Central heating broken

Oh, I do sympathise. I had my heating out all over the Xmas and NY time, all plumbers away! At least you can have him tomorrow, anyway. Wrap up and keep as warm as possible meanwhile.

Aww bless you. Stay in your warm room, lots of blankets, flasks of soup, hot tea etc. Sleep on the sofa if it's warmer than going to bed! Look after yourself and hopefully by this time tomorrow your heating will be back on.

We had no heating or hot water from Dec 29th till 12th January, plus our house was flooded by the hot water tank so lots of damp walls, ceilings. Borrowed lots of portable heaters and dehumidifiers. Heating engineers have just put in new system with no water tanks- hooray. Go to bed early wearing lots of layers, wear a hat and scarf indoors, look forward to the heat being back on. I found after a few days it was warmer outside than in, we went round to visit a lot of friends and neighbours. Why do these things always happen in January / weekends?

Those contracts with British Gas are expensive but, if you are elderly or have a disability (at any age) they get out within a couple of hours of your phone call. They fix anything. I'm lucky, we can afford one and it's paid for itself for the past 3 years.

Oh you do have my sympathy. Our boiler seized up a few years ago, on Christmas Day . It was one of the coldest winters we'd experienced. It was 3 whole days before we could get someone out to it, only to be told that it had frozen, and had we known, we could probably have thawed it out ourselves .
I do hope you manage to keep yourself warm until it's fixed. Good old hot water bottles, eh?!

Nightmare! I am so sorry that this is happening to you when you feel so poorly. We had a similar thing happen just as we moved into our last house, in one of the coldest winters I have known. Same as AliOxon - New Year, no plumbers, but we were much younger then and managed to tough it out until we got a new boiler. Do wrap up and have plenty of hot drinks. ??

Oh silversurf that's awful for you. I hope you managed to get some sleep and that he comes quickly today. we had three days without heating in December as something went pop in our boiler and even though we had a contract they had to get the part and it took a days wok to strip down the boiler. we strongly suspect that the engineer who did the service in the summer didn't check it all properly he was in and out of the house in record time.

Same here, Iam64. I probably overspend on insurances - we have our plumbing and electrics covered too - but like the reassurance of knowing any problem will be sorted the same day. And it always has been so far (though I’ve noted your three day wait, Teetime ).

Sorry, silversurf, I forgot to add my best wishes. Hope it’s all sorted today for you.

You do realise everyone that this is how we lived as children?

Fire in living room, but nowhere else. A paraffin heater in the bathroom that smelt and nothing in bedrooms or other rooms.

Imagine what 1947 must have been like

Originally I couln’tcontact my gas engineer so phoned British Gas (had a contract with them for 30 years until new boiler 3 years ago, then decided it had got too expensive). They said to try boiler manufacturer as it would be cheaper, but they’d phone me back in an hour to check. Phoned Worcester Bosch but they were shut for the evening. Waited for return call from British Gas, still waiting this morning. Very poor!
In the meantime got hold of my own gas engineer, who is coming this evening.
Thanks for your sympathy everyone

silversurf so sorry to hear of you feeling so poorly make sure you keep wearing a woolie hat and thick socks also try and keep a pan of soup on the go for frequent hot snacks.

Update.
Gasman arrived late afternoon, it’s the pump which is faulty, but he didn’t have a correct replacement. So now I have to wait until tomorrow. Kind friend lent me another electric heater for the hall.
Now I have also discovered a leak in my kitchen tap. Hope he can deal it with that as well.
Don’t feel up to all this at the moment, I’m usually a very positive person. Let’s hope it is all sorted tomorrow.

My sympathies silversurf. My boiler has been on the blink for weeks and like Maggiemaybe I am well insured but they still need to go and get the parts which means extra days. I am now running up and downstairs switching it on and off to keep it going. To get enough hot water this has to be repeated frequently and a bath needs up to half an hour of very slow running. This is great when I have three grandchildren 4 days a week!!

The engineers are doing their best but this is age related and I know I actually need a new boiler. I dread the upheaval and extra problems this inevitably will involve (not to mention the cost!)

By the way our very experienced engineer said that when they rang the manufacturers the advice was read from the manuals by the staff on the end of the line! He used his knowledge of what he had learned from other boilers which was much more useful and has kept us going all over Christmas and New Year. He has studied my records and knows there is only one more thing to try so I'm living on borrowed time!!!

Boilers and washing machines .... they rule our lives!!

Sympathy to all with boiler problems. Ours hasn't given up, yet, but has been making an awful noise when the pump, circulating the water, stops. The engineer is fiddling around with it's innards at the moment. Unfortunately, the chap who installed and services our boiler, has had a knee replacement and is out of commission, so we had to find someone by referral. Fingers crossed.

COPD?

I hope the OP gets well soon and keeps warm in the meantime (which I'm sure she will do) Not sure what the letters stand for.

WHITEWAVE

I was 2 in 1947 and I premember the tin bath in front of a roaring fire and pjs warming on the guard, NEAR but not in front of, the fire. Then ovaltine and bed. I did have a wonderful childhood despite no mobile phones or central heating ...lol and it gave me a resilience which stands me in good stead. I'm sitting with a coffee in my bra and pants before getting dressed, with the ch off since yesterday. I don't like stifling heat.

Happy New Year everyone. COPD - Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. A lung disease which makes breathing very difficult, especially if you have a cold etc., but also just by walking around which can prove very difficult for some people.

Does anyone else remember being told off for rubbing your fingers on the ice which formed inside the windows on the glass? The patterns were lovely, but my brothers and I used to try and rub the ice off and my mother would forever be saying 'you'll crack the glass'!

I hope your heating is back on soon.

Hope by now its all sorted out

I remember how cold indoors it was when we were children. Mum used to heat a brick in the oven, wrapped it up in newspaper and pop it into our beds to warm the bed, and Dads old army great coat over the blankets to keep me warm.
Thank heavens for central heating.

As for boiler insurance...I’m with Worcester Bosch and it is really expensive (nearly £22 pm) however boiler has never broken down I think because of their very thorough service done every summer replacing worn parts or updating electronics etc, fans etc. My eco boiler now about 8 years old I was told by local plumber heating engineers when I got it that it was best mended by the manufacturers as complex electronics makes it too difficult for them to get parts. So I took their advice as it clearly wasn’ In their interest. I hope you get warm soon OP as it looks to be very chilly today.

I can remember Jack Frost patterns on the inside of the windows, and racing across the landing to get washed as quickly as possible in the cold bathroom. It did have a heater up on the wall, but took ages to take effect. I also remember having to practice piano in a very cold front room.
Good luck with the boiler and keeping warm SILVERSURF. I hope things look up soon.

Get well soon Silversurf and fingers crossed for a cosy, warm house this evening