Boiler broken - how to look after house till fixed?

pinkteapot

Boiler has broken down. Plumber is trying to source the part needed (it's an old boiler!). We have no heating, but do have hot water as we have an immersion heater.

It's been 36 hours and the house is now COLD. It's a large 5-bed house and we currently only have two borrowed convector heaters - we're using one in the lounge and one in the main bedroom.

It's modern-ish - 1990-built - and has cavity wall insulation and a well-insulated loft, so it's not yet as cold as outside, but heading in that direction.

It's forecast to get colder at the start of next week, so I'm starting to worry about burst pipes or other damage if the boiler takes a while to fix/replace.

How much risk is there?

Should we buy more convector heaters? They each heat one room reasonably well - should we be heating more rooms?

Anything else we can do?

Dan-Dan

pinkteapot wrote: »

Anything else we can do?

Get a second opinion ASAP if your plumber cant give you a timescale on the part

pinkteapot

Dan-Dan wrote: »

Get a second opinion ASAP if your plumber cant give you a timescale on the part

House insurance is paying for it as we have home emergency cover, so it's a contractor they've arranged. We should know today - I'm just panicking and thinking ahead after seeing the forecast!

Browntoa

hire a calor gas heater , brother did the same when in a similar problem

pinkteapot

Hadn't thought of that - thanks.

Dan-Dan

pinkteapot wrote: »

House insurance is paying for it as we have home emergency cover, so it's a contractor they've arranged. We should know today - I'm just panicking and thinking ahead after seeing the forecast!

I feel for you!
Just i know as having two brothers as gas engineers that you could end up being strung along whilst they get on with other work, but i doubt you have problems being proactive having read a lot of your forum posts!

p.s Long Johns

Le_Kirk

Wrap the long johns round the pipes in the loft! Hiring temporary heating is the best option as already stated. Which pipes are you worried about bursting? I would hope that all of your pipes in the loft are insulated so should be OK.

Biggles

Do you know what the part is (exactly)? My boiler is somewhat older than yours and I sourced the part myself and bought it online. This could be a much quicker option than waiting till your heating engineer gets time to sit down at his pooter.

pinkteapot

Le_Kirk wrote: »

Wrap the long johns round the pipes in the loft! Hiring temporary heating is the best option as already stated. Which pipes are you worried about bursting? I would hope that all of your pipes in the loft are insulated so should be OK.

No idea - people just say you should heat your house in winter to prevent pipes bursting. :rotfl:

Biggles wrote:

Do you know what the part is (exactly)? My boiler is somewhat older than yours and I sourced the part myself and bought it online. This could be a much quicker option than waiting till your heating engineer gets time to sit down at his pooter.

It's OK - it's a company (with office people to do the pooter bits). Have got to the bottom of the delay. The part is obsolete but the boiler manufacturer gave them a part number for a replacement. They got one and it's totally wrong - won't fit!! They are now talking to the manufacturer again to find out what on earth is going on. So if I'd ordered one it would have turned out to be wrong anyway.

Desperately hoping a part is available - guessing that if we need a new boiler then we'll be without heating for a bit longer.

Head_The_Ball

Where do you live? Is it forecast to go below freezing in your area?

Unless you get a severe frost it is unlikely that your pipes are at risk.

You could use your oven for additional heating.

We had a broken boiler for over a week during a severe cold spell and a few electric heaters kept the house warm enough to tolerate and our pipes all survived.

Where is your stopcock and does it work? You could consider turning it off at night or if you leave the house.

pinkteapot

It's forecast to get down to 0 next week, but not to go below freezing (will keep an eye on the forecast).

We have a gas hob in the kitchen which I've left on a couple of times to try and warm the kitchen a bit. Sadly only two rings as the main hob is induction, which is s*d all use as a heating device. :rotfl: I did leave the oven door open after cooking last night to let the heat out.

We did just remember that our en-suite has electric underfloor heating(!). But we've lived at the house for two years now and have never turned it on, so not sure if turning it on after all this time would risk a leak or something? No idea if it even works.

I'd need to find the stopcock as I've never looked for it (I know where individual supply taps are for appliances, but not the main stopcock). I'll find it at the weekend if the boiler's not sorted by then.