Not my day today.
Siemens Chappie came around yesterday to replace our gas meter (they go out of calibration). Harmless action - we joyfully let him in, he fixes the new meter - cheerfully reignites the boiler, and refuses the coffee (says he is allergic to caffine).
Today we noticed a wiff of a leak.
So Transco guy comes within the hour of an emergency call, finds and fixes the leak. The leak is on our side of the meter, somehow made worse by the meter refitting but since he is such a nice chap he does the magic and the repair is free. Great. I offer him coffee. He declines (what's wrong with my coffee?), and asks directions to the boiler for reignition.
Ah... a problem. Not all the burners are lighting. Some of them are covered in soot, says he. This boiler is a disgrace, it should not be allowed to operate. Illegal. He'll have to cap it. We'll have no baths 'til it's fixed. Doom time. It's pub time in about an hour from now, and my wiff will be more of an issue down there than the smell of gas. Cold bath awaits electric kettle.... Arggghhhh! ;-(
The question. What's the chance a fifteen year old rarely serviced (probably never since new) will need replacement? The boiler is a Potterton Kingfisher II CF80. It's used all year for hot water and heating as necessary through a standard heating header loft tank / cylinder setup for a three bed house. Or will I get away by a Corgi engineer cleaning and renewing parts?
Thinking back, if I laced the Siemens guy's coffee with something (and made him drink it), the meter wouldn't have been compulsory changed and I wouldn't be in this mess. :-(
-- The Wiff guy (allegedly Adrian C)