Wallas on the fritz

drjohn71a · Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 10:00 am Post subject:

I think that, if you run the stove for long periods on a very low setting, the pump can lose it's prime. I had that problem a time or two until I started turning it up to high before shutting down and never running on very low for long.

John

Pat Anderson · Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 10:17 am Post subject:

Patty got our Wallas back from Scan Marine again a day or so ago, will be sticking it back in this weekend. They suggested to her that maybe the spontaneous shutdown problems we were having were occurring due to a voltage drop sensed by the Wallas computer when the fridge kicked on while running on the battery. If this is true, this would be a huge design flaw in the Wallas. Our battery was fully charged every day, and voltage stayed up nicely while at anchor - if the Wallas shuts off when the fridge comes on with a fully charged battery, it would be nearly useless while anchoring. I don't buy it, because the Wallas used to work just fine with the fridge running at anchor. Something else is going on, and I am not hopeful that we will ever discover what it is.

jkidd · Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 11:23 am Post subject:

Pat
I think that as long as the wires to the wallas and the fridge are sized right that it should not be a problem. Easy to test just turn everything off in the boat in the driveway and run the wallas for a couple days. Then try the fridge and the wallas and see what happens. If it were my problem I would replace the fuel first with new fresh fuel then I would look for bad connections or loose ones. Seems like not that many things to go wrong in there system. One question would be when they gave you the new board was it new or remanufactured? I send motherboards back that come back with the same problem cause they can't reproduce it at the factory. When they built my boat the didn't seal between the sink and the countertop and the Wallas and the countertop. There have been times when water has been spilt and it ends up inside the cabinet. I'm going remove the sink and the Wallis and seal this area because that board is not going to like water running accross it. If it is salt water then the board would probably have to be replaced. All of the wire termination point should be nice and tight if you can wiggle then replace the connector. I do worry that some day my time will come, but for now lets hope we can figure out what is causing it to happen and get the solution posted. I 'm sure that would make everyone happy again.

dotnmarty · Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 11:42 am Post subject:

Ah hah, so it's connected to the refrigerator! That explains it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C85kTwFEymo&feature=related Disgust

drjohn71a · Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 12:45 pm Post subject:

I have 4 batteries - one for each engine and two house batteries, but I cannot run my refrigerator on the batteries for long without draining them totally. I am amazed that you can run your refrigerators over night without lowering the voltage. The compressor start-up amp load must come close to the max available.

I have not had any problems with the Wallas restarting, but have learned to shut the refrigerator power off when anchored for long periods after ending up with dead house batteries.

On my old houseboat, the 12V refrigerator drew so many amps that you could see the rubber dust peeling off the alternator belt when it was on.

How many batteries do you have, Pat?

John

Simplicity · Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 2:27 pm Post subject:

Hello everyone,
Just a little input from us. As you know we have been traveling 4 1/2 months now and I use the Wallis all the time. The only time I have had a problem is when we are anchored out for more than 2 nights. When I turn it on the light will blink and it makes a different sound. After charging the batteries for a bit it starts. ALan bought a solar panel for the roof that it hooked up to the battery when we are on the hook that hopefully is helping with the charge. We have burned only the Ace hardware paint thinner (100%mineral spirits) that the manuel had a picture of. We have used it as a heat source several times and no problems.

So low battery voltage has definitely affected ours when on the hook.

Pat Anderson · Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 11:21 pm Post subject:

John,

We have two batteries - one starting battery for the Honda 150BF single, and one big honking 125AH house battery (more than the two 55AH batteries combined that it replaced). We keep the fridge on low, and it cycles on and off all day, and the voltage barely drops at all. I wonder why your fridge drains your two house batteries overnight - it shouldn't. Anyway, we never asked it to run 24 hours - we traveled at least four hours a day, and the Wallas was shutting down with a freshly fully charged house battery.

Anyway, will be sticking it back in the boat on Saturday, we'll see if it can run in the driveway with shore power without the fridge on without shutting down ...

Pat

Adeline · Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 11:44 pm Post subject:

drjohn71a · Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 8:36 pm Post subject:

Pat,

I think one factor for us is that it is in the high 90's many summer days, as well as that I do not have the built-in refrigerator.

Sounds like you're on the right track.

Also, re: the difference in energy contained in the different fuels, from the manual, that figures out to be about a 1% difference, so it could be difficult to tell without precise instruments and controlled conditions.

I use my Wallas all year 'round and some days it gets into the single digits, but the Wallas running on Kleen Heat seems to reliably provide more heat than I need. I usually crack a window...

Keep on posting! I am learning a great deal and I do appreciate your having posted the Wallas Manual,

John

Pat Anderson · Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2008 8:20 pm Post subject:

Well, I don't want to jinx anything, but it seems we once again have a functioning Wallas! Actually stuck 'er in this morning, not yesterday, fired 'er up, took only two cycles with resets to get 'er going. Boiled water, ran flawlessly for a couple of hours, didn't shut down until I turned the switch off...just restarted an hour or so ago, once again, seems to be running fine - just now turned 'er off. So we shall see!