Now that all the major pre-launch items were behind me,
I could focus on the heating system, commissioning of
which I'd put off till the more important items were
complete.
The first step towards this end was to fill the system
with water to check for leaks and flush out any foreign
particles. During installation, I'd included a
drain valve at the low point of the system, and I could
use this same valve to fill the system. The valve
featured a garden hose thread, but unhelpfully it was a
male thread, so I couldn't connect it directly to a
normal hose.
Fortunately, I had some various adapter parts on hand,
and by butchering the female end of a host I'd planned
to replace anyway, I could make up a length of custom
hose with two female ends that would adapt to the
drain/fill valve, and to which I could connect a hose
from the water supply.
I filled the system with water according to the
instructions, till the expansion tank (the highest point
of the system) was filled about 1/4 full. I
checked throughout the system, examining all the hose
connections and other areas to look for leaks (none).
I did have to tighten a couple of the bleed valves,
which apparently hadn't been tight at the onset and as
delivered.
Then, satisfied with the initial filling and finding no
leaks, I drained the system back through the hose and
into a bucket so I could measure the capacity of the
heating system; this was important so that later, I
could determine how much antifreeze to add to end up
with a 60/40 coolant mix. The total capacity was
2.6 gallons, which meant later I'd use a gallon of
antifreeze to make the proper mixture. But there
were additional steps to go through before then.
With the test and flush complete, I refilled the system
with plain water, this time till the expansion tank was
about half full (or where I could feel it with my finger
inside the cap since I couldn't see in there).
Then, I went around the system and opened the bleed
valves: one was located at each of the two fan
heaters, and also on the system's combination
engine/boiler heat exchanger in the engine room.
At each valve, I released trapped air till water ran
clearly before shutting the valve.
Next, it was time to power up the system and prime the
fuel system, for which there was a little button built
into the so-called Surewire Board (the main wiring
control board for the system) that would operate the
fuel pump. This worked, and I let it do its thing
as directed. In this photo, one can see two little
green lights in the center of the board, just to the
right of the upper terminal block: these show
power on, and the fuel pump running (the lower light).
Later, I went to start up the system and run it with its
temporary pure water fill. Here, however, I ran
into a problem: the system wouldn't start up as
expected. I wasn't sure what was wrong, as I'd
found power to operate the fuel pump, but something
wasn't right, obviously.
Tracing out the issue, I eventually identified that I'd
mis-wired a single wire to the wrong terminal on the
main switch up in the console. It was very clear
on my diagram what I was supposed to have done, yet for
who knows why I'd not done it that way. This
simple fix was made complicated (natch) by difficult
access: the switch was high up in the console and
only accessible from inside. So I had to partially
dismantle things, undo wire ties, etc. to finally gain
the access I needed to double check the wires and move
the one that needed it, after which the system powered
up as expected.
I ran a relatively short test, allowing the boiler to
heat up and circulate water through the system for
several minutes, but with the boat indoors, I had to
limit testing time somewhat, lest I expel too much
exhaust into the shop (even with the doors wide open).
This short video shows the system up and running.
The exhaust shot was very early in the test, and the
exhaust didn't remain this visible throughout.
Happy with the successful--at least eventually so--test,
I shut down and looked forward to truly wrapping things
up next time. Now I had to let the system cool,
before I could check the water level, drain the required
1.05 gallons, and add in the special low-silicate
antifreeze to make the proper coolant solution.
