Wednesday 19 August 2015

Moving the boiler.

After our family day on Saturday we crossed one of the last big planned jobs of the year off our list. Our boiler stands directly in the footprint of our planned extension and we have moved it to a temporary home. It's a pretty big piece of kit and burns heating oil. We didn't realise it had a big tank in there too and when James and our builder came to move it they struggled to lift it off the ground. I had to quickly push our little trolley under to bare the weight; it managed, but only just. James did time in a fabrications team as part of his apprenticeship so he assures me it'll look less bent when next I see it!

This past week we dug out the old oil line and dug a new trench to move it out of the line of fire from foundations. The day after James dug it out I went to hang some washing and the chickens had scratched the soil back into the trench, they weren't popular.

As with all jobs there's always a hitch and the boiler wouldn't fire back up in it's new position. Some issue with a dodgy switch, but after some pretty choice words from James and some fiddling he got it working. So it is in it's new position, it just needs the wires and pipes lagging to protect from the weather and cold. 

I'm torn really on whether in the long term I'd like it to go back once the build is complete. On the plus size I like having a tank of oil stored so we'd have heating and hot water in the event of any problems (electricity generation dependant). On the negative side I hate burning fossil fuels (save the planet), it's expensive and if everything went south I've got a wood stove and Rayburn to cook and heat water on. I like the idea of an air source heat pump, but we'd need more insulation, we're working towards that anyway and I'm not sure on the long term efficiency. Plus it'd make my leccy bill sky high. Anyway, all problems for another day.

So far this week we've all had a bit of a break, I'm cream crackered and so are the kids and James. I had another bout of tonsillitis at the weekend and all the long hours have exhausted James. Baby girl is teething, so not sleeping and wee man's sleep is disturbed by her constant crying. All in all, with the miserable weather the only things I'm doing in the evening are watering, harvesting, tidying after tea and the occasional visits to the gym. It's nice to step the pace down a little. Once the weather clears I'll get started on the garden in time for the kids birthday party the weekend after next.

8 comments:

  1. You have to look after your health, have you tried taking Echinacea it helps boost the immune system :-)

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    1. I will have to try something Dawn, these tonsils are playing me up.

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  2. When it comes to your home, I would say go with what's practical and enhances your survivability. I'm all for ecological soundness, but my priority is the welfare of my family. Once the oil is in the tank, no matter what happens you can care for your family as regards heat and hot water as long as it lasts. When things go south, they usually do it rapidly and with a minimum of warning. I keep about 1000 gallons of diesel for my generator, and a bit more than that of propane because everything in my house from hot water to heat works on propane. I do have a field stone fireplace in the living room, a wood stove in the lower level of the house, and a wood burning kitchen stove in addition to our propane range. But the wood is all backup.

    Above all other things, I make the well being of my family my number one priority.

    As always, I'm mightily impressed with all you and your husband have accomplished. I admire people who do for themselves, and who look ahead. Your children are fortunate to have such good parents.

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    1. You're right Harry, but I honestly believe that we need to live in a sustainable way that allows my children and grandchildren to have any hope of a planet that's worth living on. It's a fine line between providing now and providing later.

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  3. We have a wood burning stove but it's not working yet! I think we are going to opt for having it plumbed in for heating only as to link it to the hot water system is probably not going to give us enough hot water unless we have the Rayburn burning fuel at a fearsome pace. So we are going to use the Rayburn for heating only, so it will be on for six months of the year, which will save Lester the task of having to keep on cutting wood, although during the summer he would be preparing the wood stack for the winter ahead of course, but he would not be pressurized into doing so.
    We have a range cooker for the warmer months, which has electric ovens and bottled gas hob.
    I am not sure what would happen if things went south, I suppose we would have to stay with the Rayburn all year round, and cheerfully roast during the summer because we can't use the Rayburn for cooking only. It must run the radiators at the same time. But then I suppose we could always get Lester to build a good sized BBQ outside which we could cook on and run on wood!

    Hope you and your husband are feeling less tired. Vx

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    1. After a week off we are thanks Vera. Wood cutting really is a never ending job isn't it? You've got a really good list of possibilities there, it's great to have redundancy built in.

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  4. I'm glad that moving the boiler was painless for you. We recently extended our kitchen and had to move our boiler for the same reason. However our boiler runs on gas, so we used our friendly gas company who safely moved and reinstalled it for us. It didn't take too long and we can now carry on with the decorating.

    Samuel @ JS Gas & Property Services

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  5. I really do feel your pain. Having to buy a new boiler is never at the top of anybody's want to do list. Our boiler packed up last winter. A friend recommended to us a local plumbing an heating business who installed a new boilers. They made the whole process easy and we soon had hot water and heating again.

    Wilfred Andrews @ LB Plumbing and Heating

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