My boiler - is SHIT.
It's a Ferroli - it's like the Punto of the boiler world. Installed by house builders who have no eye on quality.
It's leaked like sieve on and off for a while with near annual visits to repair it and monthly boiler package direct debit costs of around £36 because they've been out to fix its leaks so often.
Now I totally get that a boiler can go from safe to unsafe in a blink of an eye but 2 days ago I had the B Gas guy come to service it. B Gas split their visits into 'service' and 'repair' which whilst this is useful for them, it's crap for the customer who then gets "Oh well then love, we'll need to get a repair call logged as well" and then you have to stay in for a repair visit as opposed to a service visit. Thank God i'm off for 2 weeks or this would be a living nightmare for me to try and schedule in.
Anyhoo service-your-boiler-man signs it off as both safe and leaves it happily to be used since leaking isn't directly associated with it being unsafe from a gas or Co2 point of view. It was signed off as ok for all those things.
Me and DC have just spent 7 uncomfortable hours with no heating and no water whilst boiler repair man has come in and fiddled for SIX HOURS trying to get it not to leak. He's failed.
He's also entered bedrooms with under 18s in then without my express permission but that's a whole nother thing. Nothing happened, but as people entering homes with children if their policy is to get their guys to go into 14 yo girls bedrooms with no one observing them, they must be tapped.
Were it the case the it still leaking made it UNSAFE trust me, I'd be the first one to be happy that had been identified. Trust me, I don't want to be blown out of my bed of a night). But I have the signed off sheet from 2 days before saying it's safe! I think he thinks (yer man today) that I need a new boiler (which is probably right) BUT it's not gas unsafe (iyswim). He REALLY annoyed me this guy cos this is my SECOND visit from him. First time he said well you probably just need a new boiler and I said mate, I've got no money for a new boiler but he said well we have to code your response to the fact that this is what we said and you said no. I'm not saying 'no' though - it's not a choice based decision, it's financial circumstances - you know, like XH 2 weeks before Xmas telling me there'll be no child maintenance til - who knows when - cos he's no longer got a job. I had my savings earmarked for other important stuff.
So my question is to anyone on MN who has gas safe experience, would the fact that a boiler is leaking render it unsafe? What constistutes the device actually unsafe? He's put it down as 'at risk' not immediately unsafe and so why has it been turned off, gas disconnected etc and I'm being forced to make snap decisions about which boiler to buy that I feel I might actually not really need to make. Because just because he can't stop it dripping, doesn't render unsafe.
Help!
This has come just as tomorrow me and DC are supposed to be celebrating our 'pretend Xmas Day' as the kids are here and there over Xmas with XH and various family and I'm so distraught about this expenditure. XDH has stopped maintenance and now this on top will literally wipe my savings out. I don't want to get another shitty boiler, I want a nice reliable Worcester Bosch (or similar) but they run a good £1900 and that's with £700 off!
I'd just though you know what this next year I'll try and start saving towards paying off my personal lease car so when it comes to the termination period I'll just keep it and I wanted to try and pay off a couple of mobile phones as well so that would have saved another £30 a month as well as the £199 from the car.
You know, I've worked SO hard this last few months to remove ANY unnecessary d/debits and expenditure that I can - and this has just brought all of that effort back to sodding zero.
You just cannot win. Just as I think 'ok I think I could manage this or that' something comes and slaps me back effing down again.