jonesthenuke

This is the key issue. I would think CRT charge for the water and presumably the charge is enough to cover the dredging requirements?

We moored our narrowboat in the dock at the pontoons in 2020. As we moved the boat we kicked up a lot of mud. I was surprised to find that it was about 4 feet deep when I dropped a pole over the side. I accept this was near the pontoons but it does suggest a very heavy silt burden was present back then. Given the published draught of 11ft 6 inches for the canal and docks it makes me wonder how much dredging has been done over the last few years.

And the modern so called "petrol" is even worse due to the ethanol that is now added. Its the bane of generators, mowers, strimmers which are used only occasionally.

I had a cassette with the catch missing from the top. I found a suitable screw and a selection of washers would create a feature that the latch would hook onto and this has worked ok for years.

I have seen a similar problem with our Vacuflush. It was due to the cassette moving away from the fully inserted position due to the vibration of the pump. It can be caused by a number of things. A similar fault occurs if the “cassette present” sensor has moved and is no longer close enough to the cassette. Does the pump restart if the cassette is simply pushed hard back into the base unit, this would suggest the above type of fault is present. In any case I would check the following:- Is the catch that holds the cassette in place working correctly? Specifically is it present, undamaged, latching properly etc? Also does the fault occur with all the cassettes that you have? Are both the cassette inlet valve and the mating spout on the base unit clean, undamaged and lubricated? Check the spout seals are not dislodged and the inlet valve on the base unit can be pushed fully in (dislodged seals on the cassette inlet valve can be a problem and cannot be visually inspected without dismantling the cassette, so can go unnoticed) Is the “cassette present” sensor on the base unit in place and not dislodged and pushed back away from the cassette? Is the base unit secure, in particular does the vertical section stay upright or is it loose? Hope this helps.

Loss of vacuum could be from a number of things. What have you tried so far? Does the seal in the toilet keep water in the bowel after flushing?

Whilst I do not want to see a race track along this stretch of canal (or any stretch for that matter) the towpath was very low in places last time we were there and was certainly in need of some improvement before it washed out.

Should you also allow for use of the energy guzzling internet? Just browsing this forum uses energy.

Glad to see it works. Just a suggestion, but there are much better hose clamps, the ones made by Mikalor are very good (see Ebay for suppliers).

My new sunglasses, just upstream of Hillmorton top lock.

If changing the O rings etc get some silicone grease. Plenty on Ebay, look for "silicone grease plumbing" that way you will get reasonably sized tubs for about £10 as opposed to small tubes. I put some on the big ball valve at the bottom of the pan every couple to months. It reduces friction and helps with the sealing.

If you mean where the pipe from the loo pushes into the base unit its 40x6mm (I assume you mean this and not the seal on the spout of the base unit where it plugs into the cassette?)vacuflush toilet spare parts list (dragged).pdfvacuflush toilet spare parts list (dragged).pdfvacuflush toilet spare parts list (dragged).pdfvacuflush toilet spare parts list (dragged).pdf

Hmm, so all those modern super quiet, super efficient submarine propellors are built to an 1830s design?🤣 Better tell the navy.

The team are based in Stewponey, my guess is that they were working in Stourbridge, or more likely Kidderminster given the number of trolleys.

The CRT workshop at Bradley had a line of new ones last time I was there, however I understand they very rarely fit new ones so turnover will be low. Worth asking them if they have any scrap ones.

The Vetus thruster is basically a starter motor (made by Bosch IIRC) with a changeover contactor strapped on the side (made by Albright). Any vehicle electrical equipment repair company should be able to repair the motor if you tell them its a Bosch starter motor. The bearings should be replaced, these will be standard items available form many suppliers at low cost. For the contactor it may be better to buy a new one, you can purchase from Albright or they occasionally come up on auction sites. I would advise against Vetus spares as the prices are ridiculous. The battery will need replacing and I would replace the isolator and probably the cables (if they look corroded) as long term they will suffer from the immersion. The Albright contactor (on our thruster) is an Albright International Ltd DC182, there are details on the Albright website, they are too large to upload here. The motor brushes are available on Ebay for a fraction of the Vetus price.

Also if the oil is very thin (diesel in the oil) ?

I would not use that valve it's a spring loaded one with plastic Internals(probably) look for a swing check valve, with a flap. I doubt you will find one with compression connections, they are usually screwed ends. Try BES ltd

I have a vacuum extractor similar to the Selaet one above, but an Ebay version. Its excellent for draining bilges, engine coolant etc etc.

On the Severn below Lincombe lock there are still signs of what looks like petroleum unloading facilities on the bank and an aerial view shows faint circular outlines in the field above indicating buried tanks. I assume this was part of the original system? https://goo.gl/maps/HYY2EbG1UzvFqhqh6

Excellent, never seen that film before. I used to work at Dungeness and the pipeline buildings still exist, though they have long been houses.

I should have added that the resins are regenerated by treating with strong acid for the cation and strong alkali for the anion. At work we used sulphuric acid and sodium hydroxide and had large tanks of each. Quite nasty stuff to deal with as you can imagine.

Agreed but definitely made to last - like the engines.

Reading the posts above, whilst it's reasonable to be sceptical about removing ions from water at low temperature with resin balls (it sounds so simple) it is actually how demineralised water is made. There are two basic sorts of the resin, cation and anion. One removes the cations (think metals like sodium and calcium and exchanges the ions for hydrogen ions (H). The anion resin exchanges anions for Hydroxyl ions (OH), the resultant mix of H and OH ions combines to give pure water H2O in place of the original contaminants In industrial scale plants the process is usually done in three stages with vessels of Cation resin, then Anion resin followed by a "mixed bed" to polish the water to get the best purity. Domestic scale applications are the filter cartridges for boiling water taps (which would scale up and fail quickly - ours did when I omitted to keep up with the maintenance) and larger carriages used to treat the water used to clean windows with long pole mounted brushes (to prevent smears on the glass when the water dries). The are mini mixed beds, often with an added carbon filter to remove organics. For more details look up "ion exchange water demineralisation plant" or similar. Note there are other processes like reverse osmosis (often used for pre treatment of the feed water, but this does not give pure water as a result.

So EllaGlssp can we see photos of the engine and gearbox as you have raised our interest ?????