vanboosh
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Posts posted by vanboosh
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Has anyone experienced multiple water pump failures? My neighbour has had 3 pumps die in in the last 6 months…
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I've got 4 x brass toe steps I've never used as I can jump onto the roof relatively easily, but the missus struggles a bit, so I think its time I fitted at least two of them. Anyone have any advice? I've never screwed anything into the outside of the boat... I assume drill/tap and maybe sikaflex? Stainless bolts? M5?
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49 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:
That is probably the same as you will be paying him soon
Probably, but I’d rather support him and his business, plus it’s delivered straight to the boat.
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I ended up taking a couple of jerry cans and paying £1.80 at the petrol station around the corner. Painful, but we only put in a little bit to last until Chris can get back down this way, hopefully in a couple of weeks!
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So Penton Hook lock is closed, which means Chris can't get down our way for another couple of weeks. Any ideas? We don't need a lot, just enough to keep our heater going until Chris can get through, so I guess maybe a trip to the local petrol station with a jerry can, but I'm not in love with the current diesel prices at the pump!
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47 minutes ago, pete.i said:
I think this a far better solution. Buy or borrow a stand alone battery charger ( you can buy cheap ones just for what you want to do) and use that to charge the borrowed battery. Much better than faffing around with your boat stuff which might all go tits up. Believe me I know all about that.
As above, no charger. I think she'll get one, but they're quite keen to get the water out in the meantime!
48 minutes ago, Slim said:Assuming that the pump is a bilge type it will leave a few mm of water. A wet and dry vaccum cleaner will suck out whatever's left in no time.
Its actually a jabsco water pump we've attached hoses to. Gets in all the nooks and crannies!
1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said:Sounds like they have a 'project boat'.
Well done for helping out.
I think you are probably correct in this assumption!
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52 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:
Just a thought ...............
If they are in the marina do they not have electic available ?
Do they not have their own battery charger ?
This would have been my first choice, but they have a really odd set up with no battery charger and apparently their wiring needs to be totally redone.
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Got it! Much appreciated from both me and I'm sure from the very wet boat. Good thing we're slowly coming into spring/summer. I think it'll take a while for her to dry it all out completely.
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Thats great, thank you! I just didn't want to kill my own batteries but sounds like I should be fine as long as the charger is 'charging'. I guess it doesn't matter which terminals I use on the bank as long as its obviously + to + and - to -?
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At the marina I'm in, someones boat has taken on a lot of water after their calorifier failed (they're getting someone in to fix all that stuff). But to get the water out, another boater has lent her a water pump and a battery. most of the water has been pumped out, but the battery has now died. I've got some jump leads and I'm on electric hook up, can I just charge the battery by putting the jump leads somewhere on my battery bank?
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Just now, system 4-50 said:
A baby having a scream-all-night session on a boat could be a problem if you have neighbouring boats close by.
Shouldn't be a problem where we are. We're on the river so bow to stern/end to end (not sure if there's a proper word for that?) and we're right on the end with the bedroom at the back - no neighbours that side!
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Thank you for all the replies, everyone! All very encouraging, really. It seems totally doable, especially on a wide beam if we can afford the 'upgrade' (although I would very much miss our narrowboat). We're not super into possessions and would definitely be more into the 'experiences' side of bringing up kiddos and you can't get much more of an experience than living on a boat!
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3 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:
Folks have had babies (in fact big families) on narrowboats for literally centuries, however it doesn't mean it will work for you. How do you get on at the moment (truthfully) do you end up arguing and one at one end of the boat and one at t'other end ? It will be many times worse with a baby.
A widebeam will be more space-friendly but is still a very restricted space for all of the 'stuff' a baby needs - whenever we went out for the day or a couple of days the car was loaded with a crib, 500 nappies, changing mats, 5 dozen changes of clothes, pram, push chair, bottles, steriliser etc etc etc.
How much spare space do you have ?
I reckon a baby and its accoutrements takes up more space than 2 or 3 adults - could you live with another 2 people and all their stuff in your existing boat ?
Do you go out cruising or just live in the marina ?
Is your cruising area compatable with a fat boat ?
Does you marina have moorings for a fat boat ?
Many folks (even today) happily rear a family on a boat, can you? - only you can decide, but plan for the worst and hope for the best.
We get on great, so that side of things I'm not worried about. Its the space/practicality/safety aspects, really. I'm pretty sure we'll have to go for a wide beam, which would 'help' with most space issues (Not sure how much help, but if we moved to land, I'm not sure how much bigger a space we could get anyway), but I'm still not sure about practicality/safety stuff.
We're on the Thames (as in on the river not in a marina, but we're on the marina wall, so hookup, permanent mooring, etc.) so space for the boat isn't an issue.
Apart from one or two big cruises, most of our cruises are day/weekend trips, but we're prepared to stay put for a while.
I know a couple of families that have moved onto boats when the kids we're a bit older, but I haven't met anyone with a newborn/first child yet.
