noether

This was my concern before we moved on the boat, I said to my wife that my worry was that there would be an agglomeration of irritations that would make it a miserable experience and sour me on it permanently before we'd really even tried it, and that is exactly the way it's proved - for all the lovely scenery and lovely people, this has been outweighed by cold, toilet facilities, worry about gas bottles, water in the bilge, spiders, broken diesel heater, exploding batteries, cricked back, constantly cracking my head etc. I think if you have lots of time, a reasonable amount of money and an outgoing nature, it's probably a very pleasant experience. But me, I'm really struggling just to keep my head above water at the moment (perhaps literally before I'm off this boat).

Thank you, I really appreciate that. If circumstances had been different it might have worked out, but I was getting desperate, it's my own fault (can't even blame wife for this one, pretty much all on me), and people who say "just sell the boat" probably have access to a car, money, maybe a house, family they can stay with etc, I have none of those things. So, onwards and upwards. Or die in a fog of sulphur dioxide. Either way, it's all gravy, and I will leave the canal life to those more worthy of its challenges.

Thank you, although I'd be very surprised if there was an amazon pick-up location in walking distance, there isn't a post office or a shop for miles around that I'm aware of. "Your batteries may have reached the point where they weren't charged enough to provide the voltage needed by the fridge, and couldn't get the charged to provide it, and now they can get the charge, and can provide the voltage." I've actually just seen the guy from the marina, and this is pretty much what he said when we talked about it. I don't mind the doom and gloom, I understand and appreciate that people are trying to help me, there's just not really a lot I can do about it at the moment. Ordinarily my wife would deal with this and go off and find somebody who knows what they're talking about, she's the 'front facing side of the business' (I'm money acquisition and heavy lifting), and as pleasant a distraction as it is chatting to people on here, the whole 'boat thing' is just really making me miserable now, there's always some problem that needs addressing or you can't eat, sleep, bathe, breathe, etc. And when you talk to people about it, they just shrug and say "That's boats".

Have asked before at the marina and they said they don't accept deliveries for moorers. I could have something delivered to my sister, but that would mean getting to a train station (3 hours walk or £20 taxi), getting on a train for an hour or so, walking to her house, getting all the way back.....etc. The fridge seems to actually have been working peachy since the chap from the marina, but, it was actually kinda ok before that too, although I wouldn't be surprised if I find the contents defrosted tomorrow morning. Tbh if it weren't for this thread, I wouldn't have thought much of it if I'd asked the marina guy first. I appreciate it, and I'm sure you have a great deal of expertise. Back many moons ago I used to fix computer networks, and often as not, a problem would be caused by someone who didn't know what they're doing (like me in this situation) trying to 'fix' a problem that often didn't exist - they would see a loose ethernet cable, think 'oh, this end should be plugged in to something', plug it in to the nearby patch panel, causing a broadcast storm that brought down the whole network. I think it is healthy to be wary of amateurs trying to fix things on their own.

I don't mind the question at all, but it is either a long answer, or an incomplete answer. Short version: had been living abroad, stuck because of virus, needed somewhere to stay, didn't want to rent, wife needs to be away. Bought the boat as an act of desperation. Wife likes (liked) it, I do not. And it's not as if I hate it utterly, either: it's just not feasible for me that I can live like this for very long. I work every day, and the constant maintenance of filling the water tank, emptying the cassette, the gas, banging my head every 8 minutes, etc, is really starting to wear me down. And usually my wife is like my 'ambassador to the world', she's outdoorsy and goes out and talks to people and she likes finding out things about diesel or lighting fires or whathaveyou. I don't. I like to sit with my computer and drink tea and read history books. As for ordering from amazon, again, I'd need to get somewhere to pick it up, and by the time all that's done, I might as well wait for the engineer to have a look.

Or I could just ask you and you could scare the bejesus out of me instead 😉

I've just been and had a feel around as best I could, and I couldn't feel any heat from them, although I did bang my head and get a spider in my hair, so not an entirely wasted trip. I don't seem to be articulating very effectively on this thread: I will never be 'miles away from help', I'm living on a marina. I have never and will never take the boat out. At this exact moment, life circumstances are such that I can't just sell the boat (not least because my wife is away, and I don't expect she'd be too happy), but as soon as I am in a position to do so, I will. Is that ok?

I don't imagine him an expert, but he might have a degree in electrical engineering for all I know. I do know that I told him initially it was a problem with the batteries, but when I described what had me worried, he was more concerned about the fridge being on the fritz than anything else.

There you're making an assumption - I have had a good sniff around them. No smell.

Well indeed, but you must understand that to me, you're all 'random bods', so do I either trust the 'random bod' from the marina who is surprised at my concern and tells me the batteries aren't the problem, or the 'random bods' on the forum who tell me I've got a life expectancy of 45 minutes unless I diffuse the ticking bomb in my cellar? I don't know. To be completely honest, this whole thing has just added to my desire to get off the boat as soon as possible. My wife likes it, but it has been nothing but uncomfortable and unpleasant for me.

