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When icicles hang by the wall
Dec. 2nd, 2015 06:49 pmI suspect from the responses to my recent post about having a new gas meter fitted that some of my readers aren't aware quite how decrepit our central heating system is. Kind remarks along the lines of 'All's well that ends well' overlook the fact that it isn't over till it's over.
Well, it's over now. We woke up on Sunday morning to no heating, and all the lights out on the timer. Maybe it was just an electrical glitch? A blown fuse? Maybe, but what had caused the fuse to blow? We'd find out soon enough, but for the present we booked an engineer for Monday morning and went out for the day (and did many things and had a good time: it's not all doom and gloom).
The engineer gave us the bad news: the fuse had blown because the punp had seized. Replacing it would be a half day's work, and given the condition of the system as a whole, would only be a temporary fix: he would do it if we insisted, but why not let them quote for doing the job properly, replacing the boiler, flushing the system, the lot? So that afternoon his colleague from Britiush Gas came and gave us a quote, and that evening a local builder who had been recommended to us also came, and we will go with the latter (two main reasons: 1, local firm and 2, better boiler for not much higher price).
They will probably start work on Monday - earlier if they can, though we aren't enthusiastic about a Friday start and everything in pieces over the weekend.
Not that I'm enthusiastic about prolonging the status quo, either. We tell people that we are the generation who grew up without central heating, and we can cope; it's good to discover that this is actually true, at least while the weather is comparatively mild. We are unearthing all our old electric heaters and warm jumpers. D. is visiting, and has brought a couple more fan heaters, and quite a lot of firewood, so we lit a fire last night, which was very cosy. The main problem is that our only source of hot water is the shower; I use the kettle to heat water for washing up, which becomes tedious very quickly.
We have guests to dinner on Friday - I'm still thinking how best to handle that.
Well, it's over now. We woke up on Sunday morning to no heating, and all the lights out on the timer. Maybe it was just an electrical glitch? A blown fuse? Maybe, but what had caused the fuse to blow? We'd find out soon enough, but for the present we booked an engineer for Monday morning and went out for the day (and did many things and had a good time: it's not all doom and gloom).
The engineer gave us the bad news: the fuse had blown because the punp had seized. Replacing it would be a half day's work, and given the condition of the system as a whole, would only be a temporary fix: he would do it if we insisted, but why not let them quote for doing the job properly, replacing the boiler, flushing the system, the lot? So that afternoon his colleague from Britiush Gas came and gave us a quote, and that evening a local builder who had been recommended to us also came, and we will go with the latter (two main reasons: 1, local firm and 2, better boiler for not much higher price).
They will probably start work on Monday - earlier if they can, though we aren't enthusiastic about a Friday start and everything in pieces over the weekend.
Not that I'm enthusiastic about prolonging the status quo, either. We tell people that we are the generation who grew up without central heating, and we can cope; it's good to discover that this is actually true, at least while the weather is comparatively mild. We are unearthing all our old electric heaters and warm jumpers. D. is visiting, and has brought a couple more fan heaters, and quite a lot of firewood, so we lit a fire last night, which was very cosy. The main problem is that our only source of hot water is the shower; I use the kettle to heat water for washing up, which becomes tedious very quickly.
We have guests to dinner on Friday - I'm still thinking how best to handle that.
