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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

No heating or hot water !

42 replies

HomerDancing · 02/03/2018 17:51

I reported to my landlord (private, we deal directly with him) 24 hours ago that the boiler broke and we have no heating or hot water.

He came around and had a look at it, thinks it’s A big problem and Can’t fix it. He will call the boiler company to sort.

We have texted him this afternoon after no contact from him, he said he’s waiting for a callback from the boiler company and they MAY come tomorrow.

It’s very cold in here as we only have single glazing. We have borrowed plug in heaters from a friend , but it’s still very very cold and absolutely freezing in the bathroom, we can see our breath in there !!!!

He has just called and basically said no one will come out to us due to adverse weather conditions. We have to use saucepans to wash with. He said when they do come out to us, they will need to order a part which will take a few days.

What are our rights now ? It’s minus 3 outside and we have no hot water , the water is pure ice cold. We only have one warm room with the plug in heater.

The landlord said that now we have the heaters (that we sorted) we ‘have heating ‘.

Please can someone advise on what we can do ?! And our rights here?

OP posts:

ChaosNeverRains · 02/03/2018 18:31

If you can’t reach the pipe outside you can remove the pipe from the boiler and have it drain into a bucket/other kind of container until the temperature rises.

I currently have this issue with mine and the pipe is somewhere up in the eves so not reachable. So have removed the pipe and attached a short piece of piping so it drains off the water which it is doing - into a tray underneath.

WTFIsThisVirus · 02/03/2018 18:32

To be honest, even if he was constantly on the phone, you won't get someone coming out tonight. He's done the best he can do really, under the circumstances.

You should move mattresses into the room with heating and camp out for the night. Drink lots of hot drinks to keep our warm.

TheBrilliantMistake · 02/03/2018 18:32

It might not be the condensation pipe... but it usually is. If you can't reach outside, you'll need to wait a LONG time to thaw out the blockage as hot air from the hairdryer has to travel down the pipe (hot air travels upwards, in the wrong direction) and there could be a good length of ice to thaw out....
Basically, you're having to thaw it out the long hard way from a distance!

Original poster

HomerDancing · 02/03/2018 18:34

Thanks

We let him know yesyerday afternoon , but he didn’t want to call anyone until he had been around to look at it himself.

OP posts:

HateIsNotGood · 02/03/2018 18:34

I really do sympathise - no heating or hot water is really crap right now - I had no heating from last Thurs to Weds (thankfully had hot water) and I can assure you that your LL will be having real difficulties getting an engineer even with a 'service/repair' plan. I just 'made' heat with anything I could get - including the stove in the kitchen and running extension cables to run a de-humidifier in the freezing bathroom. Bought cheap fan heaters.

Hopefully your LL will agree to you paying a lower rent for the 'duration'. At least he has tried to fix it.

Poor you though.

MatildaTheCat · 02/03/2018 18:36

Half of my friends have boiler trouble today including myself. Getting someone out is going to be really difficult. I think you may have to suck it up and use the heaters you have. Hopefully it will thaw tomorrow and it may work then anyway.

Does your LL have a home care policy? In London Pimlico Plumbers will probably get to you but they are very pricey.

happymummy12345 · 02/03/2018 18:36

We had no heating or hot water for most of yesterday. Our boiler is in a bedroom upstairs so we couldn't reach the pipe. Luckily an engineer came out yesterday afternoon and done exactly what chaos said, as a temporary measure, until they can repair the pipe outside. It's a pain but it's that or no hearing or hot water. I'll gladly empty a bucket.

TheBrilliantMistake · 02/03/2018 18:37

You could attempt to remove the condensation pipe from the underside of the boiler BUT I would not recommend this as you may disconnect the wrong pipe. If you're not 100% sure which pipe, do not disconnect. If it's an obvious pipe and you can't disconnect it, you can cut through it and a plumber can easy rejoin it later with a 50p part.

NotMrsTumble · 02/03/2018 18:40

Our central heating packed in on Thursday morning. Owner occupier. We've had a local guy look at it, and all it needs is a small part, which most of the merchants carry. However due to the beast from the east, no merchants are open. Soonest fix will now be Monday. Its rough, but that's just how it is. If it is really too cold to bear then you'll need to try to borrow more heaters, or decamp to a friend or relatives. As long as the LL is fixing it as fast as possible in the circumstances, there's not much else they can do. It might be worth double checking with them if their landlords insurance would cover alternative accommodation until it can be fixed.

TheBrilliantMistake · 02/03/2018 18:45

Plumbers merchants are open.

Malbecfan · 02/03/2018 19:00

Depends where you are as to whether plumbers merchants are open.

To the OP, as others have said, if you were an owner occupier, you would be in a similar position. Don't withhold rent or you could find your tenancy not renewed. It is not nice, but it happens, especially at this time of year. Last night was minus 5 here and the electricity went off 3 times taking the heating & hot water with it. There was nothing I could do; one of the perils of living in a rural hamlet is that the electricity is on overhead poles and goes off frequently especially when the weather is bad. We have torches, kindling and logs ready to burn and a hob that uses bottled gas and we manage.

NotMrsTumble · 02/03/2018 22:45

I can well believe plumbers merchants are closed in these parts. Just about everything has been closed or operating reduced hours. I was able to dig my car out today, the weather and roads have been too bad the last 2 days to manage. DH has been walking to work (healthcare), an hour each way. Yes it's not fun, but it's life, these are not usual conditions and we all just need to get on with it as best we can. It's not as if the LL has refused to do anything about the situation.

Thymeout · 02/03/2018 23:03

Put the oven on. Boil up water in saucepans and have a quick wash in the kitchen sink.

As pp said, warm up the living room and make yourselves cosy with duvets and hot water bottles.

Use someone else's heating during the day. Go to a mall or the local library. Visit friends/family.

If it is the condensing pipe, when the temperature rises, as they said it will this weekend, it will thaw and solve the problem itself. Mine was fixed this afternoon. After a kettle or two, the boiler came on automatically. I could see the plume of steam come out of the vent while he was still pouring hot water. But your instruction book/google may have other suggestions, if it doesn't.

HateTheDF · 02/03/2018 23:29

I have spoken to Shelter before about deducting rent because of previous issues with a flat and I was told by them that it was illegal and I wasn't allowed to do it. If you were going to do that, I'd definitely check legally first.

FrayedHem · 02/03/2018 23:40

Could you ask the landlord to pass your number on to the engineer to call you directly. That way the engineer may be able to talk you through any possible fixes you can safely do.

maggiso · 03/03/2018 00:01

I,m afraid a lot of households are struggling without heating at the moment because of the unusually cold weather and icy wind. I wonder how different the heating is in countries with regular very cold weather that they manage and our systems don’t? DH managed to get our heating back working, ( iced up condenser outlet) and a friend called with a similar problem, so he sorted out hers too( with some helpful advice from a plumber relative over the phone). Relative is rushed off his feet - and not local to us.
Do you have any hot water bottles or electric blankets to warm your beds up? Wear, socks and hats in bed if needed, and extra blankets. Do you have any electric water heating you can use?
I do hope it gets sorted for you soon!

Snowysky20009 · 03/03/2018 00:11

As others have said can you pull out the condenser pipe at the bottom of the boiler and let it trip into a bucket. We had to have a call out, but we manger to this ourselves, but. Couldn't get hold of them to
cancel. They said it's what they would have done. Instead they stayed and now had food and drinks before going back out as they had 120 calls to get through and had already worked over 24 hours. But needs must and all that. Hands off to them all working their socks off to get to people.

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