Back in Hot Water!

Our stay in the Premier Inn last night turned out to be an eventful stay because about 10pm I was in the shower and the emergency siren went off. I thought that perhaps Dot had accidently set off the security alarm as we were using a paraplegic room. It turned out that it was a fire alarm and we had to evacuate and here was me in my birthday suit in the shower. A quick rush around and we were outside in the cold with all the other clients and me still drying my hair. Jokingly I said “Alright who was smoking in the bog” There were a few sheepish faces but it transpired that it was somebody using an aerosol deodorant after having a shower. Boy that stuff must be lethal.

It was another early start for me this morning. It felt strange walking from the hotel back to the boat which is basically only a couple of hundred yards from the hotel. A quick brekkie and it was all on. The repaired joint can be easily seen in the photo and turned out to be good. The only problem was the brass fitting on the same pipe, the engineer had run a tap and die over it as the thread had been crossed in the original installation but it was still a tad tight. I ran a triangular file around the thread which did ease it but it still had to be fully tightened by spanner all the way.

After refilling the heating system and the engine cooling system it was time to give them a run to ensure they were fully bled. So far so good, time to check all the connections on the calorifier which were all dry except the one that had been repaired. I tweaked it up little by little and greatly reduced the leak. Eventually I couldn’t tighten it any more and there was still a persistent drip about every 5 minutes so out came the LX2 silicone that I got from a Plumbers merchant when I did the bathroom. Plastered around the joint the silicone has now set and hopefully will cure the problem. Time will tell.

Now when I picked up the calorifier from Trinity Land Rover yesterday he said that I could pay for it when I was happy that it was fixed satisfactorily. After lunch today I was happy with the job so went to pay. The job had been done by a friend of his called Bill in Coventry (more details later) and the transport costs were a freebie. He proceeded to give me a plain envelope and said “There you go, put something in there, what ever you think the job is worth and I will send it on to Bill”. Well you could have knocked me down with a feather. I suspect Bill may be retired but he loves helping people. I had spoken to another boater who had sent their calorifier to Birmingham to get fixed and it cost them £35 plus freight so I popped 2 £20 notes in the envelope which was a lot less than a new calorifier.

Now thats what we call service with a smile something that is sadly lacking these days. A big thank you to Trinity Landrover despite all the problems the industry is up against at this time.