A Week Without Heat

It couldn't have come at a worse time of year. The week that much of Britain saw its lowest ever temperatures, our heating decided to go on the blink. It showed itself as large pools of water on the workbench below the boiler, the water visibly dripping from every corner of the boiler.

Investigation by the gas man revealed that it was actually the flue that was at fault, the moist warm air condensing in the flue and then leaking back out onto the boiler casing. And if water was leaking out then so would flue gases. The boiler was temporarily condemned and disconnected.

All we could do after that was wait for the replacement flue fitting to arrive at the depot, and given the state of the country's roads this was longer than the usual overnight wait. It took from Monday until Friday for the part to finally arrive (with one false call on Wednesday when they thought it had come but it hadn't) and then a few hours of actual fitting time. In the meanwhile we tried to stay cozy in the one room that had heating, thanks to an electric radiator kindly lent by a friend. The other electric heater that we had spent most of its time in the conservatory to prevent the pipework in there from freezing - without heating and with outside temperatures down to -8C this was a distinct possibility.

For the first couple of days it was fun - our own mini version of "the blitz spirit" - but by Friday I was really ready to have the heating back on. Internal room temperatures were dropping to 10C in the rooms with no heating, and getting washed from sinks filled from a kettle was getting a bit tedious.

All sorted in the end, and we're tankful of our service contract with British Gas. It was all sorted out with a minimum of fuss really, especially given the circumstances with the weather. It really makes you appreciate the heating too. How we managed back in my childhood with no heating in any of the rooms of the house except the one we lived in is beyond me! Well actually I remember it - I used to have the warmest of pajamas, a couple of duvets and several blankets on my bed in winter - and still felt freezing cold!