Bit of a domestic disaster…

David49

If a boiler is 10 yrs old parts should be available for repair unless it is some kind of obscure system .
Hot water systems usually have a back up system like an immersion heater you can switch on.

To have an immersion heater you need to have a hotwater tank. Many people now have Combi boilers that are like a central heating system and an old fashioned geyser rolled into one. These do not have hotwater tanks, so do not have immersion heaters.

We had a winter when we were without a gas supply for a fortnight. We had a combi boiler. As others suggest above we would go to the local swimming pool every other day for a shower and hairwash.

We had a breakdown on Christmas day a few years ago.
My mother-in-law was staying.
The Worcester Bosch engineers came out the same day and fixed it.
It was part of our contract. They said the came out the same day for households with older people or babies.
My mother-in-law was in her 90s.

I had a combi boiler fitted last year. I only have a shower and the last system supplied the hot water. I had an electric shower fitted in case, and it was of tremendous use a few weeks ago when I had no heating, At least I had hot water,

The prospect of losing the ability to have hot water, plus of course the loss of the cold water tank as an emergeny reserve, was what decided me to replace my condensing boiler with another instead of changing to a combi-boiler, when it died 4 years ago.

It was bad enough losing heat over the Christmas/New Year period. The breakdown ocurred on Boxing Day, not the best timing, when nobody was around to sort it.

You may wonder about the "water reserve" issue. Occasionally our water becomes infested with fresh water shrimps from local springs which provide some of the supply. The chlorine kills them and the pipes have to be flushed clean. Also, if there is a burst main nearby I can at least flush the loo.

Why do these things always happen over Bank Holidays. Our boiler broke down over Christmas so we were without heating, luckily we have an immersion heater so hot water was not a problem. Hope you get it fixed soon!

We chose to keep a tank and immersion heater when we had the boiler changed a couple of years ago.

NotSpaghetti

Our boiler hasn't backup hot water.
Ours is gas.
My daughter has no backup either.
Hers is oil.

Years ago we had an electric immersion heater but I'm looking 30 plus years ago.

Our boiler has no back up system but luckily we have two electric showers.

Our very old baxi back boiler gave up the ghost in the winter of 2020, it took over 8 weeks to get a new boiler fitted! 🥶🥶🥶🥶

It's horrible not having hot water. When my daughter was on her European travels in her campervan, she found a shower showroom in the Black Forest where she could have a free shower with towels and soap provided (Hansgrohe Aquademie, Schiltach) and also in Finland she discovered that there were saunas with hot showers provided for truck drivers en route. It's a long way to go though Witzend.

Hot water systems usually have a back up system like an immersion heater you can switch on.

We're another house that hasn't had an immersion heater or hot water tank for many years.
Combi boiler, heats as it runs. But never runs out!
Having three teenagers prompted the change 😂

petra

Why not wash in the kitchen. Accident waiting to happen carrying a kettle of hot water upstairs.

Why can't Witzend just take an empty kettle upstairs and boil it there?

I am in a Premier Inn for three night and there is “lashings “ of lovely hot water.
Enjoy.

Oh! That's worse than ours, which wouldn't switch off 😀
We were getting hotter and hotter then realised the temperature had gone up to 23C, so had to turn it off completely. At least we could get hot water.
Fixed now, they fitted us in before Easter.

Witzend and AskAlice 💐💐

Oh Witzend - very appropriate name for the situation. However, you’ve got a nice little ‘shower’ break tomorrow.
Happy Easter 🐣

That is a nuisance Alice……..could you ask DD’s to bring some towels and bed linen to take the pressure off?

Hope you get sorted but remember, as my mum used to say during such incidents, “no one died”. 💐 for you as an Easter gift.

Oh I do feel for you Witzend. We had our bathroom converted into a shower room about a year ago - took two weeks and many hair washes in the kitchen sink, traipsing to DDs for showers and the Proper Washes in between. Horrible!

I went to the airing cupboard this morning to get some clean towels, to find that the boiler has developed a dripping leak and has been dripping onto the towels and bedding that I store in there for a few days by the look of it. Our DD2 is coming with her three year old to stay overnight in about an hour's time, DD1 and family coming for Easter roast lunch tomorrow. The washing machine is going like the clappers at the moment. Not what I expected to be doing today!

Our boiler hasn't backup hot water.
Ours is gas.
My daughter has no backup either.
Hers is oil.

Years ago we had an electric immersion heater but I'm looking 30 plus years ago.

Why not wash in the kitchen. Accident waiting to happen carrying a kettle of hot water upstairs.

David49

If a boiler is 10 yrs old parts should be available for repair unless it is some kind of obscure system .
Hot water systems usually have a back up system like an immersion heater you can switch on.

It’s a warm air unit - usually very efficient - and apparently it has finally died. I’d assumed we could still use the immersion heater but somehow the system is tied into it, so that’s a big fat No, too. 😩

If a boiler is 10 yrs old parts should be available for repair unless it is some kind of obscure system .
Hot water systems usually have a back up system like an immersion heater you can switch on.

JaneJudge

The premier Inn is a good idea alternatively, your local leisure centre or a service station that has showers?

We really do take hot water for granted, don't we?

For once I will probably use the showers at my David Lloyd, and can get a guest pass (one a month) for dh. I don’t usually bother - I only go to swim and there’s a nice hot rinse-off shower by the pool.
In the meantime I might have to wash my hair using jugs of hot water over the sink!

The premier Inn is a good idea alternatively, your local leisure centre or a service station that has showers?

We really do take hot water for granted, don't we?

Sorry to hear about your boiler Witzend

I think you should stay for a week at the seaside!

Oh no. It's horrible when this happens.

Have a lovely shower break!