Boiling glycol
Even though temperature reaches 15-20 degrees during the day it can drop to -1 C at night. The boat is rigged and ready for sailing and long weekend is coming so I need to secure some heat source for creature comfort at night. Kerosane storm lantern is perfect for the evening but it would be pleasant to wake up in a warm boat.
All POD GeHå bits are in place so tonight I connected the circulation pump and filled the system with glycol. The stove, radiators and hoses took almost 4 liters to fill.
I was pretty sure that all the air was gone from the installation so I fired the stove.
A few minutes to adjust the wick and we have a nice, blue flame.
Chimney is sitting close to the mast, out of harm’s way so the system can be used even during sailing.
Circulation pump is not 100% silent… I will need to sound-isolate it if we gonna use it extensively, otherwise the “buzzing” is a bit annoying.
I left the system to heat up and went to the cockpit to install additional blocks at the end of the boom. This is to adjust sail shape depending on wind conditions. On Safir “Motoko” I had a fancy set of blocks running inside the boom so I could trim the sail from the cockpit. Meritaten is not a racing boat (at least by today’s standards) but I lack this functionality so I added simple block with quick-catch cleat.
The leverage should be enough to control the shape while sailing. This will be used mostly while beating against the wind so the boom will be close to me, within hand reach.
Back in the cabin the heater got warm but radiators were still ice-cold. Something was not working - I checked that the pump is connected correctly but just to check I reversed it for a while. Still no effect on radiators.
After a while the glycol started to boil and the oven spat all the excess into expansion bottle.
Shit!
Scary experience!
I shut down the heat and waited till all settled down, not daring to come too close to the expansion system. There must still be air trapped inside, preventing the fluid from circulation.
Well, I’ll look into it tomorrow - it got late and dark so I packed tools and went home.