Life is full of ups and downs, and sometimes, life happens and we are not prepared. Life happened in our house some weeks ago. Our 4-year-old boiler started acting up. This came as a rude shock because I didn’t expect our new boiler (it is just 4 years old) to start misbehaving so quickly.
It started with a loud whistling sound whenever it came on, which was annoying. Then it got louder and louder, and the water temperature started going warm and cold.
This is the first time the boiler has acted up. It has been fine for 4 winters now, and we have never had issues with our boiler in our previous homes. We usually get the boiler serviced once a year by a plumber (except that year we completely forgot, lol), and we have been fine so far, until now.
I was thankful the boiler started this drama in May. Imagine how depressing it would have been if it happened in the dead of winter! Having a cold shower would have been sickening.
Luckily for us, we were able to get the plumber that serviced our boiler last year, to come over. He came on the same day and had it checked out. It took him just seconds to figure what the problem was, it was pressure related (don’t ask), and he had it up and running in minutes.
The whole experience has brought my attention to how many of us are never ready for unexpected costs like a boiler breakdown. I couldn’t imagine what we would have done if we had to replace the entire boiler, or if the repair was going to cost us thousands of pounds. Luckily for us, it didn’t cost a penny, but what if we needed to get parts and stuff, we don’t have a boiler cover because we think it is money down the drain, but we have to revisit the idea of getting the boiler covered to avoid issues like this.
Has your boiler ever broken down? How did you cope? Do you have a boiler cover?
*Collaborative post
It’s horrible when unexpected things like this happen, mine has broken down in the past and I’ve had similar issues as you had this time.. You ask how I dealt with it…. hmmm I hate to be smug about this but I married a heating engineer. More trouble than a boiler on the whole, but pretty useful to have around 😉 😀
Glad you got yours sorted.
Oh yes very useful to have that around 😉
We don’t have a boiler cover either 🙂
Glad it is all okay now
X
Thanks Moji x
I don’t think we have boiler cover, but I think ours is still under guarantee. I’ll have to check that, I had unexpected mishaps!
Yea good to check.
We have boiler cover thankfully and we’ve had to use it a few times over the year!!
Oh good.
Our boiler broke over the winter and our house was SO cold for a good few weeks!
Oh my!
We dont have boiler cover either but then again we rent so i would presume something like that was covered by the landlord.
Yea the landlord covers that.
We live in council housing so its all covered by the council. In any case be it private rented or council it has to be serviced once a year. If your landlord isnt doing it, they are breaking the law
This is true.
Mine has never broke down (knocks on wood) but I can imagine how inconvenient that would be. Cold showers in the winter are no fun!
No fun at all!
What a nightmare for a boiler so young. Ours has a warranty with it and my father-in-law is a gas engineer but we will need to look at some additional cover soon
Yea. A complete nightmare!
Oh no! What a nightmare! My boiler broke down in the dead of winter last year. It wasn’t a pleasant experience and made me think how many things in life like hot water and heating we are taking for granted.
I can imagine. That must have been hard!
We have Homecare cover and have needed to use it a few times, I would have cried if we didnt!
Oh good you have that.
Am so glad I’ve not been in that position, but know that it can be incredibly costly, if you don’t have the right insurance in place
Yes it can be.
*Touches wood* ours has never broken down, but we did have it replaced on the coldest week of a winter and were frozen for days
OMG!
If it’s going to break down at least it didn’t happen in the middle of winter I guess!
Yea. Good it happened now.
Our boiler broke down a few times. Luckily we have a boiler cover. I always recommend boiler cover as you never know when the unexpected will happened. It is always good to be prepared.
Yes I agree Esthy.
Oh no poor you! Ours broke our first winter in our new house and we couldn’t get it fixed for 3 weeks! Very cold…
Oh wow! 3 weeks is a long time.
I don’t think we’d be prepared for the cost of ours broke down x
They cost a fortune!
Oh no. Nothing worse to break down than the boiler, so expnsive 🙁 don’t get me started on my boiler!! It broken down, I got charged around £600. to mend it then he said he needed £700. more. In the end, we cut our losses after paying the first £600. and had a new one fitted by someone else and had to pay it over a few years 🙁
Oh my! What a shame.
I literally dread the thought of the boiler breaking down. We aren’t having the warmest May either, so we might have struggled. Boiler cover is definitely on my to do list
And mine too.
We had a new boiler fitted when we moved into our new home in November so I am hoping it lasts a while. I would hate to be left with no hot water or heating in winter xx
Yea. That would be so frustrating.
When it comes to a boiler it will never need replaced unless you crack a cast iron exchanger at which point the cost of a new exchanger is higher than just getting a new boiler. Honestly as a HVAC/R professional for over 10 years there is so many simple things you can learn to avoid 100$ call out fees, if he fixed it in minutes means you could have fixed it also for free. Learn small DIY on your boiler and save yourself some money. 🙂
I will. Thanks a lot.