Wednesday’s Foster Care Blog
As the temperature is dropping this week, it does not feel like the best time to be having our old boiler replaced. The boiler has been on its last legs ever since we moved in. It has a pretty small water tank which means we can only get 2 and a half short showers before the water goes cold. This means that the third person in the shower has to be super quick or risk having half a cold shower. Having a teenager and pre-teenager in the house – means more showers are needed. We are having to get the girls to have showers at night because there just isn’t enough water in the mornings for everyone.
The other problem we have with this boiler is that we don’t have hot water when we need it. Having a child who is incontinent means we may need to bath or shower her at any time of the day or night. So this way of heating water was really not working for us. That and the fact that it seemed to shut down randomly was not a good sign. We had initially thought of just putting in an electric shower, but it soon became apparent when we had a few plumbers round to give quotes that it was not quite so easy. By the time we ripped out the existing shower, put in a new one and retiled the bathroom, the cost would have been a third of the cost of the new boiler. And the boiler was going to have to be replaced in the near future.
Our plumber came today to rip out the old boiler and pipework. He was so thoughtful and brought us a number of oil filled radiators to keep us warm until the new boiler is fitted. As he began to take away the old parts, we realised how lucky we were. The boiler was over 25 years old, the flue had disintegrated, the thermostat which was already broken had been connected by a thread of wire, and the timing device had a burnt out circuit. All in all we were lucky things had not gone badly, the plumber said it was an accident waiting to happen.
When you are at the beginning of three days without heating or hot water, you really begin to realise how much you take it for granted, and I can’t help but think of the many families who cannot afford to heat their homes even at this time of year. We are blessed to have friends who have kindly let us use their shower while we have no hot water. We have the oil filled radiators – so we can at least heat a few rooms in our house, and we have plenty of extra jumpers, blankets and hot water bottles to see us through the next few days. Still hoping the temperature doesn’t drop too low!!
A Less Ordinary Family Fostering Blog
