Sunday 12 June 2016

Bilge pump emits loud high-pitched squeal

I took some photos in the rain today. Can you tell which is canal and which is towpath? I don't think the ducks could.

photo 1: canal or towpath?

photo 2:  canal or towpath?

photo 3:  canal or towpath?
Answers below.

We went to St. Augustine's Church in Rugeley this morning. A robed choir isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed it. I had gone to the choir vestry to ask for a copy of the setting (the parts of the liturgy set to music) before the service began, and I'm glad I did as I didn't know it (by Sumsion). The sermon, on values, was good.

We went to a newly-opened "carvery express" for lunch: good size portions of "pulled" pork or "pulled" turkey with loads of veg for £4.95 each. We hadn't been back on the boat long before today's dose of rain came - that's when I took the pictures above. Photo 1 is of the towpath; photo 2 is the canal and photo 3 is the towpath. No photos of ducks!

This evening, when the rain had finally stopped, I took up the deck boards and emptied the overflowed stern gland drip-catcher, then mopped up the bilge. I thought it would be a good idea to check the operation of the bilge pump and was concerned when it gave out a loud, high-pitched squeal when switched on. I know I was running it "dry", but it sounded like bearings had gone. The integral float switch also seemed dodgy. I'll have to get another one - and quickly!

3 comments:

Andy Tidy said...

You cant take changes with the bilge pump! Is your stern gland leaking more than it used to?

Halfie said...

Quite! Is the stern gland leaking more now? Well, yes and no. I did leak more, but then I tightened the gland and lessened the drips. I have also installed a two litre ice cream container to catch the drips before they reach the bilge - but I need to make sure I empty it before it overflows. The old pump is 750 gallons per hour, do you think I could get away with a 500 gph one? It still seems like quite a lot.

Andy Tidy said...

Halfie, Its not the capacity if the pump I was thinking about (although you certainly need one). My gland dripped really badly and was triggering the pump every 4 hours or so and tightening the gland only lessened the problem for a week or so. However, I got some thicker packing, dug out some coils of the old stuff and pushed the new in - hey presto, no more drips. None whatsoever. Just a thought.