Dave_P

Thanks Ally, I had noticed that my old, tall, thin Alde didn't seem to be mentioned on the Alde site anywhere! I've made my boiler sound like David Bowie!

I need a new calorifier and I have an Alde Gas Boiler. I know that copper shouldn't be used in the heating system because of galvanic corrosion in the boiler. I had assumed though that I could get a copper calorifier so long as the heating coils weren't copper too. That way the water passing through the boiler will never come into contact with the copper. Does that make sense? I just read here: My link that I do need a stainless steel calorifier. My local engineer says I don't. I'm confused. Who is right?

No it hasn't. Looks right to me anyway.

I can confirm that cold is back on.

The voice of reason! I'm sure the OP knows his cat better than anyone. The cat isn't going to be abandoned, it just needs a new home. If a home isn't found, then the OP will deal with it in the right way, I'm sure. I had a cat before I moved aboard. The cat didn't come. She would have if I'd had no choice but she is an older cat and very nervous of noise, new places, strangers etc. instead she now lives a very happy life in a lovely house with a big garden with a field at the end. And I see her regularly. I know someone who took a cat to live on his boat. The cat kept falling in! it was clearly unhappy and cowered in a corner of the boat everytime it rocked. then it dissapeared. Whether it just walked off or drowned, we don't know. Not all cats will adapt to boat life.

Don't want to be a fence-sitter but I love canals AND rivers! With that in mind I'd recommend the Avon Ring, it takes more than a week to do without rushing but it has it all. Beautiful canals, beautiful rivers, lovely towns, culture, the nicest locks (mostly), industrial heritage, and no backtracking.

If I was in your position I'd be pencilling in certain events and aiming to reach them at the right times, e.g. Cropredy festival, Braunston Show etc. Other than that I'd be following my nose! I'm almost bursting with jealousy that my circumstance don't currently allow for this. I might be lucky enough to get a month in the summer. Fingers crossed!

Doh! With the benefit of hindsight, I feel ashamed of my stupid question!

Don't be so sure. I suffer from exactly the same problem as Bizzard. I was concerned that I must be going deaf as nobody else seemed to have it. I played in very loud heavy metal bands in my youth so was attributing it to that. I had a hearing test and came out as having excellent hearing. My problem is that I simply can't pick out a quieter sound among louder sounds, like in a noisy pub, bar or club. So conversation is virtually impossible.

I tried but computer said no. I'm thinking I might upgrade to a 75 litre calorifier and rip out the bathroom, have a re-jig and fit a better bathroom.

Well clearly it does! Sounds sensible. how do you know it's the right pressure though?

Look at it this way - my pump kicks in at 0.9 bar and pressurises to 1.7 bar. Before turning on my immersion this means that I have water in my calorifier at about 10 degrees C at 1.7 bar. When I heat my water to, say, 70 degrees C, the pressure in my calorifier rises, let's say to 2.7 bar. The pressure release valve needs to be set higher than this so it doesn't vent every time I heat the water. Let's say it's set to 3.0 bar. Under normal usuage then, the calorifier has to undergo considerable pressure changes so it will expand and contract. It's not hard to see how this could lead to a split where there is a slight imperfection in the copper. Are all calorifiers pressure tested before they are sold? No! Are boat builders likely to go for the cheapest option (no expansion tank, untested cylinder)? Yes!

Simple - I can't afford it.

There is a pressure release valve but no expansion tank. As far as I can make out, the rapid changes in pressure when repeatedly heating water and then using the hot water thus rapidly cooling the calorifier are likely to cause failure of the tank over time. The pressure release valve seems to function mainly as a outlet in case the water pump gets jammed on. From a bit of asking around, this is a fairly common occurence where no expansion tank is fitted. Are you guys also aware of this?

Thanks for all the advice guys! I now know that my calorifier doesn't have an expansion tank. It seems that this is very common. As I'm not very handy like some of you are, I'm looking at having the job done for me. I'm looking at around £900 all in. Which ain't good! Better news is that I should have running cold water again by the end of the day. Again, looking for the silver linings, not being able to shower on the boat should encourage me to visit the gym more often. To fine tune my magnificent physique Chris! maybe a very tall and thin one will fit.

I had thought of that, but wouldn't that involve cutting another hole in my roof, plumbing in new pipes, etc. Do you think it would be cheaper than yanking the engine out? I do quite like the idea of an instant heater though. I have a long term plan to install a full length bath which simply wouldn't work with a 10 gallon calorifier - or whatever it is. I also like that I can heat my calorifier by immersion heater, alde boiler, or engine. Not an option with Morco or similar.

