We didn't get much sleep as we were working out an action plan to get the split calorifier sorted out. Del was up early to light the fire and get the kettle on it for some hot water. He then started on taking off the insulation to find out how big the hole was on the calorifier. It turned out (after chasing it up the tank), it was a small split and it wasn't too bad to get to...
Plan A was first to try and repair the tank, as the split was easy to get to, and three quarters of the way up the tank. Plan B was to start arranging a new tank and find out the best price. The problem with Plan A was Del didn't have all the tools, so we had breakfast and then walked up to Wickes where Del purchased a Blow torch, flux and solder. Al carried on shopping while Del walked back to Derwent6 and got started on the repair.
The tank was drained and cleaned up with wire wool and then the flux was added. We didn't hold out much hope as the solder wouldn't take, but after a lot of fire and smoke, he managed to get something on there in the end. It didn't look pretty, but it was holding.
Del then had some bleeding problems, and we started to panic a bit as it was getting dark. We needed to run the engine, as the batteries were getting low, but in the end we found a small bleed screw at the back of the tank. With the engine running we kept our fingers and toes crossed. Well it seemed to work (don't know for how long), we just had a small leak from the engine coolant pipe as the clip wouldn't tighten up, and the insulation needs repairing. We will be doing that tomorrow, if it all holds out overnight. So we now have some hot water again, phew! Lets hope we get a better nights sleep tonight and don't wake up to the water pump running!!!
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