We moved the mile to Whitchurch this afternoon after the wind died a bit. We had to reverse a hundred yards or so to fill the water tank first, and going backwards on a narrowboat is unpredictable at best, wind makes it even more difficult.
There are three water taps up here above Grindley Brook Locks, popular for folk to lurk within hose length at this time of year. We had to go past two boats to get to a space near a tap.
There’s a house alongside the canal along here, with no access apart from the towpath.
You often see the owner toddling along the path with a wheelbarrow…
Approaching the Whitchurch Arm and my first solo lift bridge…
…successfully negotiated.
We reversed into the arm to the right of the picture. It used to run most of the way into the town of Whitchurch, but it’s now a stub just 300 yards long.
We’ll be here till the new pressure relief valve arrives, possibly tomorrow but more likely Thursday. Then we’ll be on our way again, westward towards Wales.
Thanks for the comment Paul. The reason I’m opening a tap every so often is to emulate the automatic operation of the PRV, if it had been working. Otherwise the pressure rises to above 4 bar, rather higher than the plumbing is comfortable with. I can manually regulate it to between 2 bar, pump pressure, and 3 bar, PRV release pressure. Oh, and yes, I installed a heating circulation pump a couple of years ago. The rads get warm, but not hot though.
For any other boaters out there, it’s worth checking to make sure your PRV is working. With the domestic system hot and the engine or water heater running, the pressure at the PRV should go no higher than 3 bar or around 40 psi. If it’s allowed to go higher you might have the same trouble as me…
Incidentally, the pressure in a sealed vessel only containing water rises by roughly 180psi for each 1°C increase. So for a rise of 50°, say from 10° to 60° the pressure rise would be a massive 9000psi! Or 620 bar! Of course, we haven’t got a sealed system, expansion in the pipework, calorifier and the accumulator will mitigate most of the pressure increase. As will the unavoidable air headspace at the top of the tank.
Locks 0, miles 1
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