In hot water

I left work really promptly yesterday because a heating engineer was coming round to look at the strange set up with my hot water tank. There is basically a cylinder directly above the tank that is rusting away. He looked at the system and basically said it is all very dangerous. A plumber had commented on it previously and said it needed looking at, but I had never quite got round to getting the problem fixed because that plumber then became very elusive and it slipped my mind after that.

Anyway, the problem is that there isn’t a proper outlet on my hot water tank, so if the water boiled (which admittedly is unlikely) then there would be nowhere for it to go and my hot water tank would explode. It seems I have two options. First is to get the agreement of my neighbour to run some pipes up through her property so that there is proper outlet up to where the cold water tank is in the roof. This would cost several hundred pounds. I have a fairly old heating system which will break at some point and need to be replaced and you can only get combination boilers now, so ultimately I would have to get that fitted instead anyway. The second option is to get the combination boiler fitted now. This would mean a lot of work and could be quite destructive, including possibly taking up the flooring in my bathroom that I had fitted less than a year ago, plus they would put new pipework in my kitchen and I’d have to get that all boxed in as well. This would cost around £3000.

I can’t decide if it is best to persuade my neighbour to let them do some work in her flat and get the quick fix that is relatively cheap (by comparison…) but run the risk that when my boiler breaks (and it is difficult to predict when that would be though it is running fine at the moment), I’m going to have to go for the new boiler option anyway, so it would be several hundred pounds now plus the cost of then installing a boiler. Or go for the pain now consisting of destruction, more work and lots of money to get the problem totally fixed for the longer term.

I can’t quite decide what to do. Whilst obviously the expense is a big factor, I am ultimately a practical person and like to get things done properly, which would make me lean towards getting a new boiler. But it is the thought of all the destruction and then all the other things that I might also have to get done that really puts me off. Why can’t this be more simple??

Anyway, it’s the weekend ahead. I’m going to my uncle’s house tomorrow as it is his 60th birthday. I think my sister is going to come back to mine for a bit afterwards, not least to pick up her Easter eggs that I haven’t been able to give to her yet. Incidentally, I still have two Easter eggs of my own to eat.