Una Paloma Blanca – Roughly translated from Welsh, My Paloma’s Broke

Tuesday 6th January 2009

With a meeting planned in the City on Wednesday and wanting to check out the boat having not seen it during the prolonged cold snap, I decided to drive from Swansea to the boat on Tuesday afternoon so that I could stay on-board overnight.

This of course would also allow me to put my new BW licence disks (which came into effect on 1st January) on prominent display.

The M4 was extremely quiet.  Whether this was due to the sub-zero temperatures, people taking longer breaks over Xmas and New Year or just that I had planned my journey outside rush hour, I am not too sure.  Anyway, just over three hours and I was parked up at Packet Boat Marina.  As I was only staying on board for one night, unpacking the car was a relatively quick process.

With a few more hours left in the working day, my first priority was to unpack the laptop and get it started.  Whilst Windows was going through its laborious start up, I set about preparing the Morsø.  With the stove lit I checked the temperature on the Max-Min thermometer (in the bathroom).  Not surprisingly, the inside temperature matched that of the outside – a rather chilly -2C with frozen sheets of ice surrounding the boat.

Sitting at the table with my coat and Peter Storm hat on, breathing clouds of condensation I kept warm by replying to emails that had been sent whilst I had been driving from Swansea.  As usual, the Morsø delivered the goods, raising the temperature from -2C to 26C in no time at all, requiring me to open the front door to bring the temperature to a more comfortable level!  Shortly afterwards I decided it was time for a cup of tea.  Remembering that I had not yet switched the electrics on, I flicked the rockers for “water pump” and “shower pump” (which also feeds the smaller toilet water pump).  I didn’t bother with the “fridge” as I wouldn’t be on-board long enough, and I could always leave the milk and other perishable food in a bag in the engine room which was still quite cold.  Hearing the water pump kicking in and re-pressurising the system, I worked my way back to the galley from the engine room.  It was then that I noticed that the water pump had not stopped running (not a good sign).  Checking the bathroom and galley sink taps, I then spotted the spout of water squirting from the side of the Paloma water heater.  Quickly back to the engine room where I switched off the electrics and then back to the galley to mop up the water from the work surfaces and floor.

The cover of the Paloma is easily removed by unscrewing two grub screws and sliding off the two control knobs from the front of the unit.  Briefly turning the water pump back on, I was able to spot from where the water was now leaking – the inlet diaphragm.

With a picture in my mind of the part I needed, and believing Uxbridge Boat Centre was open until 18:00, I set off in the hope that they might stock parts (or at least point me in the direction of someone who did).  My hopes were quickly dashed when I was informed that they stopped making the Paloma 9 years ago, and UBC stopped stocking parts for it about 6 years ago!

Although I wasn’t going to do anything about it just yet, I enquired as to what units I could replace it with.  I was then shown a number of heaters of varying sizes (and prices), one of which had a balanced flue, the remainder, like the Paloma with a “normal” flue.  Asking which was the most popular, I was told that for those replacing the Paloma, the Rinnai 58E is the one typically chosen.  It is physically slightly smaller, delivers a higher heat output and the price (~£200) comparable with the other models.

I thanked UBC for their advice and assured them that I would return, probably when the whether was a bit warmer and I had more time to devote to fixing the problem.

Returning to the boat, I spent the evening without running water but was able to use bottled water to make that cup of tea and the communal shower facility in the morning to get ready for the meeting in London.

During the evening, I did a bit more research.  The tried and tested search on Google confirmed that Paloma is no more.  There were a few second hand ones on sale on E-bay and a company in America who seemed to be able to provide parts.  However, I believe I had already made my mind up.  The Paloma was approaching 20 years old.  Although I had identified the main leak, there were no guarantees that there were not other yet-unidentified leaks.  A replacement unit would have to be installed.

This entry was posted on 06/01/2009 at 10:00 pm and is filed under Rinnai, Maintenance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.