Not a good start to the day, Woke up to find the central heating hadn't come on. The thermostat in the hall was reading 10c. Bit of a problem, as the code on the boiler display didn't tell me what was wrong, when I looked at the fault codes list in the instructions. Bigger problem, as my friend who installed the boiler four years ago and only serviced it a month or so ago was away. O.K. I''ll call British Gas. I'm paying them a fortune at the moment for gas and electricity, so they can come out and fix it. I don't mind what it costs. There was an answer the moment I rang. Unfortunately, it was an automated message and I had to listen to a two minute lecture on Covid before being asked to press any buttons. I chose the one for, "home care customers" this is for people who pay monthly what equates to a fortune for a call-out on a rare occasion when a boiler will break down. I could have got another new boiler, for what I would have paid over four years, as by now, it would have cost me, over £1,000, for this service. I pressed this button, as I expected to get a quicker response. I did, another automated message to tell me I was in a queue and it would be an hour before I would get a response, let alone someone to come out and fix it. I know the weather is unusually bad, but if I were paying this sort of money monthly, I'd be "less than pleased." Anyway, I thought it couldn't be much, so had a think about it. I remembered on a couple of nights I'd noticed a small amount of water on the patio under the vent pipe on the kitchen wall. All combi's "vent" a small amount of water. With our's the little pipe comes out of the kitchen wall and the water dips into a bit of 1.5" drain pipe that connects to the waste from the washing machine and dishwasher. I worked out maybe the water dripping down this vertical pipe had started freezing to the side of the pipe over a few days. So the water was dripping onto the patio meaning that there was a chance that the little pipe was frozen too. So I pulled the connection off the little pipe and a cup-full of water came out of that pipe. I poked a screwdriver up that pipe and some slush came out. Turned the boiler back on and we were all systems go! I've left the connection off the end of the pipe so it can carry on dripping onto the patio.
Hooray!!! I was reading this intently and very pleased to see the outcome. What a relief - no heat in winter is not a good feeling. You saved the day DHR...and a tremendous amount of $. Is there a way to prevent it from freezing again? Some self regulating heat tape perhaps ?( I'd be doomed without that stuff.)
I cut down the tree a couple days ago and brought it to the house. I'd purposely found a small one close by that I could retrieve on my own this year. There have been unexpected trips to town, which eat up a day so now the decorations are on. It's a country Christmas tree, with a lot of bird ornaments.
That looks really cheery, Mel. Are you getting ready for Christmas then? What kinds of things do you guys have planned this year?
A pumpkin got dropped - 15 pounds! So I roasted it, pureed, and froze. Pumpkin bread was made, too. I made a big batch of chicken gizzard jerky and chicken liver jerky for my canine friend.
Melody, i love your 'country tree'. It looks like the bear made a flying leap for it, missed & plastered himself on the wall. Great elves Logan. @Doghouse Riley hooray for you!
Last Tuesday in the post i had a letter about my state pension and i will have just over £600 every 4 weeks and it won't get taxed. That's a lot more than what we were expecting because i didn't work all of the time, i was bringing up a family and didn't pay a lot of tax. Hubby said that it was because of the child benefit because it got taxed. I'll have £2. more than what he is getting and he worked all the time at Halfords warehouse but they contracted out his work there. Also i will be getting a bus pass, had to have my photo taken for that and it didn't look good because i wasn't allowed to smile.
Riley…great job trouble shooting. I agree with others elec tape wrapped around the pipe will prevent freezing, I use that a lot around here. Logan cutie pie Santa’s helper pic looking out the window. Here in the US we get the same notice for monthly income and social security, a increase was included for the cost of living. Unfortunately almost half goes to health insurance monthly costs. Melody adore your country tree. Beautiful ! Looks like a Noble fir? All our Xmas trees have grown way to big… to bring in. One was a candidate for the Portland Square downtown didn’t make it this year maybe next. It’s a Noble fir the perfect shape and 45’ tall. Daniel pumpkins are slippery when moving … I dropped a watermelon it split and rolled down the driveway. So it went to the horses. I was curious about that too. I would imagine indoor entertainment is in order ..no one want to be out roasting marshmallows in the artic front movin in.. Cayuga…What part of New England are you located? A Nor Easter is predicted in that area , hope you are warm and safe thru this next storm passing thru.