I do. I understand that you're all trying to be helpful, and I appreciate it, I really do, but as I've said, I can only assume that the guy from the marina knows more than I do, and I'm pretty certain I'm far more likely to maim myself trying to manipulate electrical wiring, batteries etc (near a large body of water) that I have no understanding of, than I am waiting a few days until the chap who does know is back from holiday. Maybe I'm wrong, in which case you can all say 'I told you so' at my memorial (at which I expect you all to cry, incidentally).

Thanks, yeah, this is what the chap said (I brought it up, he didn't, in case you're worried) - he said if you can smell them or they're making noise then turn everything off and jump in the canal. Again, I'm afraid I can't speak to the chap's competence because obviously I don't know, but he's an older gentleman (older than me anyway) and he works fulll-time at the marina - he might be the owner for all I know - so I'm assuming/hoping he must be vaguely qualified, and he was much more concerned that the fridge wasn't working than he was about any danger from the batteries (he says, massively tempting fate), and he seemed somewhat surprised that I was concerned. He did look at the batteries, although not particularly thoroughly - they are in a very awkward position. When the engineer is back from holiday I'll ask again if he can have a look. I was looking at some of the settings on the charger, should I be using them? Like 'night', for example?

It does make you paranoid, but I do appreciate that people are just trying to be helpful and save me from potential death, but tbh, I think I'm more likely to die from trying to do something myself to 'fix' the batteries than I am from them melting down. I've just looked and I'm not sure he actually 'turned up' the battery charger, as it's moved from 'float' to 'bulk', which is on the same 'level' on the display (there's one that's higher, I forget what it's called). He did ask me if I've been using a lot of lecky on other things. And incidentally, since he did that, the fridge has been humming consistently, although that could just be coinky-dink (afternoons do seem to be it's preferred time to work over the last few days).

Not sure it would cause me much stress, as my diary would be pretty much empty..... Oh, and, I meant to say just in the interests of completeness, the marina chap also 'turned up' the battery charger, which I didn't know you could do (and I couldn't see how he did it, but I guess a button on there). So I don't know if that will make any difference to anything.

Update on my temperamental fridge for anyone interested: A chap from the marina came along and had a look, and performatively described the problem as a 'teeth dryer' (he put his glasses on, squinted, and sucked all the moisture back from his teeth in that way that plumbers do when they want to impress upon you what a complicated and expensive job this is going to be): He flipped a few switches, pulled on some stuff, and then said that the expert on such things is on holiday, but that I'm highly unlikely to die in a chernobyl type incident before he gets back (but I bet they're going to be passing me an invoice for mooring asap, just in case). He also reckoned it was unlikely to be the batteries that are causing the problem, but I can't remember exactly what his logic was for saying this. He seemed to think that the fridge becoming about as reliable as a 1920s jazz trumpeter, was more likely a loose connection somewhere. And he agreed that the batteries were in a position such that reaching them would require a circus performer, and in fact he complained that he had twinged his back just by bending over to look at them (he really did). Although this entire incident has now got me so paranoid that I jumped out of bed at 1am last night when a boat went past, as my sub-conscious believed it was the end of days. The fridge might be becoming self-aware. Otherwise, life continues as normal.

I'd have access to a smartphone if my wife was here, but she's not, she's away for a while - this is another reason why I've got myself in trouble with boat-stuff, she's been dealing with it when she was here, going off and talking to people, finding stuff out etc - I'm sure she told me where the batteries were at one point, but I clearly wasn't really listening. I never said this board wasn't evil..........😉

Like I say, I'm a software engineer. I already spend too much time looking at screens, and I have become very cynical about the effect of constant connectivity on people, sometimes I'm sure that my wife reaches for her phone as an involuntary reflex, she doesn't even consciously intend to do it. (hashtag delete your social media).

It's a trad stern. I looked, and yes, it seems as you described, they appear to be on a plate to the side of the engine, I tried and there is a long thin wooden panel that can be pulled away, but again, I really can't see how this helps much (if at all) in accessing them. According to the survey, "There are three 135A/hr vented, lead/acid domestic batteries and a single sealed 110A/hr engine start battery". I'm going to ask someone from the marina to come and have a look for me, I'll just watch what they do.........so I'll stop trying to semaphore in this way, unless anyone is particularly curious, in which case I'm happy to keep posting about it.

There is likely more than one battery. I can only see part of it, and the only reason I know it's a battery, is because the part of it that I can see says 'battery'.

