diff --git a/federationsender/queue/destinationqueue.go b/federationsender/queue/destinationqueue.go
index a1cc7992a..b0dc54bf4 100644
--- a/federationsender/queue/destinationqueue.go
+++ b/federationsender/queue/destinationqueue.go
@@ -411,13 +411,13 @@ func (oq *destinationQueue) nextTransaction(
 		if pduReceipts != nil {
 			//logrus.Infof("Cleaning PDUs %q", pduReceipt.String())
 			if err = oq.db.CleanPDUs(context.Background(), oq.destination, pduReceipts); err != nil {
-				log.WithError(err).Errorf("failed to clean PDUs for server %q", t.Destination)
+				log.WithError(err).Errorf("Failed to clean PDUs for server %q", t.Destination)
 			}
 		}
 		if eduReceipts != nil {
 			//logrus.Infof("Cleaning EDUs %q", eduReceipt.String())
 			if err = oq.db.CleanEDUs(context.Background(), oq.destination, eduReceipts); err != nil {
-				log.WithError(err).Errorf("failed to clean EDUs for server %q", t.Destination)
+				log.WithError(err).Errorf("Failed to clean EDUs for server %q", t.Destination)
 			}
 		}
 		return true, len(t.PDUs), len(t.EDUs), nil
@@ -429,7 +429,7 @@ func (oq *destinationQueue) nextTransaction(
 		log.WithFields(log.Fields{
 			"destination": oq.destination,
 			log.ErrorKey:  err,
-		}).Info("problem sending transaction")
+		}).Infof("Failed to send transaction %q", t.TransactionID)
 		return false, 0, 0, err
 	}
 }
diff --git a/federationsender/storage/shared/storage_edus.go b/federationsender/storage/shared/storage_edus.go
index 2b9e2622e..86fee1a37 100644
--- a/federationsender/storage/shared/storage_edus.go
+++ b/federationsender/storage/shared/storage_edus.go
@@ -52,36 +52,42 @@ func (d *Database) GetPendingEDUs(
 	ctx context.Context,
 	serverName gomatrixserverlib.ServerName,
 	limit int,
-) (map[*Receipt]*gomatrixserverlib.EDU, error) {
-	edus := make(map[*Receipt]*gomatrixserverlib.EDU)
-	nids, err := d.FederationSenderQueueEDUs.SelectQueueEDUs(ctx, nil, serverName, limit)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("SelectQueueEDUs: %w", err)
-	}
-
-	retrieve := make([]int64, 0, len(nids))
-	for _, nid := range nids {
-		if edu, ok := d.Cache.GetFederationSenderQueuedEDU(nid); ok {
-			edus[&Receipt{nid}] = edu
-		} else {
-			retrieve = append(retrieve, nid)
+) (
+	edus map[*Receipt]*gomatrixserverlib.EDU,
+	err error,
+) {
+	edus = make(map[*Receipt]*gomatrixserverlib.EDU)
+	err = d.Writer.Do(d.DB, nil, func(txn *sql.Tx) error {
+		nids, err := d.FederationSenderQueueEDUs.SelectQueueEDUs(ctx, txn, serverName, limit)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("SelectQueueEDUs: %w", err)
 		}
-	}
 
-	blobs, err := d.FederationSenderQueueJSON.SelectQueueJSON(ctx, nil, retrieve)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("SelectQueueJSON: %w", err)
-	}
-
-	for nid, blob := range blobs {
-		var event gomatrixserverlib.EDU
-		if err := json.Unmarshal(blob, &event); err != nil {
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("json.Unmarshal: %w", err)
+		retrieve := make([]int64, 0, len(nids))
+		for _, nid := range nids {
+			if edu, ok := d.Cache.GetFederationSenderQueuedEDU(nid); ok {
+				edus[&Receipt{nid}] = edu
+			} else {
+				retrieve = append(retrieve, nid)
+			}
 		}
-		edus[&Receipt{nid}] = &event
-	}
 
