no heating no help

[baby121990]

hi, my boiler blew up on Friday night i called emergency team out

In defence of korma, she has been without heating for a period of time too and it must be a nightmare.

korma, you have been without heating for an awfully long time. Extra apologies for yesterday as that would make me extremely grumpy and angry, especially if I had a disability exacerbated by the cold.
Do you know about the Disabled Facilities Grant? It's a grant you can apply for even if you are an owner occupier and can be used to improve facilities within the home to make things easier for a disabled person. Crucially this includes "improving the heating system" and it sounds like you would more than qualify on that basis. The only thing I am not sure about is whether or not it's means tested but it might be worth looking at.

Their is no defence to korma at all, if she came and gave the OP some advise on how to handle living without water or heating etc... Then fair do's but she hasn't all shebhasndone is come on and tell the OP that she is an entitled wotnot etc...

I've read the whole thread, as I've gave advise to korma, in how she can get herself outbid her choice!! The OP doesn't have a choice! As from what I can see.

Korma you choose to buy a house!!! You know full well that when buying a house it is your responsibility for repairs, no one else's!!

Yeah, Korma.....just live on the street in a cardboard box instead!

Context crashdoll.

Or rent crashdoll although that would be a less dramatic and snarky suggestion

DFG's are means tested for adults, not for children. (And are usually a bloody nightmare to get with an over complicated application process ime - but yes they will get work done)

hi op, its awful when this happens, you have my sympathy. and double it for the problems of expalining it to your ds. this happened to me this summer and we resorted to having cold showers!!! it was wierd but we actually started to get used to it!! for the kids we boiled water in the kettle and added it to a cold bath to heat it up a bit.

the only way I got it sorted was to keep phoning the gas people, I became a real pest to them.

good luck...have you any pals or family you could use their hot water for a few days?

and BTW, we own this house and so had to pay for the engineer call outs etc but as the service was so bad I complained and got nearly a hundred quid off them as compo, I dont suppose the op will be able to get any compo off the local council, so she's at a disadvantage there, being a tenant isnt all free plumbing and free call outs, its wait your turn and dont complain, so to anyone who thinks being a tenant is great, you try it.

WTF!?

A mother is in a freezing house, with no hot water and heating, two children, one of whom have autism, and she is given grief because she wants this fixed fast?

Who the hell wouldn't want that?

Korma, you are not entitled to spew such venom at the op, just because you disagree with her housing situation.

I sympathize with the op. When my oldest was 20 months (nearly 9 years ago!) our boiler was condemned. It took nearly 3 weeks to fix the problem. It was another cold spell then, with icy roads and sub zero temperatures. It was horrible. You cannot really heat a 3 bed house with a couple of fan heaters sufficiently when it was that cold. We had nowhere to go, and had to pay over 2k for a new boiler.

And to all the posters that say people survived without central heating and managed fine, I have a question:

What is that thing under the mirror/candles/flowers/garlands on your mantel? That thing that is rarely in use? And most for decoration these days? Is it a....
Fireplace?

People lived differently then. They had fireplaces in use, and agas or wood burning stoves in the kitchen.

Dont just assume that lack of central heating meant that homes were cold! My grandmas house was perpetually warm. No central heating, no electricity, but a comforting waft of smoke from the chimney of her lovely little house surrounded by snow, and with half a meter of snow on her roof, it was really quite snug.

I agree with usualsuspect on this one. Too much competitive freezing on this thread.

at competitive freezing.

God forbid anyone should admit to wanting to put their heating on and actually be warm in the winter.
Dont you know 17 layers of jumpers and snow boots and 46 blankets are just as good as a centrally heated house?
You dont actually need central heating you know.

Personally i like to be warm. so my heating is on a lot.
Fail on the competitive freezing there.

And I also think that regardless of where you live, what type of property etc, yes you bloody well are entitled to a working boiler. since when did entitled become a dirty word?

mantel?

fireplace??

get you

ssd, I take your post as affirmation that modern living has moved on from even including a fireplace, which is why so many people dont realize that folks did not necessarily freeze back in the dark ages.

What is actually really getting to me is how expensive it is to actually have a warm house.

I paid my utilities bill yesterday. 6 months, 1500! It is insane. (Admittedly I was put on a stupid + tariff as my supplies were taken over by Spark Energy as they literally high-jacked my account after I had signed up with Southern Electric and refused to let my chosen supplier take over until I paid - Custom at Gun point I call this, but that is another thread)

It would not be too bad if it was summer but it must be awful in winter. And it has been snowing and minus degree temperatures. I bet if all those people who have criticised you had to put up with it at this time of year it would be a different story

YANBU to be stressed about it. You probably aren't going to get anywhere by trying to speed it up, though.

Councils have Schedules of Repairs, which state what time frame each type of repair falls under.

Our shower tripped the circuit board on New Year's Eve. I phoned the council, expecting them to say that they'd come out the next week. They asked if we had a bath (we don't - it's a wet room) and I said that I have 3 children, one with a disability. They had an electrician out 3 hours later.

Winchester's schedule for total heating/hot water failure between 1st Nov and 31st April is 2 hours. However, that doesn't mean full repair. It just means call out, make safe, order replacement, etc.

Sorry that your boiler has broken down in this weather! I'm impressed that your ha was able to get an engineer out the same day (I haven't managed this despite a British Gas service contract). The timescale sounds reasonable to me. Bear in mind that if you moved into temp accommodation that has been empty and unheated it may actually be colder than the house your in for a week or do.

Our boiler was out of action for 5 weeks a couple of years ago - no cooker either. It was a PITA but we just had to get on with it. We kept the doors shut in the rooms we had heaters, we took hot water bottles to bed and used big throws on the sofa to keep cosy while watching telly and wore cosy jamas and bed socks.

korma I don't think your child is any less/more important than the OP's.

The problem I had was instead of just offering some tips you did kinda rant at the OP. I understand your frustration, but the OP isn't responsible for your situation, she's trying to make the best of it, as are you.

And sometimes I wonder about MN. Someone writes something and because they are frustrated it's a bit hyperbolic and they get picked apart because of it.

I understand what korma is saying and I get what the OP is saying but I think 5 days to wait is pretty good service tbh. Shit happens, that's life. Shut the doors and put the heaters on OP and wait it out.

TBH korma with the amount of vitriol you directed at the OP, the nasty attacking tone of your post for no apparent reason you actually have to expect people will respond accordingly.

You were wrong to be so nasty. Its a simple as that.