A new water pump and lots of other stuff

2nd & 3rd January

After a remarkably good night's sleep, we had a relaxed start yesterday before Elanor and I went off to the Council tip at Shobnall to dispose of a quantity of stuff we'd taken out of her house the day before. A call at Morrison's on the way back meant I could replenish stocks depleted by the festivities. Elanor then went about her affairs whilst we boated down to Shobnall for pump out, diesel and to buy a new water pump.

They really are very pleasant and helpful at Shobnall: one of the nicer places to go for routine stuff, and their chandlery is well stocked for a small one. Not Midland Chandlers by any means, but a good range, and they will always order something for you if they haven't got it.

Back to the Morrison's mooring we went, just in time for lunch, after which I changed the pump. This proved to be one of the simplest jobs I've ever undertaken on the boat, which is reassuring. The Jabsco uses "snap in swivel ports" which sound alarming, but actually look more like the HozeLock connectors on your garden hose than anything.

It meant that, doing a like for like swap, I didn't have to disturb any of the pipe work connections – I just unplugged the connectors from the old pump and snapped them into the new one. There was a very helpful explanatory leaflet in the box, what's more. If doing this job, don't forget to a) switch off the power supply to the pump, b) close the supply cock from the water tank, and c) open a tap, allow the pressure to run off and then close the tap again.

Doing this meant that only a little water trickled out when I disconnected the old pump, most of it from within the pump itself. Initially I tightened up the fixing screws which hold the pump onto its mounting board a little enthusiastically, which made the pump a bit noisy, as I'd over-compressed the rubber mounts that are designed to reduce noise transmission; I sorted that today, and the pump now runs much, much quieter than the old one did.

Being a curious type (ho, ho, yes, I know), I then followed the instructions on the pack leaflet to dismantle the old one. There did not appear to be much wrong with the diaphragm and pistons that I could see, but there clearly must have been some wear as the pump body had been leaking. The motor, on the other hand, felt rough when I turned it, and the commutator was scored and manky looking, which probably explains the way the pump was struggling to make the cut off pressure, and was drawing a bit more than the 5 amps it's rated for.

Later in the afternoon, Elanor came back and took us to the Barton Turns butcher, so that I could restock the freezer with their nice meat.

After all that we had a quiet evening: curiously, having turned the boat around, the quality of the internet connection had deteriorated, so we moved the laptop into the saloon, so as to put the modem in a porthole facing the right way.

Today we had another relaxed start, strolling over to Morrison's again, then boating off on a remarkably ice free canal, considering how cold it had been overnight. After three hours we were back on the Alrewas water point, where there was much more evidence of the canal having frozen, though by half twelve (as it was then) it was well broken up.

The taps on the water point, however, were still frozen solid. It took a good bit of attention from my cook's blowtorch and a kettle of hot water before one of them unfroze, after which we had no bother topping up the water tank.

Whilst doing all this, another boat came up the lock and snaffled the mooring space we had our eye on, so we've come back to our old favourite next to the iron gate onto the road.

After another peaceful afternoon, Elanor popped in just as I was thinking of doing this blog; I can't complain, as she'd brought a load of firewood for us, two rubber mats to form the core of my next fender, and some ham stock cubes from Sainsbury's, Morrison's not having had them in stock, as it were.

She's bought herself a Sony Reader, being very impressed with ours, so we had a merry time shifting stuff off my laptop onto hers using a WiFi connection, and generally playing around with the kit. She's another Machead, so she will now have to find a mate with a PC to authorise her Reader if she wants to buy books online.

I'd been going to do a beef curry with some of the left over beef from New Year, but by the time Elanor had gone, and as I still had this blog to do, it's going to be spag bol from the freezer, and the curry will wait for another day.

We'll be here in Alrewas for at least a few days more, until the replacement accumulator arrives, and possibly longer if this cold snap continues and keeps us frozen in. Not to worry – we've got full water and diesel tanks and an empty toilet tank, so it'll be a while before we're in trouble (on that score at least).