-	return edus, nil
+		blobs, err := d.FederationSenderQueueJSON.SelectQueueJSON(ctx, txn, retrieve)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("SelectQueueJSON: %w", err)
+		}
+
+		for nid, blob := range blobs {
+			var event gomatrixserverlib.EDU
+			if err := json.Unmarshal(blob, &event); err != nil {
+				return fmt.Errorf("json.Unmarshal: %w", err)
+			}
+			edus[&Receipt{nid}] = &event
+		}
+
+		return nil
+	})
+	return
 }
 
 // CleanEDUs cleans up all specified EDUs. This is done when a
diff --git a/federationsender/storage/shared/storage_pdus.go b/federationsender/storage/shared/storage_pdus.go
index a9c4c447b..bc298a905 100644
--- a/federationsender/storage/shared/storage_pdus.go
+++ b/federationsender/storage/shared/storage_pdus.go
@@ -53,42 +53,48 @@ func (d *Database) GetPendingPDUs(
 	ctx context.Context,
 	serverName gomatrixserverlib.ServerName,
 	limit int,
-) (map[*Receipt]*gomatrixserverlib.HeaderedEvent, error) {
+) (
+	events map[*Receipt]*gomatrixserverlib.HeaderedEvent,
+	err error,
+) {
 	// Strictly speaking this doesn't need to be using the writer
 	// since we are only performing selects, but since we don't have
 	// a guarantee of transactional isolation, it's actually useful
 	// to know in SQLite mode that nothing else is trying to modify
 	// the database.
-	events := make(map[*Receipt]*gomatrixserverlib.HeaderedEvent)
-	nids, err := d.FederationSenderQueuePDUs.SelectQueuePDUs(ctx, nil, serverName, limit)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("SelectQueuePDUs: %w", err)
-	}
-
-	retrieve := make([]int64, 0, len(nids))
-	for _, nid := range nids {
-		if event, ok := d.Cache.GetFederationSenderQueuedPDU(nid); ok {
-			events[&Receipt{nid}] = event
-		} else {
-			retrieve = append(retrieve, nid)
+	events = make(map[*Receipt]*gomatrixserverlib.HeaderedEvent)
+	err = d.Writer.Do(d.DB, nil, func(txn *sql.Tx) error {
+		nids, err := d.FederationSenderQueuePDUs.SelectQueuePDUs(ctx, txn, serverName, limit)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("SelectQueuePDUs: %w", err)
 		}
-	}
 
-	blobs, err := d.FederationSenderQueueJSON.SelectQueueJSON(ctx, nil, retrieve)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("SelectQueueJSON: %w", err)
-	}
-
-	for nid, blob := range blobs {
-		var event gomatrixserverlib.HeaderedEvent
-		if err := json.Unmarshal(blob, &event); err != nil {
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("json.Unmarshal: %w", err)
+		retrieve := make([]int64, 0, len(nids))
+		for _, nid := range nids {
+			if event, ok := d.Cache.GetFederationSenderQueuedPDU(nid); ok {
+				events[&Receipt{nid}] = event
+			} else {
+				retrieve = append(retrieve, nid)
+			}
 		}
-		events[&Receipt{nid}] = &event
-		d.Cache.StoreFederationSenderQueuedPDU(nid, &event)
-	}
 
-	return events, nil
+		blobs, err := d.FederationSenderQueueJSON.SelectQueueJSON(ctx, txn, retrieve)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("SelectQueueJSON: %w", err)
+		}
+
+		for nid, blob := range blobs {
+			var event gomatrixserverlib.HeaderedEvent
+			if err := json.Unmarshal(blob, &event); err != nil {
+				return fmt.Errorf("json.Unmarshal: %w", err)
+			}
+			events[&Receipt{nid}] = &event
+			d.Cache.StoreFederationSenderQueuedPDU(nid, &event)
+		}
+
+		return nil
+	})
+	return
 }
 
 // CleanTransactionPDUs cleans up all associated events for a