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Life Afloat on Narrowboat Audrey Too

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You are here: Home / On the Grand Union Canal / Calling in the experts

Calling in the experts

On the Grand Union Canal · November 16, 2005

Sean’s the electrician recommended by the boatyard in Uxbridge. He charges very reasonably and he’s sorted out the faulty headlight wiring and replaced the water pump fuses and checked the health of the batteries. The batteries charge up quickly but are getting old – they were bought in 2000 – and will need to be replaced soon.

After enduring a couple of weeks with no running water, I took a long hot shower to celebrate.

But now something else has gone wrong. The Alde boiler, within a minute of being lit, is giving off a foul-smelling smoke and a burning smell. So now I have running water but no central heating – in the cold of winter. I called the engineer recommended by Alde and it’s going to cost me about £550 to get a refurbished boiler installed.

Expensive things boats, especially secondhand. It seems like something is always going wrong or about to go wrong.

Filed Under: On the Grand Union Canal

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  1. says

    April 21, 2006 at 1:08 pm

    The problem with your Alde is likely to be rust fallen from inside the chimnet onto the burner. I had this myself this week and fixed it without an engineer. email graham@jannock.org.uk for more info.

    Graham

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