Cheery's path to fulfilment - finishing the DIY, looking after myself, appreciating the garden 🌻

Cheery_Daff

greenbee said:

Might be worth dropping on to the energy board to see what they have to say Cheery  

I will indeed at some point. Hoping to keep it going for a while yet though. Will find out tomorrow whether we'll be looking for a new car first 😬

I should point out we have form when it comes to being stubborn about boilers 😬 Our one in the old house was condemned by British Gas,  who said we needed a part that wasn't available any more, and who hacksawed through the gas pipe to stop us using it 🙄 It was the winter of 2010, not long before Christmas, and there was no way were were taking their word for it 😂 found another plumber, who could miraculously source the broken part, but with one thing and another we ended up going 8 weeks with no boiler, all through that very cold snap 🥶🥶 

We did it though, and the boiler was still going when we left 8 years later 😂

So it's very unlikely we'll get rid before it literally dies 😂

joedenise

British Gas were very quick to condemn our old boiler but our plumber kept it going for about 10 years before we got it changed a couple of years ago.  He said it would probably last a couple of more years but it would likely become an emergency and he may have trouble sourcing a good priced boiler which we obviously got!

badmemory

British Gas have history & very little of it is good & it is not just with boilers.

Cheery_Daff

Indeed. I found it very suspicious that my sister's boiler needed replacing at an annual service (despite showing no previous signs of malfunction) while she was in hospital with a premature newborn third child, and also the exact same happened with my elderly nan - no problems, but at an annual service 'oh, no, this can't possibly continue, you'll need a new one' 😠 Both of them understandably replaced theirs (as I might have done in their situations) - but sadly for British Gas we were stubborn enough to hold out! 😂

Not the same situation now of course, but we are not scared of being without heat for a time (although I'm getting a bit nesh in my old age so would likely do a lot of complaining 😂)

Anyway, hopefully that won't happen, and it will continue on for many years!

EssexHebridean

I've heard so many appalling stories about BG and their cavalier attitude to simply condemning boilers rather than trying to repair that I simply wouldn't touch them with someone elses barge pole these days! That said, they are also on my personal "supplier of last resort" list for energy too (by which I mean that I would only return to them as an absolute last resort - ie everyone else had closed down!) since my last experience with them when they decided to transfer an account which had been SOLR'd to them from a failed supplier from my name into MrEH's! 

beckstar1975

Just to add something to the contrary (and no I'm not paid by BG!). Our boiler is going to be 20 this year, and last winter started failing every fortnight (sometimes less). It was erroring with a code that said the filter was blocked so they'd come, clear it, it'd work for a bit and then it'd fail again. They'd still come back and replace bits each time.

As our boiler and flue are upstairs (flue goes through the roof) we were quoted £5k by Boxt, Heatable and BG to replace as would need scaffolding

rtandon27

We've also had a good experience with BG, after my neighbour suggested their homecare service, which she has had for years.  As it turns out the fanciest package costs less than the amount we were paying to our unreliable local guy just for an annual service of the boiler he installed.  Unlike the local guy, they come out by appointment at my convenience, service, repair, maintain not just our boiler but our old electrics and minor plumbing issues.  My account is managed online, by me, but if I wish to talk to a real person, that is an option as well.  They have been nothing but courteous, reliable and the work done has been quality.  Overall it is a savings and the fixed amount every month gives me breathing room to budget in a way that works well for me.

Cheery_Daff

Thank you all for sharing your boiler experiences! Ours is (fingers crossed) working for the time being so I shall move on to other matters...

Retrieved the car from the garage - they've changed the fuel filter and that seems to have solved the problem (again, fingers crossed).

Meeting up with a friend today at a National Trust garden - I could use my free pass, but I'm saving that for a more expensive day out with a different friend 😂 However, I can use my 2 for 1 Gardeners' World card for this one, so we'llget in for £3 each 😊

Nipped into town for a cuppa woth Mr C first - nabbed a free one from the Octopods first thing. Waste Not Want Not scheme was open, so I got a bag of fruit & veg from them, plus 2 bunches of tulips. I asked what happened to everything they don't get rid of - it goes to the animals at the allotments where appropriate, and the rest to the compost. I know in other places this type of thing goes to soup kitchens etc but it looks like that's not the case here - we're a small town, food banks are catered for elsewhere, this is just a little church scheme redistributing supermarket waste so I'm happy to take it off their hands. 

Anyway, they kept shoving things in my bag, I'll have a proper look at what I've got later!

Cheery_Daff

Just waiting for friend to arrive, so here's the list of what I got in the waste not want not place - vast majority nice (but a bit past its best) from Mr W.

1 pack wholemeal pittas (best before 3 days ago)
Portobello mushrooms (best before 2 days ago)
Spring onions
5 lemons
4 apples
2 bananas
2 plums
2 pak choi
2 long sweet peppers
Bag of speciality carrots
2 avocados
Bg of clementines
3 onions
Bag of sprouts
4 rubbery parsnips
2 pears
3kg potatoes
2 bunches of tulips

We usually go in near the end and there's often still plenty left. Today I was quite near the start, and there was SO MUCH STUFF - thank heavens for these schemes!

Watty1

What a fabulous scheme.    The church in the next village had a random drop off at Christmas with so much food that was just going to go to waste.  It was such a random event that no one knew about it!