... the boiler breaks down! ::)
Came home tonight, switched the heating on and NOTHING! >:(. The gas boiler has given up on us.
Hot water OK thanks to an electric backup emersion heater, but no heating other than the gas fire in the lounge and a small plug in electric radiator.
Jolly chilly night down this way too.
Yep...sounds about right, same thing happened to me last year.
Three weeks before Christmas, the boiler switched itself on and stated to make the most awful racket. Before I could get to it, and switch it off, it died. Called out the plumber who told me that it was beyond repair, makeshift or otherwise, (it was 15 year old) so I'd have to install a new boiler and flue. My plumber set up an emersion system for me, so I had hot water, but as he was in the middle of re-pluming a large house, I had to wait for him to finish that job before he could sort me out properly. Owner of said house kept changing their spec, thus delaying everything. The plumber, Kev, asked me to keep my chin up and promised me that he would not let me freeze for Christmas.
So one week went to two, then three....... Christmas was looming nearer, my patience was wearing thin, and the wheel on the electric meter was happily whizzing away. Notching up the units by a rate of knots, every time we wanted a bath.
Eventually got heat again at 1.30 am on the 24th December...........Mmmmm..... HEAT ...... Oh what bliss........it was the best Christmas present I've ever had. Feeling a snug as a bug in a rug, beats diamonds and pearls any day.
Moral of the story ........... Get you boiler serviced well before the Christmas Hoibobs. Whilst Kev was doing our boiler, his phone did not stop ringing with people who's heating/water systems had gone up the spout, just before the big day. I could hear people crying down the phone and offering him large amounts of money (£500) for him to knock our job on the head and do theirs instead. Which thankfully, he did not do........... That reminds me I must phone Kev and arrange the boiler service TODAY. :) :)
Tina
:'(Happened to us about 3 years ago on Christmas Day....I didn't realise just how cold this house can be without the heating. Kids thought it very arkaic, and to think we lived like that years ago all the time...Modern life? I love it. ;D
These things always happen at this time of the year. Val, you reminded me of when I first got married. We lived in an old terraced house, with just a coal fire to heat the place. Boy was it cold! The memories of coming home from work, freezing and having to rake the fire out and build one up again before there was any warmth - urgh! We also had just a cold water tap in the kitchen, so I had to boil all the water in a kettle. Not only that (sound like Monty Python, but all true), we had an outside toilet and in the winter huge icicles used to hang from it. Try rushing down the yard in the middle of winter at midnight to find the toilet has frozen over, not nice. Yes! Thank heavans for modern life! ;D busy_lizzie
Right that's it. Where's the plumber's number? Our boiler has recently started humming away to itself. I'm not sure if it's extremely happy with its lot, or going somewhat mad (or maybe I am?!) It stops when you turn off the bathroom radiator, so we keep doing that and ignoring it. Not any more.
Our pump went belly-up two years ago in January.
Have a gas fire in the living room but it doesn't seem to heat the living room up, never mind hte rest of the house.
Our boiler is in the basement & it's not often I go down there, so I have no idea whether it's making strange noises or not ;D
It is about 20 years old though - came with the house & we're not replacing it til it packs up as there were too many other things needed doing (like replacing the roof!) that took all the money in the pot.
Hope you get it sorted out soon!
Our boiler went belly up a couple of years ago, and it was freezing and we had a baby and a toddler. So I called the emergency plumber, who said it was the element in the boiler and that he could fix it quite quickly - just as well cos he was charging 45 Pounds per half hour :o.
Anyway after he kept walking in and out of the house to his van, using his phone, coming back with just one tool and then popping out for another, clocking up hundreds, >:( I called my OH and told him what was going on. Not surprisingly, OH came home and threw the plumber out.
So beware of emergency plumbers,
sb
I'm just waiting for ours to take the house with it. When it fires up there's a dirty great bang that rattles all the doors on the ground floor.
Ours packed up whilst we were away for our bikers weekend at the end of August. All I can say is thank goodness for British Gas service cover thingymijig! So much had blown up it would have cost us a fortune. We have more than had our money back so would recommend it. ;D
;)I know I shouldn't but couldn't help laughing at some of your posts..What are we like...if our boilers were plants, they'd be fed, cosseted wrapped up for the winter...have internet searches in case that dead leaf is a fatal disease..we calmly sit back waiting for the boiler to blow up and the house with it...Gardeners, don't you just love 'em.
goodness, how many dodgy boilers are out there!?
we don't have gas in our village, our house is heated by either storage heaters (which we only put on in the bedroom) or our multifuel stove. (which has a burnt through grate >:()
bizzie lizzie- i was nodding away when reading your post- come home, fire gone out, rake out ashes, get wood/coal, light, wait to warm up...........not made for people who are out all day, is it!!!!
still, i am a little better at keeping our fire 'in' now, with the slack on top.
our pump stopped other day though, the upstairs radiators were hot but the downstairs ones were cold. the bathroom was freezing!!! my dad arrived and got it going again, so i haven't touched it since.....!
oh, by the way, if anyone knows where i can get a new grate!!!!....
Thankfully our boiler is now fixed. We phoned up the firm that serviced it last (about a year ago) and they managed to send someone up this lunchtime (just as someone had arrived to lay the florr in the new conservatory - JOY). Dont know whetherto be releived or not. the fault was the simplest thing to do with the ignition system. They werent here more than 10 minutes. A big call out fee just for that!
I suppose i should be releived it was nothing more major. the house was pretty cold last night and this morning so couldnt have gone too long without it.
Fortunately its a modern boiler, put in 7/8 years ago when the house was renovated. As i said in the earlier post, we have an electric back up for hot water, which was my main concern. it would have been a real pain to have had to boil kettles for washing and so on.
I can feel the heat getting through Richard, you'll be thawed out by Christmas...Haveyou got a heated greenhouse? you could've sat in there. ;D
There's one thing I won't miss when I move....THE BOILER!
Even the guy who comes to service it says it has a mind of it's own. Somedays fine, somedays sounds like an enraged volcano. Just leave it for a while and press the trip switch back in he says, not knowing what part of it is on the blink. One day, the trip switch will not work...hope it is after I've gone!
Warmest wishes....CLX ;)
Quote from: Val on November 11, 2004, 14:43:24
I can feel the heat getting through Richard, you'll be thawed out by Christmas...Haveyou got a heated greenhouse? you could've sat in there. ;D
no val, not yet anyway. hoping to soon though, but not much use for the here and now. ::) :)
The worst heating system we ever had was when we lived in Kent in a little Ragstone Cottage. No gas in the village so oil heating. Darn thing.....had to keep an eye on the oil level as you didn't want to run out on a bank holiday or Christmas time and then the boiler started to play up, and we had trouble with it for about 6 months after that! Had to have pipes replaced as they were blocked from sticky old oil, then roots were interferring with other pipes, the the ignition thingy didn't work, then the switch! By the time we moved house the central heating was working like clockwork! At least we left with a clear concience.
;DNo I haven't either...we've turned our fire place into a cupboard so if the boiler goes again..I'll have to set light to all my cross-stitch mags. :'(