I've had another squizz and have identified where the battery is (I'm positive, haha) - it's in a position that I find difficult to believe that anybody other than a contortionist homunculus could get at it - I'm tall, another problem I have with living on a boat, but even if I wasn't, I don't see how I could pull it out without just stretching my arms and blindly groping around pulling at things. It's underneath the victron charger, I can only see one battery and it says 'M135' on it, and 'recharge once a month' (or words to that effect), but I struggle to see how it's possible to access it without removing all of the wires and cabling from the electrical control panel, and even then it looks like a challenge. The only other access I can figure would be removing the washing machine, but that's not a guarantee either, just a guess. I don't have a way of taking of photo unfortunately, unless I twist my laptop in there. I think the obvious solution is that I just ask the marina if one of their guys can come and have a look for me when they get a minute.

Is it expensive to get the batteries replaced? Really, I just want to sell the boat and move on, but circumstances mean that's probably not sensible for at least a couple of months.

I'm assuming the batteries are sealed, otherwise they would be obvious, right? I don't know (obviously), but it makes sense to me that batteries would look like batteries if they were unsealed (with connectors, wires going to positive and negative, etc), as I say, I can see a couple of light grey metal boxes by the blue vitron charger thing that seem like healthy contenders for being batteries. You hum it and I'll sing it. This was really the origin of this thread (hence the title) - I don't know what's 'normal' behaviour for my fridge. My feeling is that it always used to 'hum' continuously, but I couldn't swear to it. What I do know for sure, is that yesterday it was off for a long time, no ifs, buts, or maybes - the frozen food had all defrosted and was soggy. Since then the fridge has maintained a cold temp, but also, it is just cold on the boat at the moment, so I don't know whether any of these things tell me anything useful. Also, unfortunately I don't really have the time to run such an experiment at the moment, my colleagues might think I've gone a bit mental if I tell them I can't attend meetings or do any work because I need to listen to the fridge.

How old are the batteries? No idea I'm afraid. Are they sealed? Don't know - I thought I knew where the batteries were, but it turns out I don't - my wife was shown where they were and she told me, but I've just been and looked and they aren't where I assumed, and she's away at the moment. There are a few 'battery looking things' I can see that are likely contenders. How have the batteries been kept fully charged in their life? No idea. Owned the boat since April. Been plugged in the whole time. Have I relied on solar? Don't know! I didn't think we had - maybe - but it feels very unlikely to me. Everything else works as expected, been running computer chargers, routers, pumps, vacuum cleaner, lights, all other electrics on the boat have been running without a problem all the time, and our solar panel is small and pretty pathetic looking. How often do we run the engine? Not often. Probably averaged out to about once a month. Go cruising regularly? Never have, and now never will. Look at and clean the terminals? Never! It seems a bit bizarre to me, because the fridge is doing it's thing, on again, off again, apparently without rhyme or reason (sun was shining, and it went off, now it has just come back on again). This has all been very uphill for me, I have a fulltime job and I work for myself as well (I'm a software engineer), just getting by doing the day to day things living on this boat is very challenging, I realised pretty early on that buying the boat was a mistake, but it really is wonderful how nice and willing to give up their time everybody is in 'canal world', including you guys helping me on this thread, so a sincere thank you 👍

Thanks very much for the comprehensive reply, so I've dug in amongst the wires and the 'blue box' is a 'Vitron Blue Smart Charger' and the lights are on for 'Normal (14.4v)' and 'Float'. I know that you are helpfully trying to steer me away from superstitious suppositions, but I did notice that the red light (low charge) is on for the solar panel, and it does seem to be more of a 'nighttime' issue (ish, maybe). I doubt that the solar panel solely charges the battery that powers the fridge, but I couldn't swear that the fridge working doesn't coincide with there being more sunshine. The light is on for the shoreline, and I've checked the physical connector and it looks secure - is there some way I can have 'turned off' the shoreline mains power without knowing it? Incidentally, the fridge is working at the moment, humming away contentedly and infuriatingly to itself, as if it knows the answer but isn't going to tell me. I don't think it's a ventilation problem, there is a ventilation panel on the side. It's not just the expense of buying a voldemort-ometer, I don't have a car, I'm not near any shops, and if I order one I'll have to find somewhere to have it delivered and go and collect it.

Thanks for all responses, I can't find a user manual for the fridge (but as is always the way, I can find a user manual for every other thing on the boat). I pulled the fridge out and I can see something that says '12/24 vdc' on it, and the fridge is a 'LEC inlander', the model number looks like 'R5010W' but it's difficult to read at the angle it's at. Looks like this is it. Yesterday I tried putting the engine on for an hour, and strangely, this did seem to solve the problem, temporarily - the fridge started humming as normal, and continued to do so for a while (freezer compartment refroze). But then the same pattern repeated - it was off when I got up this morning, then I did briefly hear it come on again, and now it's off again. I tried turning on the inverter, because why not, but that didn't seem to do anything. I don't want to buy any expensive equipment to check on these problems because we're going to be selling the boat in a few months, I can ask the marina for assistance but I really don't want to waste their time on something before I've exhausted options myself, and/or it's something they can't help with anyway.