So there we both were, sitting in my boat, putting the world to rights when my 6th sense pricked up. The faint sound of the fresh water pump going off. Now this does sometimes happen a half hour or so after using a tap. I don't know why. This time, however, something didn't sound right about it. I hadn't had a tap on in a while and what's more, hadn't it just gone off 5 minutes ago? We spent the next hour or so listening to the pump come on every few minutes and discussing possible reasons. My friend insisted it was just because my tank was empty, the pump was trying unsuccessfully to restore pressure to the system. One snag with this idea though - I'd only filled my tank a couple of days earlier so it should have been nearly full. It was dark and cold by now and neither of us fancied clambering down the gunwales to check the tank levels. We decided to turn the pump off completely and wait until morning to investigate further. In the morning I had to eat humble pie. The tank was empty! I reasoned that the hose hadn't been in properly when filling and the water I'd seen spilling over the front deck wasn't from the full tank but was just the hose water splashing about. I made a mental note to be more careful with such things in the future. Overall I was relieved that my pump wasn't playing up but now had a problem filling my tank since the taps had all frozen solid. All except one. The one furthest away, which my hose wouldn't reach to. I needed a longer hose so spent all morning trawling the bargain shops for a cheap hose to extend mine with and finally hit the jackpot in Home Bargains. Yay! All well that ends well right? Well no. Once the tank had filled a bit, we turned the pump back on and found it doing just the same thing as yesterday. "Maybe there's air in the system?" "Maybe it's just because it's filling?" "I'm sure it will settle down in a bit?". All a bit hopeful really, I'm sure you'll agree. Then a sort of Eureka moment. I'd had the immersion on for about 25 minutes. More than enough for a bowl of hot water but the water only ran hot for a few seconds, then went cold. Nearly the whole day had passed and it was getting dark again, but, with the help of torchlight, I peered under my back deck to have a look at the calorifier. Or what was left of it! Water was still pouring from various bursts around the cylinder, as we were still filling the tank from the other end. If the engine bilge was much deeper with water, you could have swam in it! As I type, I've now turned off the main stop cock to the water tank, leaving me with no running water. On the plus side, my tank is now completely full Obviously (?) I'll need a new calorifier now, but my concern is getting it out. I'm 6'2" and 18 stone (it's all muscle - promise) and I can't fit down to the calorifier. It's in the engine bilge, sort of between the engine and the cabin bulkhead. I reckon a smaller person could get down there but I'm not convinced that there's space to pull the cylinder out through. Is this likely? Would a reputable builder such as Calcutt build a boat where you'd have to remove the engine first, in order to remove the calorifier? In other words, will this job cost me c.£500 or £1000+?? Thanks for reading.

Since you're focussing on the north, try the Rochdale canal above and around Hebden Bridge. Plenty of overstaying going on around there. You don't need to come back weeks later to tell either. When you find that the whole towpath and surrounding areas have been annexed for said boaters' assorted junk, you can be pretty sure that they're not moving very often! Personally I don't mind too much about overstaying but when I see rubbish and mess everywhere, I get cross. Also when people set up camp right on a lock-landing - I kid you not. Dean is right though. It is only a problem in certain areas.

I know it's not an option for everyone but if you had a trailer and somewhere to store the boat, how much could you save? Presumably you'd still need insurance but you'd avoid mooring fees and would only need a temporary license for when you're on the water. You'd also get to explore the far reaches of the system much more easily. For example - this one clicky is for sale near me and if I didn't liveaboard, I'd see it as a very tempting option. I'd be interested to know peoples' thoughts on this?

And being a 20 year old female might help in this respect too! Just saying

Kids trying to get on your boat repeatedly, obvious drug-dealing on and under bridges, very low pounds, prop fouls, vandalism to locks. By comparison, all the suburban waterways around Birmingham are better. BW/CaRT have systems such as early starts on the Ashton and booked passage on the Rochdale precisely because they're aware of the issues.

It's not something which has been discussed online afaik. I can't really give details as it wasn't me that was being harmed. What I can say is that a commercial moorings manager used deception and coercion to try and manipulate other moorers into assisting of the eviction of another. It didn't work but Sally Ash closed ranks with her staff member and dismissed out of hand any need to investigate further. I still have the relevant emails.

I've only had limited dealings with Sally Ash but from that I would definitely not want her replacing Evans. Her attitude towards another boater I know, who was, (for no good reason) being hounded by one of her staff, in order to drive him off his mooring, was nothing short of appalling.

Good on you! Would these be local moorers who've never actually done the trip? As most other posters here have pointed out, there's lots of mooring places. Starting from my favourite mooring place outside that aforementioned tw*t's house, there's swallow cruisers, james goldsborough, lady lane at earlswood, dickens heath, shirley drawbridge, by bridge 5, lyon's boatyard, kings norton junction, cadbury world, selly oak, and the vale at edgbaston. The only ones i'd be little concerned about would be kings norton and selly oak where there has been some trouble from time to time. If you want an unpleasant approach to a city try going into manchester by the rochdale or the ashton.