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We've been living on a narrowboat for about 4 years and we (I mean, I'd rather a dog, but what can you do 😝) are now thinking about babies. So we're thinking about getting a fat boat, possibly with two rooms, cost permitting, so we can have a bit more space. Does anyone have any experience with firstly being pregnant on a boat, followed by having a new born? Is it silly? Should we be moving to land for a few years first, then maybe come back to boating when the kids are a bit older?
P.s. We have a permanent mooring.
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On 03/01/2022 at 13:44, Tracy D'arth said:
Yes, thanks for the update, so it was just the pump duff after all?
It would seem so as everything is running (better than) normal now with the new pump. At some point I'll have a go at the old pump and see if I can bring it back to life for an emergency spare, as George and Dragon mentioned.
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Update: I’ve replaced the pump! It’s all working perfectly now. I also added the filter thingy that the previous one didn’t have so that will hopefully help in the future. Thank you everyone for the help!
For those interested, this is the pump I got:
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22 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:
Another way to prove it as as son as the pump stops close the tank isolation valve so the water cant get back and see if it cuts in again. Out of interest do you have an accumulator on the system?
The pump doesn't stop for long enough to close the tap (quite literally on and off every second), but I can try and give it a go. We have a heating issue as well, so decided to run away to the parents place for a warm Christmas and deal with it all when we get back. I will update on our return!!
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4 minutes ago, booke23 said:
You could try soaking those parts in a solution of de-scaler. That will completely remove the limescale in an hour or two, and will only cost you a few quid. Worth a go before you fork out for a pump.
I buy 1kg bags of citric acid in granular form from amazon for this purpose.....it works out much cheaper than supermarket de-scaler. A couple of table spoons in a pint of warm water will descale anything!!Great idea! I'll give it a go tonight!
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As Ian said, sim goes into a router, but its a simple push in rather than faffing about with paperclips, etc. so not too bad moving sims to a different device if that makes it any easier for you!
We didn't have a repeater, we had a 6' mast with one of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00C1DGFPS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 which plugs into the back of a router like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/TL-MR6400-Unlocked-Configuration-Required-External/dp/B083KDK9JC/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=4g%2Brouter&qid=1639570432&sr=8-3&th=1 - you just remove the 'bunny ears' and screw the cables into that. It doesn't 'repeat' the signal, it just extends the aerial. But not helpful if you want to keep your sim in the phone, sorry!
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Photo of the 'oles and possible limescale for clarification.
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Reporting back! I stripped it back as far as I thought I safely could without breaking anything, and It really wasn't terribly mucky at all. There was maybe 2 or 3 teeny bits of debris in the 'holes', which I removed hoping this would fix it, but no luck. It looks like there could be some limescale build up behind the plastic 'seal thing' but I don't think I can get to it without breaking it and leaving me with no water. A new pump is £79, so we might just go for that for now and then I'll have a bit more confidence tearing the current one down further, and we'll have a spare!
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I've heard Three's customer service is pretty terrible so I don't think their reputation is entirely undeserved, but I've not had any problems since moving to them permanently now we're on a mooring. Also Smarty (using Three) was brilliant and I'd happily move back to them if they offered 5G, but weirdly I don't get Three 4G signal here. I used a TP Link 4G router so I could attach an external antenna - although never needed to use an antenna until we got to London and moored next to a steep bank. Now I've got a Huawei 5G router that comes with Three's 5G home broadband contract but I had to mount that in a window.
P.s. UW Is Utility Warehouse 😊
6 minutes ago, IanD said:Get a dual-SIM router with external aerials, if possible one that supports channel bonding. You'll get far more reliable reception...
Yes, definitely thought about this, and would do this if we were CCing again.
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On 13/12/2021 at 18:57, Tony1 said:
What helped me was having two mobile providers whose networks didnt piggyback on each other *as three used to piggyback on EE, I believe).
So I bought O2 and an EE sims, each with about 100GB of data, and if one didnt have a signal the other one usually did.
I had two for the same reason, but just a heads up: Three and EE have their own networks. I found that when EE wasn't working, Three was pretty good, and vice versa.
Also, the MVNOs can be good. Smarty (uses Three network) does unlimited data for £18 a month with no contract, and UW (uses EE) does unlimited for £20 a month, but I got told off for breaching their fair usage policy after 4 months of going over 400GB a month (no such policy on Smarty).
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3 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:
You will probably find 3 small diaphragm pumps each with a flimsy plastic inlet and outlet valve, look for dirt trapped under some valve seats.
Will do! Thank you!
57 minutes ago, MtB said:Sounds to me as though the non-return valve (usually built into the pump) has stopped working and is allowing the water to flow backwards back into the tank. Thus causing the pressure past of the pump to fall back to zero when the pump shuts off and the pumps starts again to raise it back to normal. Then it leaks back and the process starts all over again, once a second.
Find the NRV and clean it. Or fit another one between the tank and the pump.
NRV being a Non Return Valve?
Multiple water pump failures
in Boat Building & Maintenance
Posted · Edited by vanboosh
Don’t think it’s rust - newish boat with stainless tank. How would we check for erratic power supply? Just hold a multimeter on it and see if it fluctuates?
This sounds like a possibility! Motor failure rather than not pumping water.
I’ll send him the forum link and see if he can reply to clarify things.