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Water taps in marinas


Grassman

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I gather that some marina's disable most of the pontoon taps during the winter so they don't freeze up, and just leave a few insulated ones working. This means a lot of moorers have to join up each others hoses in order to reach a tap.

 

Is this common practice? Given the fact that marina dwellers have to pay such high mooring fees I was shocked to hear this, and I was wondering if this common practice amongst marinas?

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  I don’t know how common it is for Marina’s to disconnect unprotected taps but it does make sense in the colder months.  it’s normal for boaters to borrow other boaters hoses to reach water points to save moving their boats closer to the water point.

  As long as the Marina operator leaves ample space for all boats to move and they can access the water point I don’t see an issue. If the the Mooring boats don’t want to  move their boats and would rather link hose’s together that’s up to them.

  

  

Edited by PD1964
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9 minutes ago, Grassman said:

I gather that some marina's disable most of the pontoon taps during the winter so they don't freeze up, and just leave a few insulated ones working. This means a lot of moorers have to join up each others hoses in order to reach a tap.

 

Is this common practice? Given the fact that marina dwellers have to pay such high mooring fees I was shocked to hear this, and I was wondering if this common practice amongst marinas?

Not where I moor. Best ask your marina.

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20 minutes ago, PD1964 said:

I don’t know how common it is for Marina’s to disconnect unprotected taps, but it’s normal for boaters to borrow other boaters hoses to reach water points to save moving their boats closer.

 

I'd never use either a marina supplied hose (and it is now against 'Best Practice' for a marina to provide hoses) or another boaters' hose. You have no idea what they have done with it, has the end been dropped in the cut, has it been drained properly, has it been flushed thru etc etc.

 

In November, the Industry Specialist Consulting Group (ISCG)* published an Industry Best Practice (IBP) guidance document for the marine industry on the safe operation of water facilities in marinas, boatyards, sailing centres, canals and other inland waterways. SYH’s water supplier, Anglian Water, is a member of the ISCG and as such this IBP will be adopted within the harbour. As a result, all hose pipes have now been removed from the marina.

The IBP has been compiled for several reasons, including:

  • increasing the safety of drinking water going onto boats (i.e. preventing stagnant hose pipe water going into water tanks)
  • reducing the amount of water wasted by hose pipes that do not have shut off valves at the ends
  • preventing marina/river water getting into hose pipes that have been left dangling off the edge of the pontoon

Several water undertakers have adopted the IBP in order to satisfy compliance with the water regulations.

 

 

I have 3 hoses a 100' (magic hose) and 2x 50 foot 'curly wurly' hoses. If I cannot get within 200' of a tap I'll move the boat.

 

 

 

 

Industry-Best-Practice-Marine-Water-Facilities-2019.pdf

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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15 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

I'd never use either a marina supplied hose (and it is now against 'Best Practice' for a marina to provide hoses) or another boaters' hose. 

 

 

 

 

 

Industry-Best-Practice-Marine-Water-Facilities-2019.pdf 2.02 MB · 0 downloads

I agree, but it does seem to be common at marinas with long pontoons; e.g. Debdale.

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1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

I'd never use either a marina supplied hose (and it is now against 'Best Practice' for a marina to provide hoses) or another boaters' hose. You have no idea what they have done with it, has the end been dropped in the cut, has it been drained properly, has it been flushed thru etc etc.

 

In November, the Industry Specialist Consulting Group (ISCG)* published an Industry Best Practice (IBP) guidance document for the marine industry on the safe operation of water facilities in marinas, boatyards, sailing centres, canals and other inland waterways. SYH’s water supplier, Anglian Water, is a member of the ISCG and as such this IBP will be adopted within the harbour. As a result, all hose pipes have now been removed from the marina.

The IBP has been compiled for several reasons, including:

  • increasing the safety of drinking water going onto boats (i.e. preventing stagnant hose pipe water going into water tanks)
  • reducing the amount of water wasted by hose pipes that do not have shut off valves at the ends
  • preventing marina/river water getting into hose pipes that have been left dangling off the edge of the pontoon

Several water undertakers have adopted the IBP in order to satisfy compliance with the water regulations.

 

 

I have 3 hoses a 100' (magic hose) and 2x 50 foot 'curly wurly' hoses. If I cannot get within 200' of a tap I'll move the boat.

