This was originally going to be a tale of gross, late-night incompetence, by me, but it turns out to be Not Entirely My Fault.
Last night before bed, M noticed there was no hot water, so I checked the combi-boiler, and lo and behold, no pressure. OK. No problem. It has happened before: you tweak this little valve in the airing cupboard, under the boiler for a few seconds, let in some water, and close it off again when the pressure reaches about "2" on the dial.
So I got the screwdriver, let some water in, and promptly dropped the screwdriver in the dark amongst the towels and sheets and redundant curtains.
In the meantime, the pressure was rising, and the needle was shifting round the dial until it reached the stop, before it goes back to zero.
"Yikes!" I thought, as I fumbled with the screwdriver, "she's going to blow!" and inevitably, "BAM!", it did, and black water starts to flood out of the boiler, through the assorted towels, onto the floor, through the ceiling, into the kitchen (and, as I have discovered today, thereafter into the cellar and onto the stored goods of my daughter's friend who is in Australia).
I rushed down to turn off the mains, and we spent the next hour mopping, wiping, placing buckets, piling up sodden towels, swearing etc. Apparently I was very calm, while M was not.
So today, I have waited in for a plumber who was prepared to come out today, in the cold, unwashed and unshaved, with no water and no heat. That's me, not the plumber (and I spent a couple of productive hours at the allotment, thank you, as I knew he wasnt coming this morning: peas, carrots and onions in, plus a donated gooseberry bush (in the hope of having more children? Perhaps not. And a tidy shed.)).
He eventually arrived, had a look, swore at the rotten sort of boiler I apparently have, checked the safety valve, and discovered, crucially, that it hadn't blown. Hence, all the pressure went into the expansion tank, which exploded. He wont fix it, but lets me have cold water (oh joy) and advised on what to say to the insurance company, who wont cover boilers.
Reassuring to know that we have a high pressure hot water system, with no safety valve.
3 comments:
And there I was thinking the UK was so over regulated things like that couldn't happen. Well, you were a bit of an idiot it's true, but it could have been much worse. I can imagine the 6 o'clock news reporting on a destroyed house out there in Tenbay (or wherever it is you live), you and M in shredded clothes (rather like at the end of that Terry Gilliam film with the dwarves whose name I forget) being interviewed by the BBC. What have you to say LH? Well the last words I spoke to M were ironically she's going to blow, and (laughs to himself) as you can see it did.
Never mind, at least there is always the tin bath in front of the coal fire
I would call you an idiot but I might well have a dodgy gas boiler myself one day so I shall refrain.
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