Well, the inevitable has happened. This morning there was no hot water because the pilot light on the back boiler had gone out.

I tried for 2 hours to get the pilot light working, but with no luck, so I called British Gas for an engineer to come out and take a look. The guy turned up this afternoon, took one look at the boiler and condemned it.

The boiler is about 28 years old, and the only spare parts you can get are screws, so it can’t be repaired, but apparently the regulations have now changed, as you’re not allowed to use vents in the floor to feed a back boiler in a terraced house :o(

The engineer thought that the bill would probably be abut £3.5 – 4k, which I have to confess is a lot less than I thought, but still a lot to shell out.

So now we have absolutely no hot water, and are waiting on a call from British Gas and a couple of other heating installers for quotes on how much the work will cost, and when it can be done.

Fingers crossed that its not too much.