Just when things were going well...

Sep 23, 2013 17:32

Just when things were going well the hot water boiler (water and central heating) has packed up ( Read more... )

real life

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Comments 10

katwillow September 23 2013, 19:39:26 UTC
Warm thoughts and big pots of simmering water I send to you

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the_silver_sun September 24 2013, 10:32:55 UTC
Thank you :) I'm just glad at the moment that the immersion heat works and I've still got hot water for showers etc.

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fiwen1010 September 23 2013, 22:04:55 UTC
Fingers all crossed that this warm spell holds out for you, then. There's nothing worse than having no heat

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the_silver_sun September 24 2013, 10:31:30 UTC
I'm hoping so too - although I suspect by the middle of October it might be hoping for too much that we haven't had the first frost of the autumn. Might have to get a cheap radiator thing if it doesn't to warm the rooms up a bit for a little while each day - at least the house being a fairly new (only built 8.5 years ago) has decent insulation.

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aeron_lanart September 23 2013, 23:17:44 UTC
Good job you can get a free boiler even if you do have to wait. Fingers crossed you don't get too bad weather before then. Those oil filled radiators are a useful stop gap if it gets too cold.

My old boiler conked out on the 23rd December 2011. I got through that winter with no heating, thanks to 2 radiators and my immersion heater. I eventually got a pay out on some PPI I'd paid on a credit card and got my new boiler in October last year. They sorted it in 2 days, but there was a lot of work to do. Best money I've ever spent, was so nice having a warm house again.

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the_silver_sun September 24 2013, 10:25:11 UTC
What a rotten time for a boiler to pack up, 2011 was a pretty cold winter too as well. If it gets cold I might have to see about getting a radiator or two as well. The convection heaters are cheaper, but I don't like the hot, dry air of them.

I know what you mean about PPI, that's the only reason I've now got a fence between my garden and the neighbours and one less loan to pay back and a working laptop. I've still got to chase up some more of it actually.

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psithurism September 24 2013, 00:16:12 UTC
Stay warm! Good luck!

Again the American in me is jealous of the government program. Here if your heat gives out? It's just our own problem. I don't even think homeowner's insurance would cover something like that.

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the_silver_sun September 24 2013, 10:11:17 UTC
The government here have only just started offering it within the last year or so, and most people don't qualify - you have to be on a low income (less than £15,000 a year total household income) in receipt of certain benefits, have a boiler that is already broken, the boiler must be older than a certain age and of an inefficient model, and you must either have a child, be a pensioner. If I earned just a few more pence an hour I wouldn't be able to have got it ( ... )

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psithurism September 24 2013, 13:59:58 UTC
That's a lot of restrictions. It would be really bad if your boiler broke in the middle of a really bad cold spell :( A lot of suburban/city homes here don't have fireplaces so if your heating system goes, you're completely screwed. During the Hurricane here, when the power was out for days it meant a lot of people also didn't have heat. They were warning people about hypothermia and frostbite.

Hope your home warms up soon!!

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the_silver_sun September 24 2013, 16:41:35 UTC
If it broke and you were able to use the scheme you could ask your gas supplier to repair it, but it could be a few hundred pounds for a repair, and there would still be a call out fee even if it turned out they couldn't fix it. A new boiler if you were buying it outright would be about £2500 or you could get one of the gas supplier to install a new one on one of their scheme, but you end up paying about £25 a month for 15 years if you did, which isn't good as it's doubtful the boiler would last that long without packing up ( ... )

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