New Tomcat 255 owner with some questions.

L

Larry Miller

New member
A couple of questions about my new boat. 1. Wallas heater/stove - To use burner I raise the cover, turn the knob to full on and push the on/off switch as indicated in the owner manual. The heater fan always comes on and continues to blow across the burners with the cover in the up position. Is this normal? 2. The owners manual for the TomCat 255 only talks about a two battery system and that you can only charge on #1 or #2 but not both. My boat came from the factory with 3 deep cycles - Does the charger charge all three of just one at a time?
 
Congratullations on the new TC 255. The Wallas lid blower should only come on when the lid is closed (The lid has to be fully down in its detents to turn off the blower, so be sure that there is no debris etc keeping it from shutting off). I assume that you have the flat stove top (blower top), rather than the slanted "new"--top. See my album for the cutting board cover I made for my top.

Start the stove on high and stop in on high--burn it on high for 5 minutes before shut down. We prefer Kleen heat for fuel.

The batteries: My boat came with two start and one house battery. I added two more house batteries. The one start and origional house are charged off the stb engine. The second start and the two new house batteries are charged off the port engine. I also added variable charge relays between the start batteries and the house batteries. The second house bank runs the refigerator and inverter--it can also be tied into the other House, or for the electroncis or TV.

Most TC have two battery switches --one on each side for each engine start and the house banks--mine were tied to gether strangely--the stb was engine, house and combine. The prot was start, or #2 position went to the stb battery bank and "all" would combine the port and stb banks.

Not sure about the most recent charger, but mine was 5 5 (for the two engine starts) and 10 amps. I added another larger (40 amp) charger for the second house banks. You should be able to charge all batteries at once--they should be hard wired to the three output battery charger--but things may have changed--or you may have some pages for the 22 (which my manual had--if so, just revise the manual).
 
To use burner I raise the cover
Click to expand...

Unless there has been a change on the two burner, both burners are on when you run the Wallas. The left burner will be twice as hot +- than the right burner. There is no way to just have one on.
 
Congrats on your new boat...

Here's my take on some of your questions:

1 - The fan on the lid of the Wallas is only on when the lid is down, EXCEPT when you've pushed the OFF switch. I am thinking it must run then to try to cool things down. Best to have the engines on when starting the Wallas since that is when it uses/needs the most spark, but it uses little power after that, so no need to keep engines on.

Start it with the thermostat on HIGH and best to run it from MED to HIGH since it seems to lose fuel "sucking" power at the low setting. Also, if fuel container is low, it seems to be hard for the pump to get primed. Sometimes have to fill the tank, tighten the lid and gently squeeze the fuel tank to get it started on some cold days.

2 - I think you need at least two house batteries on the TomCat. Even that can run low quickly if you leave a lot of electronics on when at anchor. Dr. Bob has a hefty setup as he mentions. TVs and heating appliances really suck the power out.

3 - My TomCat came with the three legged, 10-5-5 amp, which works OK for me since I don't use the 12 to 110V inverter. Dr. Bob has greater battery storage and a good sized inverter, so wants to be able to charge faster. The 10 amp charger leg goes to the House Battery bank, but it will take a long time to recharge them at that rate. The 40 amp charger that Dr. Bob put in would charge them more rapidly.

I have a Honda i2000 genset on the swimstep, so just start if up if I'm going to use the microwave, TV, and/or want to top off the batteries, but it would take longer to charge them with the 10 amp leg. Just cruising around with the engines going charges the three battery banks just fine, though.

John
 
Hopefully not Hijacking this thread, but with the new Ranger also have problems/questions with the Wallas. I have raised the lid a few times to see what happens and the blower has not shut off.

Any thoughts on how to trouble shoot this???? Should it run for a few minutes or immediately shutdown to use the burners?????

Sorry, I am sure the answer is in the many wallas threads but since we started again, thought I would ask!

Happy Holidays to all!
 
At the end of the Tomcat 255 Owners Manual found on the C-Dory Factory site HERE, on pages 53 and 54 is a brief description of how the Wallas works. Basically, on shutdown, the red light continues to glow for about 10 minutes and the fan runs until it cools down. Even if you start it or turn it on for a second or two, it does this. Probably in the manual for the stove but this is clear and concise. Enjoy! It's a big download but be patient, save it and you'll see lots of stuff on the TC255.

Charlie
 
PenguinPA,
On my Wallas the little micro switch which turns the lid blower off is on the lower left corner of the hinge. It is recessed down inside the stove and sometimes the weight of the lid will not activate it. Easy to fix- just wiggle the lid a little or push gently down on the left side while the lid is open. If this doesn't activate the switch then you may have something broken.
 
Re: the Wallas' lid raising and fan goings on...

You might look down at those tiny black pivot pin rollers where they slide around in the base extensions. One of my tiny screws fell out, along with the black roller thing and it wasn't until about 8 months later, that I finally found it.

So, it's a good idea to get a small Philips screwdriver and tighten those two, back, side screws in the lid. If you lose that little roller, the lid slides around a bit, may not stay up and, may prevent the lid's upright position from engaging that lid fan shutoff thingy...

pardon all the technical jargon!

John
 
After reading the original post and re-reading all posts and the "manual". I am not entirely clear on what fan Larry Miller was talking about. I assumed that it was the squirell cage type of fan which is in the lid, and blows air across the glass top of the Wallas stove. But some others interput it to mean the forced draft fan, which is inside the stove. The lid fan should not come on when it is up--peroid. If it does, there is either a defective micro switch, it is not seating on top of the micro switch or there is debris in the way, so the top does not seat on the switch, turning off the fan in the lid.

The fan inside of the stove, runs as long as there is heat. When the lid is put down, the heater blower fan runs, and keeps running until the unit has cooled down. I stop my stove on high, instead of low--my feeling is that it is more likely to completely burn the diesel/kerosene--and be hot, not carboning up with in-complete combustion as it is shut down. I had read this in one of the Wallas manuals. The CD manual says to shut down in low heat mode. The CD manual says only use #1 or #2 diesel. Many of use other products successfully.

There are a number of items I feel may be in error in the "manual"--maybe we need to do a "Missing Manual" for the Tom Cat 255! However this manual is much better than what I got--which was pages from some manafactures brochures, some from the CD 22 and some from the CD 25.

The one thing which struck me in the manual was the "capacity" The weight of the hull is given at 6,000 lbs. The "boat was designed for 7500lbs" and "maximum capacity is 8,000 lbs". I did some weights. In my boat the engines weight is 948 lbs. Add in the full fuel tank--or another 931 lbs--this is 7879 lbs, add in 288 lbs of water and you have
8167lbs or over the capacity of the boat--this does NOT include any batteries--in my case another 350 lbs (I could get away with 150 lbs)--then the extra cables to bring the current carrying capacity and windlass, up to grade, the refigerator/freezer, any food etc--and I am easily at 9,000 lbs, WITHOUT any crew!

Fortunately, my boat runs fine, and I suspect I am 2000 lbs over "maximum" at least--and still hit in the mid 40's at WOT, cruise in the 25 to 35 knot ranges.
 
Thanks a lot for the info on the Wallas. I will check that detent pin tomorrow when I get back to the boat. :)

Will also tighten those screws as Seawolf Suggested. As always appreciate all the input.

You folks are great!
 
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