Today we tackled the main diesel tanks, to remove what water hadn't been pumped up into the day tank. We couldn't find any. We must have pumped it all up into the day tank.

The balance pipe between the tanks is very low, and the filler for the day tank Ts off that. The pumping is done with a hand crank, which scoops up about 1/3 litre with each rotation. Looks like it is violent enough to suck up what little water is below the lip of the connecting pipe.

And the take-offs are nearly an inch above the bottom of the connecting pipe. Looks like we got some things right. And it's not all accidental.

Yesterday, we finally connected up the second radiator in the wheelhouse. This gives us two in the wheelhouse and one in the bedroom and of course the diesel stove in the saloon. The connection went comparatively painlessly, although it required Pip to do her imitation of the boy and the dike, with her finger over a pipe while I rapidly inserted a T-junction with an isolation valve. The piping for this radiator goes through the engine room, so there will now be some warmth there as well. We refilled the expansion tank, bled the radiator and started it all up again. It took quite a while for the radiator to get warm, but once it did the wheelhouse became quite pleasant. Now we just have to run it for a while checking for leaks etc and occasionally bleeding the radiators and the stove until it all settles in.

We lit the stove the moment we got back yesterday, without checking the water level in the header tank. Shortly after we had knocking noises in the heater and steam in the coil. We had lost about 3 pints of water while we were away. But we couldn't find evidence of a leak anywhere, and the joints all felt dry. In the end we just refilled the system and hoped for the best.

The copper coil in the heater seems to be pretty robust. We've steamed the heater about 6 times now, and it's still working. Most times it's either a lack of water in the system, or loosing electricity to the pump. It both those cases the problems start almost immediately.

The other time was when we turned the heater up too high, so the radiators couldn't dump all the heat generated. That time the problem developed more slowly, but it only happened because we're missing one of our basic set of 3 radiators. With all 3 we can dump as much heat as the heater can produce. That was one of the criterion for working out our basic set.

This morning the diesel heater started making funny noises. When we investigated we discovered the pump wasn’t on – we’d knocked the mains plug loose somehow. We put the plug back and it seemed ok.

But then it started making noises again. Turned the air vent at the top of the stove, and out came lots of steam, for a very long time. Uh oh. The header tank was empty, so we put some water in. Then some more. Then lots. Eventually we got a proper water flow out of the top of the heater, and the radiators got warm again.

That was a close call. If the copper coil in the heater gets too hot, the braizing melts. It needs the water flowing through it to keep the temperature down.

Update
This evening we did it again. The money in the meter ran out, so the pump was off for about 20 mins. Half an hour later we got the bubbling and knocking noises again. Hadn't realised it was that sensitive! The header tank was empty, and only steam in the heater coil. Rapidly refilled the header tank, and all was fine.

Another hour later, and it happened again. This isn't right. Didn't take long to find the leaking joint once we were looking for it. But we really weren't in the mood for plumbing at this time of night. Ah well, it's that or shiver all night.

So one cracked elbow joint later, we're waiting for the stove to warm up again. Sounds like hail outside.

Can it really be true? Yes. Two radiators installed and plumbed in, the diesel stove connected to the plumbing and the diesel and even the chimney. The pump connected and powered and - It Works - and before the winter.