Leighb
Well-Known Member
I have a diesel heater (Ardic) it is currently fed from a tatty looking steel outboard tank.
This is fitted in the cockpit locker adjacent to the heater. It effectively occupies a great deal of the locker, as it is mounted on a base board that blocks off the bottom of the locker, and incidentally access to the cockpit drain seacock.
It cannot be lifted out of the locker to fill up without disconnecting the fuel feed pipe, and trying to do it in situ has the potential for messy diesel spills.
It would appear that it was originally intended to be fed direct from the main tank, as there is an extra fuel feed pipe fitted, which has been blanked off.
From reading the Ardic manual they did not check the specifications as they would have discovered that the main tank is too far below the heater for the Ardic pump to lift.
My idea is to have a small "day tank" alongside the heater, fitted to the bulkhead. This would be fed from the main tank by an electric pump, which would maintain a regular supply to the heater without the need to refill it.
Clearly there would be a need to have a float switch, or some such, in the day tank to shut off the electric pump when the tank was full.
Does any one have any experience of such a system?
What should the tank be made of, plastic or stainless?
Any suggestions for who would be good to fabricate. Tek-Tanks are one possibility, any others?
Are such switches available, I have tried googling but with no result?
The pumps are definitely available and capable of easily lifting the necessary height.
Any obvious snags that I have not foreseen?
Is there a far simpler system that I have not considered?
This is fitted in the cockpit locker adjacent to the heater. It effectively occupies a great deal of the locker, as it is mounted on a base board that blocks off the bottom of the locker, and incidentally access to the cockpit drain seacock.
It cannot be lifted out of the locker to fill up without disconnecting the fuel feed pipe, and trying to do it in situ has the potential for messy diesel spills.
It would appear that it was originally intended to be fed direct from the main tank, as there is an extra fuel feed pipe fitted, which has been blanked off.
From reading the Ardic manual they did not check the specifications as they would have discovered that the main tank is too far below the heater for the Ardic pump to lift.
My idea is to have a small "day tank" alongside the heater, fitted to the bulkhead. This would be fed from the main tank by an electric pump, which would maintain a regular supply to the heater without the need to refill it.
Clearly there would be a need to have a float switch, or some such, in the day tank to shut off the electric pump when the tank was full.
Does any one have any experience of such a system?
What should the tank be made of, plastic or stainless?
Any suggestions for who would be good to fabricate. Tek-Tanks are one possibility, any others?
Are such switches available, I have tried googling but with no result?
The pumps are definitely available and capable of easily lifting the necessary height.
Any obvious snags that I have not foreseen?
Is there a far simpler system that I have not considered?
