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Boiling mad
Dec. 14th, 2009 11:44 amMy boiler is being a shit. By that I mean, it's not even being a solidly broken-down shit; it's being an intermittently not-working shit, which means that, the second that I give up trying to get it to work (after it has not heated any water or radiators for 12 hours) and phone the plumber, it decides to start working not three minutes after I stop talking to him. So, I phone him up, tell him it has started working again, only for it to once again stop working a half-hour later.
I suspect that it's an electrical problem on the primary circuit board, and I think that I have isolated one possible point of error. When the boiler switches from the central heating to heating the water for the taps, it might not remember straight away (if ever) to switch back to the central heating. And then it won't work for the hot water either, not until you get it working for the central heating. That would indicate that the "priority" switch (hot water > central heating) on the Primary Circuit Board is playing up. But why it works for a week, then stops, then starts, then stops again, well, god only knows.
So, a two-year-old boiler looks to need a new expansion valve (Birks's fault, holds hands up, put pressure up to 2 with cold water, so it blew when the water expanded when it got hot, like, duh, obviously, Birks does not understand physics) and a replacement PCB. Bleeaaagh,
Oh, and the boiler downstairs still isn't 100%, but the good news is that it might not after all be the dreaded leaking pipe "somewhere under the floorboards", and might be a fault within the boiler.
Boilers are like computers were 30 years ago. There's no Microsoft Windows operating system "standard". Engineers who quite possibly haven't seen the light of day since 1900 design insanely proprietary systems (mechanically and electrically) that have become more "efficient" (for which, read "complicated") over the years and thus, when they do go wrong, require not just a plumber, not just a specialist in boilers, but a specialist in that particular type of boiler, to fix it. Oh, and the part you require has to come from Slovakia. Not good news if your boiler breaks down on December 22nd.
Oh, and the manuals were written by someone whose first language was probably Finnish and who is an expert in describing the migratory habits of birds, but not very good on explaining Boilers For Dummies.
It's the inconvenience rather than the expense, but I wonder what it must be like if the expense would be a problem as well (I can still remember those days). This is the fear that British Gas plays on, ripping people off for £15 a month so that they don't have to worry about finding the money when the boiler goes kaput.
I distrust these systems for two obvious reasons:
1) British Gas obviously takes in far more than it would if it were charging on a case-by-case basis. In other words, it's just overpriced insurance.
2) If BG already has the money, what incentive does it have to turn up promptly or to do a good job?
+++++++
Oh well, day one of the holiday underway and, as predicted, I've got a list as long as my arm of things that I have to do, and I've done none of them. Playing at $100 BI is making the Party Palladium level by-the-end-of-the-year campaign rather hard work (but the gain on rakeback is so good that it's worth persevering).
Full Tilt, meanwhile, seems to be continuing its five-year campaign to totally fuck me over. I am just SO UNLUCKY on that site. AA runs into KK and loses. then KK runs into AA and, well, loses, obv. This goes back right to when I first started playing on FTP and I managed to find AA opposite my KK six of the first 12 times I got KK. My worst ever limit run was mainly on FTP. I don't think I've ever really made a profit on a bonus, even when it works out at 50% rakeback (which is the main reason that I keep falling for it !)
Have still only won back half last month's losses. Things are definitely tougher on Party now (as predicted some months ago). Well, they are tougher everywhere except on Stars, where they just remain as tough as they have always been.
++++++++
I enjoyed the two-part adaptation of Small Island on the BBC, as well as the radio adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Indeed, the latter nearly got me to start again on The Honourable Schoolboy (an underrated Le Carré novel, I feel) before moving onto the overrated (but still brilliant) Smiley's People.
++++++
Well, "Do Blog" was not one of the things on my list. But, now that I've done it, I suppose I could add it to the list and then give it a tick.....
_______________
I suspect that it's an electrical problem on the primary circuit board, and I think that I have isolated one possible point of error. When the boiler switches from the central heating to heating the water for the taps, it might not remember straight away (if ever) to switch back to the central heating. And then it won't work for the hot water either, not until you get it working for the central heating. That would indicate that the "priority" switch (hot water > central heating) on the Primary Circuit Board is playing up. But why it works for a week, then stops, then starts, then stops again, well, god only knows.
So, a two-year-old boiler looks to need a new expansion valve (Birks's fault, holds hands up, put pressure up to 2 with cold water, so it blew when the water expanded when it got hot, like, duh, obviously, Birks does not understand physics) and a replacement PCB. Bleeaaagh,
Oh, and the boiler downstairs still isn't 100%, but the good news is that it might not after all be the dreaded leaking pipe "somewhere under the floorboards", and might be a fault within the boiler.
Boilers are like computers were 30 years ago. There's no Microsoft Windows operating system "standard". Engineers who quite possibly haven't seen the light of day since 1900 design insanely proprietary systems (mechanically and electrically) that have become more "efficient" (for which, read "complicated") over the years and thus, when they do go wrong, require not just a plumber, not just a specialist in boilers, but a specialist in that particular type of boiler, to fix it. Oh, and the part you require has to come from Slovakia. Not good news if your boiler breaks down on December 22nd.
Oh, and the manuals were written by someone whose first language was probably Finnish and who is an expert in describing the migratory habits of birds, but not very good on explaining Boilers For Dummies.
It's the inconvenience rather than the expense, but I wonder what it must be like if the expense would be a problem as well (I can still remember those days). This is the fear that British Gas plays on, ripping people off for £15 a month so that they don't have to worry about finding the money when the boiler goes kaput.
I distrust these systems for two obvious reasons:
1) British Gas obviously takes in far more than it would if it were charging on a case-by-case basis. In other words, it's just overpriced insurance.
2) If BG already has the money, what incentive does it have to turn up promptly or to do a good job?
+++++++
Oh well, day one of the holiday underway and, as predicted, I've got a list as long as my arm of things that I have to do, and I've done none of them. Playing at $100 BI is making the Party Palladium level by-the-end-of-the-year campaign rather hard work (but the gain on rakeback is so good that it's worth persevering).
Full Tilt, meanwhile, seems to be continuing its five-year campaign to totally fuck me over. I am just SO UNLUCKY on that site. AA runs into KK and loses. then KK runs into AA and, well, loses, obv. This goes back right to when I first started playing on FTP and I managed to find AA opposite my KK six of the first 12 times I got KK. My worst ever limit run was mainly on FTP. I don't think I've ever really made a profit on a bonus, even when it works out at 50% rakeback (which is the main reason that I keep falling for it !)
Have still only won back half last month's losses. Things are definitely tougher on Party now (as predicted some months ago). Well, they are tougher everywhere except on Stars, where they just remain as tough as they have always been.
++++++++
I enjoyed the two-part adaptation of Small Island on the BBC, as well as the radio adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Indeed, the latter nearly got me to start again on The Honourable Schoolboy (an underrated Le Carré novel, I feel) before moving onto the overrated (but still brilliant) Smiley's People.
++++++
Well, "Do Blog" was not one of the things on my list. But, now that I've done it, I suppose I could add it to the list and then give it a tick.....
_______________
