Boiler saga

Well, 5 visits, several hours of workman trime, 4 weeks and a few hundred pounds later, my boiler has a new pump,m new valves, a new PCB, and will soon have new temperature sensors. Hopefully it will then work properly.

Currently I obtain hot water by opening the front of the boiler and wiggling one of the temperature sensor wires, which then causes the circuit board to realise that the water in the 'out' pipe is cool and thus starts heating teh water. This works for a variable period of 2 days to 20 minutes. Thankfully when not working correectly, the LED flkashes constantly, so it is fairly easy to tell.After 10 plumber call outs in 5 years, my admiration for the boiler manufactuirers is immense. I habve no idea what the pourchase cost was, but I feel I have paid them at least the same value in out of warranty parts, thus maintaining their income!

If only there was mains Gas into the building.

The boiler saga episode 2, part 2

Now that the boiler engineer has been, I am left with the knowledge that a valve has leaked, dripping water into the pump, which is shorting. He has dried the pump, but even so, it seems I need a new pump and new valves. Even then there could be microprocessor problems, though apparently these are unlikely.

Either way the parts will arrive Friday so it will be Monday before they can come and fit them, which means another half day off placement. Monday teaching is officially at 1.30, so I would hope to make it in for that.

Now just deciding whether to go in this afternoon and find my FY1, or whether to stay home and finish off my case write up, boil water for a shave and shower and just head in for 9 tomorrow morning.

Head says the latter, heart just doesn't know.

Welcome back to my crazy life

The first part of this post has come back to haunt me.

The boiler died again last Thursday with a strange burning smell.... So I phoned the company, who said they would find out whether they could still obtain spare parts since it seems that Pulsacoil may have gone bust / reformed / stopped making the boilers. It turns out they wrote the phone number down wrongly. So they didn;t call me back, so then I called them yesterday and was told they did have the parts available, and there would be an engineer available this week. I requested that they come out. I am sure they said that they would come today........

But after a no show until 4pm, I phoned them and apparently they are sure it is for tomorrow....morning at 9.30. Which coulkd be interesting since I have hospital teaching at 11am, a 50min drive away! I am hoping they can fix it the first time, as a second visit will mean missing more of this placement and also I wnt a warm shower!

• I also have a broken dishwasher, but cannot book their engiuneers only a day in advance, and also they can only commit to a day not a time, so i may have to survuive without that until end of term in July.
• I need a dentist appouintment, so might try to ring one of them as I have cracked a filling....
• I need to arrange an MOT for the car before the 17th.
• The wooden fascia of the dishwasher needs refitting to the dishwwahser unit

Sometime I think I need a PA!!!!!

Customer service

2 experiences this morning within 10 minutes - 2 different customer experiences - one good, one bad....

The Pulsacoil 2000 hot water heater boiler thing
So I eventually fin a company who are willing to look at my (apparently unusual) boiler. It only took 6 calls, including one to the manufacturer to find a local (20 miles) company who deal with it. the receptionist there was very helpful, taking all the details and also advising how to pay - they do take cheques - and giving the full charges (ouch!). It is probably very discriminatory, but she sounds my Mum's age, and probably realised that I hadn't done this before....ever for a boiler and wasn't quite sure what was wrong with it. Sadly the earliest anyone can come is Thursday between 9 & 1. Oh well, another 48 hours of boiling kettles to shave, and wash....might even have to go swimming tomorrow to get a proper shower.

Print Cartridges and a bust digital camera
Next my big bug bear of the week City-link. the parcel people. They are supposed to e collecting a parcel from me today (I requested afternoon as I have a driving lesson this morning) and also delivering one to me which I missed last week. I phoned them yesterday and asked if they could do both at the same time.

From the guy''s reaction you would have thought I asked to do something obscene to his sister......."It doesn't work like that.....We're not here to help your social life...". Instead he said that the collection might happen this afternoon but the re-delivery will be Thursday morning at the earliest. This means I will need to go buy some of what is in the delivery anyway as I need it on Wednesday night.

Until the middle of last year, City-link had a depot near me, just by the motorway which was a 20 minute walk. this was ok, because if I missed a delivery I just popped up to the warehouse and collected it. however they have now merged 3 depots and are on a huge industrial estate 2 miles from the nearest train station. This is almost as bad a the DHL and ANC warehouses. Parcel force is the easiest to get to (25 min walk) and they will deliver to your local Post office for 50p.

Some days I just want a PA to deal with this hassle!