What classes as an emergency? Boiler woes!

Right I live in a house that is privately rented for me by my employer. Boiler packs up last night.
First phone agent who can’t do anything at the weekend. They say call emergency call out number who say boiler isn’t an emergency to which I suggest in the current weather that it probably is. Also they are only electrical engineers and can’t touch gas.
Try ringing landlady who doesn’t answer now faced with a couple of days freezing not impressed

#whine over# Time to go for a snowride to warm up

What’s it doing (or not doing)?

May be something simple like frozen condensate pipe outside or low system pressure.

Yep… bet it’s a frozen condensate drain. Easy to fix.

Thats poor.

Id phone the agent and inform them that if it doesnt get fixed youll call your own plumber and be deducting it off your next rent.

See if your land lord suddenly gets in touch.

rented for me by my employer.

doesn’t give much leverage on the “I’ll take it off the rent” arguement

I had a frozen condensate pipe in the past which stopped my boiler working. Check it before calling someone out.

Frozen condensation pipe .
This runs outside from the boiler to a fall pipe/drain. Either let it thaw out or gently heat with a hair dryer – Seemples 😆

As a landlord myself, I have had a couple of boilers die suddenly (typically in cold weather). Both times it needed new boilers, and took 3 and 5 days to sort.
It was crap for the tenant, but if had been my own home, it would not have been fixed any sooner.
Commiserations for you. Get an invite to a pals house.
Be thankful you have leccy – up here we are not on mains gas, and our power comes over a mountain (unlike rest of village). Our one street has power cuts every winter, last winter was 6 days in sub-zero with no heating or lights or hot water.

Can you not buy a couple of cheap fan heaters to keep you going?

Yeah, sorry to inform but broken boiler isn’t normally classed as an emergency, I used to work for a local authority housing department. But it should be fixed in reasonable time, if it isnt , get it in writing in asap

Start a fire

I can’t find the condensing pipe, it’s a very old Ideal Mexico floor mount jobbie. It’s based bang central in quite a large house and has been on fairly constantly over the last few days and was on before it cut out, so would be suprised if it had frozen.

I’ve tried relighting holding the primer down for well over the recommended 20 secs but the pilot flame refuses to stay lit.

If you worked in an office an it was as cold as our house you’d be sent home due to H&S laws!

I too am a landlord on another proerty and my £17 a month to British Gas homecare for the central heating on that place has been very useful, they’ve even been out to my tenants on a Sunday when a pipe burst

Cooper – no condense pipe from that, sounds like a thermocouple.
10 min job for someone, where in the country are you, enough guys on here to cover the country might get lucky?

Waiting for 3 – 5 days for a new boiler is one thing, waiting 3 days to even get someone out to diagnose the problem is slightly different.

Yeah just googled it and it’s non condensing so rules that out! I’m in North Leicestershire but I think we’ll live, gives us an excuse to go to the pub early today and sit by their open fire until closing time