M380 Hurricane Heater

[cmillsap]

(02-21-2013 22:57)davidmbrady Wrote:  

(02-21-2013 22:39)cmillsap Wrote:  I decided it was time to quit for the day when as I was lying on the floor with a flashlight, I dropped the d***ed thing on my mouth and broke the cap on my two front teeth. Now you can call me "Snagglepuss".[/i]

Ouch, I'm sorry to hear that Chuck. You're not alone, I've done similar dental damage while working on the bus. I also tend to put my flashlight in my mouth (sort of a third hand), there's gotta be long term effects with that too...

Maybe I'm way out there, but I'm thinking that the pump may generate enough head pressure to rise to the first register in the privy, but then it runs out of juice and you get no flow - all you get is a column of stagnant coolant. My theory is the loop needs to be bled. If it were bled then the system is balanced, the loss of lifting the fluid is given back by the descending fluid and the pump ends up doing very little work, just friction loss work. Sorry, if I'm speaking to the choir. I sometimes have a tendency to overstate. Now, how do we prove that the loop has air in it w/o making a big mess in the living quarters? If it's like mine the loop is translucent PEX. If you hold a strong LED flash light to various places along the loop you should be able to see fluid inside the tube.

I guess bleeding would also help rule out the possibility of an obstruction. If there's no obstruction and the system is bled and still no heat, then a weak pump would be the only thing left.

David, the lines are Pex like, but they are pretty soft. They maybe a polyethylene or polypropylene or even vinyl. They are just hose clamped at some places. The lines are totally covered with split loom and almost impossible to access in most places. I think a pressure pump will push the air out if in fact it is air. If it's an obstruction, the most likely spots would be at the entrance of register copper coils. reversing the procedure may clear the obstruction, if that's the problem.