Service resumed – almost

We made the journey up to Mancetter yesterday, with a little niggle niggling away in the back of my mind as we negotiated the M42 at narrowboat speeds. After draining Erin Mae's water systems last October I'd replaced the junction unit that screws into the top of the calorifier (hot water tank).

The pipe going off to the left is an emergency outlet should excess pressure occur. The one going straight ahead takes hot water to wherever it's needed throughout the boat. But I had a problem. Screwing the junction down tight, took it almost an extra quarter turn from what is shown in this picture, and the emergency pipe would not move across that far. I'd cleaned the thread of old sealant tape, and thought this was probably the reason. I assumed that, come the re-commissioning of the system, I'd be able to wrap enough PTFE tape around the thread to get it to tighten in the right position. But would I?

I waited until today to see what would happen. I found my niggling niggle had been justified. Even with copious quantities of PTFE tape, the junction was leaking. If I screw it down tighter, the emergency outlet pipe won't reach.

I rang a nearby marina (Springwood Haven) that has a good engineering department, but their mechanics were all tied up today and tomorrow is turn-around day for their hire fleet. They said I could try ringing at 9 a.m. on Friday to see whether anything might be possible. I rang RiverCanalRescue, but my policy only covers propulsion breakdowns.

In the end we decided to cruise down to Springwood Haven and turn up first thing. Who knows, they might take pity on a couple of needy souls, with a job that, for them, should be relatively straightforward.

So here we are tonight, with the unsuspecting marina just a couple of hundred yards further on. Not quite the first couple of days we were hoping for. Wonder what the morning will bring!