Living afloat we are very aware of the importance of water for life and for transport.
News stories this week warn of a current drought risk across parts of England. That’s a commercial danger for agriculture. The map from the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology indicates it could affect our cruising plans this year. The River Trent for example, has below average river flow at the moment, although the River Ouse in Yorkshire is already in flood. We can’t do anything with that, just wait and see where we can go.
It is though water on the boat which is occupying our thoughts at the moment. Water is still leaking from the water tank into the bilges so we have a regular role of mopping out… and in addition we have to keep our water pump turned off. A few times a day we trot down the boat, switch it back on, fill a 5-litre bottle with water that we can then use to fill the kettle, wash, cook, clean, and flush the loo. Then we trot back and switch off the pump once more.
As with every problem there’s a temporary fix whilst we work through the options to create a permanent solution.
Our onboard water system consists of a main tank, a water pump, an accumulator, a cauliflower (calorifier or hot water tank), a pressure release valve, the plumbing between them and then a kitchen tap, bathroom tap, shower, flushing toilet and washing machine.
At the moment we know we have two issues with the water system – at least two we’ve identified.
- Main water tank lid leaking – we have a huge lid over the 500l tank that sits in the bow. The well deck floor is lumpy and bumpy, the old lid is rusted round the edges so they don’t create a perfect seal. When we fill up with water the water flows out of the gaps and into the bilges of the boat. It’s big job to grind one away and rebuild the other and big means £££. Making those two surfaces totally flat and sealing via new bolts combined with a small amount of sealant would stop water leaking out when we fill the tank and it sloshes about. For the moment a large amount of sealant will have to resolve the leakage issue, to date 2 x 300ml tubes around there to date haven’t done the job yet and eagle eyes are still required at filling up time. Our temporary fix is filling only until water squirts out, mopping out the bilges and we’ll add more sealant too.
- Water pump going off intermittently – once we’ve got the water on board and kept it in the water tank (rather than the bilges) we need the pressurised water pump to take that water where we need it within the boat. Cold water flows through the kitchen cold tap, basin tap, shower, toilet, hot water tank and washing machine. Hot water flows back from the hot water tank to them all. That’s the theory and it is working but the water pump should only come on when the pressure drops off. It is noisy and uses power so it is intensely irritating when it goes off every 4-5 minutes. It’s using power each time (a little bit but power nonetheless) it makes a loud noise which is irritating and we’re being reminded each time that we have a Problem.
Since we bought the boat we have worked our way round her aged plumbing. We added a flushing toilet which needed plumbing in, and a washing machine. We replaced the shower and basin as well as the kitchen sink and tap. In November last year we had the water tank efficiently sand blasted, cleaned and resealed.
This alert indicates a series of possible issues:
- We have a leak in the system
- It could indicate we have a problem with the accumulator which accumulates pressure avoiding the need to use the pump constantly and reduces pressure so you don’t get banging and rattling in your pipes
- It could also indicate a leaky pressure relief/release valve
- Faulty water pump.
In a process of elimination, we are steadily working our way through the potential possible causes in a bid to find a solution:
- Leak in the system – we traced it through hoping the pipes that run under the bed or behind the shower wall aren’t at fault. Couldn’t find any evidence of leaks – phew.
- Accumulator – firstly we used a bicycle pump to pump the pressure into it behind the rubber membrane that holds the air to create the pressure in the water. It was evident that was losing pressure and we don’t know hold old the accumulator is anyway. It obviously wasn’t working as it should have done. We removed it with only a slight leak in the process to see if it was that causing the problem…it clearly wasn’t the only issue because the pump still keeps going off!
- Leaky relief/release valve – we didn’t know we had this originally! Steve found it by chance when initially exploring the system. He found the valve stuffed in the back of the wardrobe (perhaps not the most logical location as when the pressure built up and the release valve worked it dripped the resulting water into the wardrobe aka waterrobe). The PRV was fixed as part of the washing machine installation when we had a proper drain installed that channels the water from the valve into that drain and out of the boat.
- Faulty water pump – this is possibly the final option and most expensive but we can’t honestly think what else there is that could be the issue. Advice from a friendly boatyard indicates that they expect pumps in hire boats to last for 6 years in a really good situation – and they aren’t being used 365 days a year. We’ve had our boat for nearly 5 years and have no idea how long the pump had been in before then. The pump contains a cut-in switch, a cut-out switch, a motor, a pump mechansim – all of which seem to work.
As the water tank was completely emptied and refilled during repair work it is possible some muck may have got into the pump as we’ve now discovered that we don’t have a filter between the water tank and the pump. That could then have accelerated wear to the valves of an already aged pump.
We could dismantle the pump, rebuild it with new bits may be finding the one problem area and fixing it en route. That could still leave the possibility of something else going in the aged pump, and all that fiddling about would take time, provide useful learning but also result in a long time without water.
Another final attempted solution is to replace the pump. The friendly boatyard have one coming next week for us to try. If it works we pay for it, if it doesn’t we give it back. We’re thinking there’s an advantage in having a new pump anyway at this point, one with a warranty on it, and hopefully giving us another 6 years. We also want to install a filter.
It’s a bit of a drip feed story this one – will our plans solve the problem? Watch this space!
Pickingupducks 