How long, in this weather, could you manage without a boiler?

[NewNameFor2024]

Boiler has decided it wants to leak. Lost 2 litres of water yesterday, around a litre overnight. This started last week as a small, drip, then a mug and so on.

I am prepared to keep catching water if I know the boiler is safe to use, however there is clearly a problem. A mixture of a few things going wrong recently means we have wiped out most savings and ideally I would like to not touch what’s left.

Chances are I will have lost the will to live and caved by the end of the week, but it had me thinking… How long could you actually manage without heating and hot water?

I had 10 days last Nov in subzero temps in Scotland with no heat or hot water.
It was brutal.

So glad you got your boiler sorted!

My heating packed up in December a couple of years ago and I managed one day without it. I'm in social housing though so it wasn't on me to pay for repairs.

Leaks don’t get better by themselves, they get worse.
What if it fails completely while you’re out and floods your house? That’ll make the boiler repair bill look like buying a newspaper…

I’m currently having my new house gutted and am living there
yesterday the boiler man came to see about moving it and it broke when he was here
no heating or hot water now.
working tomorrow will get in early and shower there and living off M&S (and wine)
fun it isn’t 🥶

I had to survive for three days during Covid whilst my new boiler was being fitted and rads moved etc. Big job as boiler was relocated. OMG never again.

I have a bottle gas heater now as a back up, and it is absolutely brilliant at quickly heating up the main room if necessary (power cuts affect mains gas). I have an immersion heater, but that won't work in a power cut either! So hopefully if that ever happens it's not for days on end...

Had to do it for 6 weeks with a toddler and pre-schooler when we moved into our house in January and discovered the boiler didn't work. We needed to install a whole new heating system so couldnt get it done quickly. We had to get a lot of electric heaters. Luckily the place I worked at the time had a shower so I used that. Only bathed the DC once a week in a baby bath in the front room in front of the heater, filled with water from the kettle.

It wasn't an experience I would wish to repeat but luckily it was a fairly mild winter and we survived.

Unless it's sub zero temperatures and/or you're very vulnerable, elderly or a tiny baby, living without heating is manageable. You can wrap up, hot water bottles, heated blankets etc.

No hot water is awful though. It's easier if you have a dishwasher and don't have to wash up by hand. But not being able to have a bath or shower or washing your face and hands in cold water is very tough

I actually know this from experience. 9 weeks in the winter of 2019/20. Our boiler broke down on Christmas Day. The awkward fucker!
It took BG just over 9 weeks of replacing various parts to get it going again.

Managed with electric shower and heaters, kettles and heated throws.

Based on this, get them out NOW!

I would go buy a few plug-in oil heaters/radiators now just in case. A few winters ago my boiler (well, the pump) died. We had to rely on those oil radiators for heat and the immersion heater for water (that costs a fortune in electricity!).

We had to last about 6 weeks without heating including an extremely cold snap last year. Managed with a heated blanket each and a woodburner. It was ok actually, getting dressed was the worst bit. But we did have backup immersion heaters for hot water, would’ve been a lot harder without that.

Theoretically we could last indefinitely.

We are very fortunate in that we have an immersion heater as a back up for water heating, a gas fire in the sitting room and 3 large electric heaters which DH rushed out to buy in 2018 when the Beast from the East hit us badly and froze our boiler and our en suite.

it would be expensive and a PITA but we would be ok.

my flat: five plus years and counting. (electric shower. oil filled radiators, kettle to wash up)
mums house: about five minutes.

I managed for years.

OP, if it’s leaking, check the pressure gauge on the front of the boiler. If the arrow is pointing to low, there’s a tap (IME under the boiler) you can open and watch the gauge rise to a safe level.
Low pressure in the heating side of a combi boiler can stop it working.

To answer your question: 1 day. We got back from a winter holiday and the boiler wasn’t working. No backup apart from A/C which only heats in a small temperature range. I was seriously considering taking the family to a Premier Inn but we had an emergency call-out service.

Emersion heater for hot water, wood burner, by some fan heaters.

About 6 months until we found an honest gas fitter. But our shower was electric and we had gas fires in two of the downstairs rooms. I missed having a bath and one day got home from work to find DH filling the bath from the kettle and the shower on Hot - one of the most romantic things he’s ever done for me
That was 25 years ago though, pre DC. We recently had our bathroom refurbished and the shower running from the boiler, so shortly afterwards we had the boiler replaced, because I couldn’t face not having a working shower.

Agree with PPs who say get someone out to look at it. Not at Sunday rates, but it could be something much easier and cheaper to deal with than a whole new boiler.

Wouldn’t be a crisis in my house - I’m in Scotland in an old house so it’s always cold anyway. I actually didn’t change the basic electric shower over to the boiler as I always wanted to make sure even if boiler went we could still shower. Heat wise I’d be more bothered if my heated blanket stopped working!