Tag Archives: water pump

It’s Like Something Out of Waterworld

Wednesday 3 June 2020

murpworks - The Tales of Silverdale - It's Like Something Out of Waterworld - water point image

It’s Like Something Out of Waterworld

It was overcast to start with. Then it started to rain. It has been so hot and sunny so far that it was quite a shock. Work defined the day. That was until I got a call to explain I had to take an unpaid two week break to satisfy regulations. Hey ho! There’s plenty to do on Silverdale – as I was about to find out.

In the afternoon, we drove up to the marina office on our way out, to B&Q to collect what we had clicked. At the office, a package had arrived for us, so post is getting through. B&Q is in Northampton, a nine mile drive: scenic route there , ‘A’ road back. This was interspersed with me queuing in the rain in a queue of one, me. Collecting what I’d forgotten we had ordered and it transpiring to be three blinds and what looked to be 25 gallons of Brilliant White emulsion! Mu had ordered the large or rather gargantuan pot. It brought a whole new meaning to supersize me. We have enough paint to cover all the narrowboat interiors in the marina!

Pump Problems

Back on Silverdale, the water pump that had worked flawlessly since it had been switched on started to run for longer when we ran the tap. Water flowed but it stayed on for longer. It hit a point where it just stayed on. I flipped a switch (that skill coming in handy again). We surmised it was that the water tank was running low. I unpacked the new blue, food grade, flat water hose and stepped out into the forward well deck. It was raining.

Pipe Problems

I connected the hose to the tap, unravelled the flat hose and connected the nozzle to put into the water tank inlet. Said inlet was opened via a white plastic key type thing, designed specifically for the job. I turned on the hose at the stand pipe which was just at the end of the pontoon, by the path. Water flowed, forcing the flat tube into a tube shaped tube and then, the hose shot off from the tap. It had left the attachment on the tap, the tubing coming loose from the collar. I fixed this by pressing it into the crimp and tightening the collar. Water was back, flowing down the pipe. A fine mist sprayed from the tap/attachment interface but nothing too onerous. Now back to the business end.

Water was flowing into the tank via the inlet pipe. I knew this was the correct location as it had a sign: Water, not Pump Out (don’t go there) or Diesel so we were on the right tank. I was stood in the drizzling rain. Suddenly I was soaking wet! The pipe had pulled out of the inlet and was flailing about, like some angry blue snake. Worse still, the nozzle was nowhere to be seen. I managed to wrestle the snake into submission and then check the inlet. My worst fear was confirmed, the nozzle was at the bottom of the very long inlet pipe into the tank. With no way of getting it out! The tank could still be filled but only very slowly due to the added constriction.

No Problem

The good news was that some water had made its way into the tank and the water pump now cut in and out as it should. Low water causes the pump to be used more. To cap it all, the cap on the tap for the hose to connect to, it wouldn’t come off! It was as though I had welded it on 🙁 I went in to change my wet trousers.

I did have another try at filling the water tank (very slowly) but it was cold and still wet so I abandoned it until tomorrow.

I didn’t fancy watching Waterworld so we watched an episode of Breaking Bad and suddenly, the hose pipe incident seemed trivial.

rp – peace and narrowboats