So this is what procrastination gets you...

[Mirannan]

Well, here's a cautionary tale about procrastination. I have intended for several months to have my boiler serviced (which has not been done for several years) and at the same time have another job done on the heating system. For various reasons, including money problems but mostly my own tendency to put things off, I have left it until today.

And now, just as autumn is beginning to bite in the UK, the engineer has come to do these jobs. But unfortunately, he can't service the boiler because it is unsafe to use - and unfixably so, because the problem is corrosion so bad that a large part of the flue system has rusted away and fallen off, meaning that the boiler is sucking back in quite a lot of its own exhaust gases.

Because I am currently skint, a brand new boiler is out of the question - so I am waiting for a half-decent second hand one to turn up and meanwhile I'm going to be rather cold for quite a while.

All because I didn't get around to it...

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Books appointment...

 

[thaddeus6th]

I'm really sorry to hear that.

I don't want to worry you more, but you may need to take precautions, depending on the temperature and how long you're without a boiler, to stave off burst pipes (assuming all the water hasn't been drained). If the temperatures falls below zero at night then water in the pipes can freeze, which causes the water to expand and then rupture the pipes. When the temperature rises again the water leaks.

It can be very expensive and inconvenient. Normal advice is to leave the heating on, if in doubt (or away for a winter holiday), but that's obviously not an option. Insulating the pipes with lagging could be an alternatives. Temperatures recently have been around 4-6C at night, which is chilly but no threat of freezing. Hopefully it stays that way (I don't want to stress you any more, but not telling you would be worse).

 

[Brian G Turner]

Because I am currently skint, a brand new boiler is out of the question - so I am waiting for a half-decent second hand one to turn up

Who did you have look at it - a local engineer, or British Gas?

Just that those monthly protection plans can work out well in similar situations. For example, we knew there was something iffy with ours when we moved into this house. So we signed up with British Gas on a full protection scheme - £30/month - then called them in. They replaced the entire electrics for it without quibble - normally a £600 job, we were told.

However, I'm not sure if they'd replace a whole boiler - thought it's worth checking their terms and conditions to see whether they'd replace the flue system for you, if that's the main problem.

Just a thought.

 

[The Judge]

Almost certainly they wouldn't replace the whole boiler. We've also got a service contract with them (the HomeCare thing which I assume is the same) and every year they try and sell us a new boiler as the one we've got is over 25 years old and the flue's too short, and we can't get the parts, love, blah blah blah... Then last Christmas we had problems with the boiler venting CO into the house (CO alarms screaming at 10pm is no fun...) and had do-not-use notices slapped on the boiler and gas cooker (and I was meant to be cooking dinner for the family next morning) and it looked for a while as if the boiler itself would be condemned as dangerous. They gave us a quote for a new boiler, but there was no suggestion that we'd get it done under the contract, nor would it cover any work on the flue itself, which is the underlying issue.

Anyway, I deeply sympathise, Mirannan, as we go through a palaver of having no central heating every autumn as some gizmo gets stuck and they have to come out and fix it, and we're never without the heating for more than a few days. Hope you can find a good second hand one quickly.

 

[Mirannan]

Who did you have look at it - a local engineer, or British Gas?

Just that those monthly protection plans can work out well in similar situations. For example, we knew there was something iffy with ours when we moved into this house. So we signed up with British Gas on a full protection scheme - £30/month - then called them in. They replaced the entire electrics for it without quibble - normally a £600 job, we were told.

However, I'm not sure if they'd replace a whole boiler - thought it's worth checking their terms and conditions to see whether they'd replace the flue system for you, if that's the main problem.

Just a thought.

It was a local engineer. Incidentally, the boiler is 30 years old (at least - that's when the model stopped being produced). And I did actually see the damage. About half of the offending area isn't there any more. And the piece of metal involved is a complicated fabricated part that also forms the back wall of the combustion chamber. This particular man actually took it apart to see whether the rotten bit could be replaced, but no joy - at least, the part is so complicated that fabricating it would probably cost more than a second hand boiler.

Also, I didn't have a maintenance contract. Oh well, there goes all my savings...

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Aww, man. Isn't that just always the way it goes?

 

[Alex The G and T]

Always look at the bright side. Thirty years of technologically improved engineering later, the new equipment is going to be significantly more efficient than the old clunker.

If you can manage to scrape up the beans for a new unit; you can look forward to a noticeably reduced fuel bill.

(Alex replaced a 25-year-old propane-fueled Forced Air Unit, 2 years ago, and is amazed at how much cheaper it has become to be warm and snuggly. (Now.... about the crumbling weather-stripping around the doors... did this house really need quite so many draughty exterior doors...?))

 

[Mirannan]

Alex - Yup. I looked up the old one on the internet and the figures are: heat output 11.7kW, efficiency 65%. The likely replacement (second-hand but not very old, inspected by a competent professional and of a better make) has figures of 18kW and efficiency 90% - so a third less gas and it won't be going flat out in cold weather as the old one was. And those figures are for the old one in good condition, which it decidedly wasn't - so I think I can look forward to halving my gas bill.

Having said all that, the price (fitted) for the replacement unit is going to be £600-700. It's still going to hurt!

 

[Vertigo]

I had to replace my approximately 25 year-old house boiler a few years back, following which my gas bill almost halved. On LPG (considerably more expensive than natural gas) that saving paid for the new boiler in under two and a half years.