We had a new condensing gas boiler installed last year at great expense – £3,500 to be precise. We renewed our boiler because the old one was about 40 years old, very noisy and expensive to run. However when we opted for a condensing boiler (actually British Gas didn’t give us any choice) nobody told us that the damn things seize up in the cold. They sense a blockage and shut down.
Last week we were without heating and hot water for a day because the outlet pipe which drains water from the system to the outside froze up. This is what happens in cold weather apparently!
Have you ever heard of anything so daft? So on the very coldest days when you most need central heating it’s very likely that it won’t be working. There are actually people holding hot water bottles to their boiler pipes in an effort to stop them from freezing.
Despite the fact that the heating has been all day, it still froze up as the temperature plummeted even more this evening. We’re thankful that we have a gas fire in the living room and we’re wrapped in blankets sitting in front of it, taking turns on our Netbook.
At some point we’re going to have to brave our ice-box of a bedroom though. I’m tempted to buy an electric blanket or at least hot water bottles. Even if it does make me feel absolutely ancient.
We’ll be having the family back here for the Christmas/Hogmanay holidays and if the heating freezes up then – you’ll be able to hear me screaming, even if you’re on the other side of the world!
You MUST get an electric blanket. I don’t know how I ever survived the old, drafty houses we lived in in New England, although the 300-year-old one had five fireplaces and a wood stove.
My husband suggests you wrap your freezing pipe with pipe heating wrap, at least as a stop gap measure. It’s electric and some have thermostats that turn on the heat in the wrap at 38 degrees F to keep pipes from freezing. It does seem stupid to have a flaw like this in a heater, but it just reinforces my belief that humans are devolving into idiots!
Joan,
Great suggestion, I haven’t heard of pipe heating wrap. Anyway, the gas man turned up this afternoon, thankfully we took out a service care contract. It turned out that it wasn’t a frozen pipe at all! The signal was broken somewhere between the thermostat in the hall and the boiler in the kitchen. Possibly caused by our computer’s wireless connection. We now know how to fix it ourselves if it happens again.
Your New England house sounds lovely. We have a lot of fireplaces but no open fires, only gas fires or blocked up with air vents to stop dampness. I love the character of old houses but I’m pining for an easily heated one now. I’m going to get an electric blanket and an electric stove for the dining-room – just in case it’s needed at Christmas.
Glad you discovered the problem. The kids had frozen pipes too with that awful weather you’re having.
We’re currently being drenched here in the islands, but at least it’s still 70F.
A few days rain does me in, though. I don’t know if I could survive long in a sodden climate. I require a lot of sunshine!
Pearl,
Here was me thinking that you might have your daughter in Hawaii with you now. The airports are all closed too so people are just stranded. It’s a nightmare, especially for people with wee ones to cope with.
I can’t imagine warm rain. I don’t think we’ve had 70F for years, we’ve had 3 or 4 rotten summers in a row.
Sun is such a scarcity in Scotland that they have decided that we don’t get the necessary 8 minutes of sunshine a day which you apparently need to stay healthy, so the Scottish government is thinking about handing out vitamin D tablets to boost our immune systems as it would be cheaper than coping with very sick people!
No, she stays in Scotland for the holidays, silly girl.
Her boyfriend has wee ones there, so they stay close buy, more’s the pity.
Would part the clouds myself.