The Journey -
Rosy at Rest

Paloma

Quite a few boats are fitted with Paloma 'instant' gas-fired water heaters.  They run with a small gas pilot light.  When a hot tap is turned on, the Paloma bursts into life and heats the water.

The Paloma is an effective, efficient and fairly robust piece of kit, spoiled only by its instruction manual, though, sadly, in common with far too many instruction leaflets, the company assumes that all users are complete fuckwits, and it merely tells them how to turn it on and off.  I've had three problems, each of which is easy for the user to remedy, but which the instruction book suggests should be sorted out by "your dealer".  Fine.  I'm not sure how much it would cost to get a service engineer to attend a house, let alone a boat.  And I'd have thought that extracting the Paloma to take it to a service centre would be more complicated than solving the problem in situ.

So, Paloma users, here is the simple guide to maintaining the bloody thing!!  (Of course, it is as well to remember that it is a GAS appliance, so suitable precautions shoukld be taken before doing any work on it.  If you don't know what these precautions are, then perhaps you should call in an expert!)

Sticky knobs:  When the Paloma is full of water and in use, it is worthwhile, at about monthly intervals, to rotate the water temperature knob from one end of its travel to the other.  Failure to do this results in the knob seizing up.  Indeed, if you haven't done this for a few months, and hence you can't turn the knob, there is a simple solution.

1.  Pull the knob off (it is merely a push fit).

2.  The revealed shaft is a rod, with a flat surface.  Tighten an adjustable spanner (or a mole wrench or the like) onto the shaft, and see if the extra leverage provided by the handle of the adjustable spanner will rotate the shaft.  Be brave, and work the shaft clockwise and counter clockwise until it moves.  If it hasn't been moved for quite a while, a considerable effort will be needed.  I'm told that it is inadvisable to try to loosen it with WD40 or the like.

Yellow pilot flame:  If you have had the water heater for a few years, and if the pilot flame starts to burn yellow instead of its normal blue, it will probably blow out when you turn on a hot tap, and hence the main gas burner will fail to ignite and hence you won't get any hot water.  The solution is amazingly simple.

First of all, operate the Pilot Jet Cleaner, to see if that solves the problem.  If it doesn't, remove the front cover of the water heater, and locate the little pin (on the left side of the apparatus) against which the Pilot Jet Cleaner bears.  This pin sticks out of the left-hand face of a little square metal block.  Out of the right-hand face a small metal pipe protrudes - this pipe is carrying the gas up to the pilot light.  As this gas-pipe emerges from the little square metal block, it passes through a little, wire-gauze covered, metal drum.  This drum protects a small hole in the gas pipe, by keeping out dust, powder, dog hairs etc.  If the gauze on the drum gets too clogged, then insufficient air will be mixed with the gas to produce a clean, blue burn.  Hence, use a tooth-brush (or the like) to clean the gauze drum.

Weak Pilot Flame:  It may be that the pilot flame is burning with a nice blue flame, but that when a hot water tap is turned on, the gas that then emerges from the main burner is not ignited by the pilot light, but, rather, blows the pilot light out!

(Or, rather, the air wave pushed out by the emerging gas will extinguish the pilot light before the gas reaches the pilot light.)

The problem then is to clean the orifice at which the pilot light burns - no easy matter, as it is located the back of the gas pipe, and is surrounded by small pipes, heat sinks and the like.

The Ultimate ...  I read somewhere that Palomas can be sent to somewhere for refurbishment and overhaul.  The cost is (was) about £50 and it took a few weeks.  I don't know the address/contact details, but if anyone does - please let me know.

Overly helpful people

I mentioned the overly helpful gent in the village post office ...

French post offices can supply top-up facilities for some mobile phones - including mine.  I used to buy a plastic card at a newspaper shop, tobacconist or the like, but now, generally, use the post office.  Rather than a plastic card, the post office prints out a piece of paper showing:

• The number to call to activate the re-charge;
• The number of Euros that the re-charge costs;
• The number of Euros that will be credited (this could be more than the cost of the re-charge, as sometimes extra, FREE minutes are added);
• The 13 digit recharge code;
• The date by which re-charge must be used.

So, I trot into the post office and say that I want to buy a Euro 50 re-charge for my Orange phone, and place a Euro 50 note on the counter.

Mr Overly Helpful Customer Orientated Twat (OHCOT) then explains that they no longer give out plastic cards, but print out a re-charge in "real time".  "Yes," says I.  "I know."

Mr OHCOT then goes on to explain the variously priced options (which I already know) but before I can respond, the undaunted Mr OHCOT scrabbles around in his drawers to produce one of the blank pieces of paper upon which the re-charges are printed, and hands it to me for my inspection.  I desperately try to think of some positive comment to make about a blank piece of paper about the size of a sheet of toilet paper (or 'toilet tissue' if, dear reader, you happen to be of the American persuasion).  My thoughts fail me, so I return it with a mere grunt, shuffle my Euro 50 note further towards him, and repeat the request that I may be permitted to buy a Euro 50 card.

This gives Mr OHCOT the opportunity to explain yet more things that I already know - to wit, that I then will not be crediting my phone with Euro 50, but with Euro 65, as Orange will be making me a free gift of (here he taps away at his well used calculator) ... Euro 15.  He then points out that the percentage of free time given away with the Euro 50 recharge is (taps calculator again) ... 30%, and is the highest percentage available.

Finally (or so I thought) he took my Euro 50 note, put a blank piece of paper in his printer, tapped a few keys and printed out my re-charge.  But this was NOT the end!!  He opened another drawer, took out a highlight pen, and highlighted the essential information of the re-charge, namely:

• The number to call to activate the re-charge;
• The number of Euros that the re-charge costs;
• The number of Euros that will be credited;
• The 13 digit recharge code;
• The date by which re-charge must be used.

If, dear reader, you are still awake, you will realise that this is ALL the information on the recharge card.  Mr OHCOT highlighted everything on the card, and had spent 10 or 15 minutes over a two-minute transaction.

Fanny the Wooflet and I had an educative discussion on the walk back to the boat, agreeing that life ON Rosy was pretty damned good, and that forays OFF Rosy, and out into the wider world should be kept to a minimum in the interests of our respective blood pressures.

Toodle pip!!

Bill