 

 

 

 

Industry-Best-Practice-Marine-Water-Facilities-2019.pdf 2.02 MB · 10 downloads

So have the EA removed the hoses at the River Thames water points

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48 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

If that is a question - I have no idea, I am not on EA waters.

 

Our marina certainly have, and, sent an email around to all moorers explaining why.

'Funny old world' - but yesterday I discovered that EA on the Thames have just removed all their larrge bore 'fire hydrant hoses'  and replaced them with a cheap domestic type fitting.

We've not been out cruising as the marina is in some form of lockdown (no overnighting) so I can't confirm.

When Thames boaters come out of hibernation, I suspect there will be some grizzling.....

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2 hours ago, frahkn said:

I agree, but it does seem to be common at marinas with long pontoons; e.g. Debdale.

Debdale are a law unto themselves, I have had a night there before they lifted out for bottom paint, strange rules and they seem to be enforced.

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1 hour ago, OldGoat said:

'Funny old world' - but yesterday I discovered that EA on the Thames have just removed all their larrge bore 'fire hydrant hoses'  and replaced them with a cheap domestic type fitting.

We've not been out cruising as the marina is in some form of lockdown (no overnighting) so I can't confirm.

When Thames boaters come out of hibernation, I suspect there will be some grizzling.....

I wonder why.

I like the high flow rate on the Thames. It means you can often fill while waiting for a lock.

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13 minutes ago, dixi188 said:

I wonder why.

I like the high flow rate on the Thames. It means you can often fill while waiting for a lock.

 

1 hour ago, Detling said:

Debdale are a law unto themselves, I have had a night there before they lifted out for bottom paint, strange rules and they seem to be enforced.

I spent a week there back in 2009 and found them fine

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The main reason I started this thread was because of the the potential contamination caused by the sharing of hosepipes, and to a lesser extent the hassle factor. I cannot understand why marina dwellers have to do this when it wouldn't take much for the marina's to insulate the taps especially with the revenue they get from boaters.

 

I'm alright because I fill up from CRT's taps along the way, but I always wipe the tap spout and since Covid I disinfect the tap handle. A little obsessive of me probably.

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1 hour ago, Grassman said:

The main reason I started this thread was because of the the potential contamination caused by the sharing of hosepipes, and to a lesser extent the hassle factor. I cannot understand why marina dwellers have to do this when it wouldn't take much for the marina's to insulate the taps especially with the revenue they get from boaters.

 

I'm alright because I fill up from CRT's taps along the way, but I always wipe the tap spout and since Covid I disinfect the tap handle. A little obsessive of me probably.

In a house/ flat or other land based property the pipes are all about 300mm or more underground. In a marina they are often in open air attached to the underside of pontoons, another reason why I don't use them when available as in summer they get hot

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2 hours ago, Grassman said:

wouldn't take much for the marina's to insulate the taps especially with the revenue they get from boaters.

In many marinas the pipes run along open jetties. That means long lengths of pipe to insulate. And as insulation only slows down heat loss, it wouldn't on it's own prevent the pipes from freezing. So trace heating would need to be added as well. That's a significant installation cost and ongoing running cost + ongoing maintenance. I can quite see why many marinas don't think that is justified for the relatively small numbers of boaters using their boats in winter.

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6 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

In a house/ flat or other land based property the pipes are all about 300mm or more underground. In a marina they are often in open air attached to the underside of pontoons, another reason why I don't use them when available as in summer they get hot

That's true of the supply on my leisure mooring. Even insulated, the pipes can freeze hanging from the pontoons, unused for long periods, so are isolated based on the weather forecast. 

 

For a leisure mooring I don't find it a great inconvenience. 

 

 

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My marina states that in low temperatures they may switch off the water to the pontoons but they maintain a working supply at the service dock, although in a deep freeze boats would have difficulty navigating to it. That said the on board occupancy during the winter is no more than a few dozen at any time.

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We had a burst pipe on our pontoon due to frost . So frost damage is a risk .  But cutting the water off should be only when frost is forecast - not all winter.

Most people are not using their boats over winter and have their domestic water system drained off. Other  than the few   people who live aboard.

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40 minutes ago, MartynG said:

...  But cutting the water off should be only when frost is forecast - not all winter. ...

It's a nice idea, but in practice it is probably not as simple as just turning a valve on/off.  Even with just a short length of pipe to an outside tap I now drain that length when I turn the water off each December - because when I didn't, it split!  Draining multiple pontoon pipes multiple times over a winter is probably too much hassle.

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