Conned 2 - part 5

My next problem wasn't so much a problem with the machine, as it was with my understanding of what was happening.

When Mike sold me on the thermodynamic water heating system, he kept on about how it would benefit the boiler and how the two machines complimented each other. Some how I got fixed in my head the idea that the hot water generated by my machine was then fed into the water system for heating the radiators. This isn't the case at all, but as I say, I was convinced it was. So when in mid November I happened to look at my boiler and found that the water pressure, which is supposed to be above 1.0 on the gauge was much lower, I became worried. In previous years, I had had water pressure problems with my boiler and often called the Home Care people out who I have a yearly contact with, to come out and fix it. In the end, one of their men showed me how to top up the water myself, so I had been doing that. And I tried to do it now. I turned one tap, and then the other, and nothing happened. But then I didn't expect it to, because I thought the water for the boiler now came from the upstairs tank.

I phoned the company. The receptionist said somebody would call me to
talk the thing through. Nobody called. I emailed and said what the
problem and that I was worried that the water would get too low and
the boiler wouldn't work. Nobody responded.

I phoned again, a few days later. This time when I talked to the receptionist, she asked me if the system was still working – did I have heat? Yes, I agreed that it was working, but I knew that it would soon stop and then things would get very bad. She said she would get an engineer to call me. Nobody did.

Just before Christmas I had a phone call and it was somebody from their
company. Thank goodness, I  thought, finally somebody is taking me
seriously.

“Hi, Mrs. Day. I'm just calling to see how your central heating management system is working for you?”

“I've been expecting you to call.” and I went on to describe the problem.

“I only wanted to check and see if you were happy about the amount of
money you're saving. You'll have to have an engineer to deal with that for you. I'll make an appointment, but we are taking two weeks off at Christmas, so how about if we make it for January 4?”

I was going to my daughter's for Christmas anyway, so I said I guessed
that would have to do. And I added that I hadn't seen any reduction
in cost in either gas or electric bills since the machines had been
installed.

“Well, I'm sure that will come with your next bills,” he said.

We now skip to December 28, when my daughter and her family brought me home. As soon as we came through the door, we knew something was
wrong, as the house was cold – 11 °. We tried the lights and they didn't work. Everything was off, and there was a puddle in the bottom of the cupboard underneath the new machine.

Luckily my daughter and son-in-law are very resourceful. Before long we had the electrics working again. And the heating did come on, although
the level of pressure was dangerously low. I was convinced that somehow it was the heating system that had caused the electrics to fuse. After all, when it was being put in originally, it had fused twice.

One of the side effects of this was that we needed to throw everything from the fridge and freezer. But there was no possibility of contacting my company to complain as I knew they were on holiday.

A few days later, my other daughter and her family came to visit, and
as she has a similar boiler to mine, and had topping up water problems of her own, she just went and did the necessary. It turns out that the two machines have no direct connection at all – and I was just turning the taps in the wrong directions. I could have solved my own problem weeks before, but for my misunderstanding.

But that didn't mean that I was now happy to pretend that it all hadn't
happened. Why had the machine had a puddle under it? Surely there must
be a connection somewhere and something that wasn't working right. I
couldn't wait for January 4^th to come.

It came and went, and nobody came to check. I called and called and complained and complained. They kept promising somebody would come, and yet they didn't. I cancelled day after day of my usual activities.
 

Then suddenly on January 10^th, it all got much worse.