it couldn’t be the latter. Indeed – it was the former. When I had put the exhaust back on, I hadn’t fitted it properly and, as a result, the boiler said ‘no’. Which, if you think about it, is pretty clever. Ten minutes later and all was well. And I also fitted a carbon monoxide detector in the compartment just to be on the safe side. Phew.
What else? Not much really. The bike and trailer are on the market – I’m likely to have someone come on Monday to have a look. And, other than that my mate Kenn came round last night for a socially distant supper in the garden. And C and I made the rash decision that now we have the boiler working we might as well go back to our campsite and spend another week there. So we’re off tomorrow. (Can’t wait!)
[image error]Kenn and motorbike came round for supper
Other than that, not much. I’ve done some other bits and pieces in Doris and we’ve both been for a run. Oh … and tonight we get to watch the last episode of The Marvellous Mrs Maisel (on Prime). If you’ve not watched it, think of Ozark and then imagine something which is just as well acted, directed and produced, but diametrically opposed to it in every way … and you have Mrs Maisel. It’s fab.
Anyhow, keep safe!
