| Author |
Message |
iotar
Username: iotar
Registered: 6-2006
| | Posted on Monday, February 26, 2007 - 11:38 am: | |
Just got an email from Bridget saying that the boiler is finally fixed! That's taken over two weeks of stress and medieval conditions to get repaired. By last week we would have brought out wheelbarrows of gold for them if they'd just showed up and done their job.
Of course, I don't believe her. She's just playing with my head. The boiler *can't* be fixed. Can it? |
martin
Username: martin
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Monday, February 26, 2007 - 12:25 pm: | |
Hey - you could have got rid of it altogther, and -
http://powertech-solar.com/article.php?newsID=10
"As far as we’re concerned the combi boiler is a thing of the past and no longer needed."
Funny how the name "Eric" gets misread as "Smug Git," isn't it? |
iotar
Username: iotar
Registered: 6-2006
| | Posted on Monday, February 26, 2007 - 12:46 pm: | |
"As with 99% of most housing developments today, it was originally fitted out with a standard gas boiler/radiator/vented cylinder, un-insulated copper pipe plumbed in central heating system, commonly available from every plumbers/builders merchant up and down the country. On acquiring this new property I set about removing the miles of copper pipe from the loft area which adjoined the 60 gallon cold water and central heating header tank which was located near to the loft hatch so that nobody could gain space to the other 70% of the loft area..."
Jesus! I've just spent two weeks obsessed with a white box in the corner of the kitchen, and I still can't find it in myself to connect with this. My mind is just pulling blanks, one after another.
Still, maybe if I wasn't genetically predisposed to find plumbing dull as shit, I'd have fixed the fucker myself. |
martin
Username: martin
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Monday, February 26, 2007 - 1:33 pm: | |
Never mind. It's incredible how quickly we forget having hot water on tap is one of the world's greatest luxuries - enjoy! |
mjp
Username: mjp
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Monday, February 26, 2007 - 2:10 pm: | |
Plumbing: that's something my brother pursues as a hobby. Although he recently admitted to not enjoying it; along with not really enjoying rewiring his house, building a patio, reinforcing the garden steps to his back door, constructing a garage for his American 'truck' along with putting in a space underneath it for access to the engine and to the engines of any other cars he happens to be tinkering with. And I haven't yet mentioned computers. |
iotar
Username: iotar
Registered: 6-2006
| | Posted on Monday, February 26, 2007 - 2:40 pm: | |
But it seems like most plumbers don't like plumbing very much. They're certainly not willing to come out and get lost in an afternoon of plumbing.
Electrics are fine. I'm happy with house electrics - they makes a sort of sense. Of course I'll swear a lot and complain about the moron who installed them. But anything to do with gas and water pipes is involved, arcane and other.
I was reminded several times last week of the end scenes of Solaris, with the astronaut returning to his father's house to find a bad plumbing apocalypse which is about to tear his sense of autonomy to pieces. |
al
Username: al
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Monday, February 26, 2007 - 2:42 pm: | |
Congratulations on your probable hot water renaissance! At the moment it seems you are in a state of boiler related quantum indeterminacy. Hopefully the wave particles will collapse into something positive. |
iotar
Username: iotar
Registered: 6-2006
| | Posted on Monday, February 26, 2007 - 2:54 pm: | |
I dunno, Al. What do you think? Do you think that Bridget has slipped over the edge and genuinely believes that the water is hot? I want to believe her. I really do. |
dan
Username: dan
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Monday, February 26, 2007 - 3:09 pm: | |
"As with 99% of most housing developments today... un-insulated copper pipe plumbed in central heating system"
At least it wasn't bloody micro-bore plastic pipe. If you've ever struggled with getting a plumber over on Boxing day to fix a hot water pipe which has perished due to 30 years of plastic hardening, while you & your dad simultaneously keep your fingers plugged in the remains of the pipe so that it doesn't flood the cellar, you will rapidly develop an interest in plumbing and a yearning for the copper pipes enjoyed by the other 99% of the UK population, insulated or not. (although perhaps "interest" is too strong a word).
Meanwhile: Solaris. A friend of mine has recorded an album based on the book and film, highly recommended: http://www.bocman.com/page3/DISCOGRAPHY.html |
al
Username: al
Registered: 11-2006
| | Posted on Monday, February 26, 2007 - 3:11 pm: | |
I can't help there. Post Bremner, I can't even be sure that it was Bridget who spoke to you. |
martin
Username: martin
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Monday, February 26, 2007 - 3:18 pm: | |
And is that really you, Al? And if this is Martin, then I must be - I must be -
*Assumes worried Tony Hancock expression*
Palmer Eldritch? Never heard of him ... |
iotar
Username: iotar
Registered: 6-2006
| | Posted on Monday, February 26, 2007 - 3:34 pm: | |
Presumably in Solaris that's what all of these lopsided white goods are littering the corridors of the spacestation: broken boilers.
Yes Dan, I can imagine that plumbing materials would become a matter of keenest anxiety given such an incident. But I am willing to consider specialists my betters in these matters - if only they'd turn up or at least give me a ring if they can't!
I'm about to start ranting about the erosion of common decency (which isn't common at all!) so I'll stop there. |
dave
Username: dave
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, March 15, 2007 - 4:17 am: | |
I'm a month late on this one, but I hope you're enjoying your hot water Io. Glad to read that the plumbing drama resolved itself. |
iotar
Username: iotar
Registered: 6-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, March 15, 2007 - 3:04 pm: | |
Thanks, Dave. Heating is a great thing. Unfortunately been hit by further putbacks which are too boring to go into here. I'll be back in a few days when I'm stopped ranting. |