Flying vsit... and a plumbing job

We were aboard Waterlily on Friday night....it was really cold, minus double figures. It took a good couple of hours to get the boat warm but the Squirrel is very good and the back boiler and two rads sorted the boat out so we went to bed lovely and warm.

I did not sleep too well as the central heating pump kept kicking in and it is noisy. It needs to cycle on and off to take the excess heat from the stove. When we got the boat it was on a switch - on or off, the pipe work is 22mm copper and inclined so it should work without a pump. I fitted a pipe stat that now switches the pump and I can adjust the switching temp. I have looked at getting the pump replaced but the pumps sell for about £250 !!

I was also woken by the cold air on my face.... that is a first so it must have got cold in the boat even with the stove on tick-over. Still a really nice place to be.

I also tracked down a leak on the central heating to a valve on the vent side. I should have lagged it or realised it would get damaged even with antifreeze in the system. I think it has been weeping for a while. I had a space on board so that went on temporarily until I can do  full fix. I think it is there in case the system boils when it would vent overboard rather than back into the expansion box that is in the wardrobe.

We were forced to leave when the snow started falling. I would have liked to have stayed but we had other stuff to do so we left the boat slowly cooling down. One thing that was a positive was no leaks so far this year. The extra lagging is doing its job.

Old above new on the right....

Yes the canal was freezing, at common lock the ice was well over an inch thick and even though I broke it with my boots I still could not get the gate open, another reason not to cruise when the canals are frozen.