Every year something goes wrong with our heating – like clockwork. It’s something different every year and every time it’s incredibly frustrating. This is our first home, and it’s almost as if the previous owner stuck some tape on some problems, and that tape is starting to lose its stick. We’ve had mould issues, that we’ve fixed. Our first summer here, we had a massive ant infestation in the kitchen, where some really cheap filler had been used to hide the hole and then painted over. We got that sorted as well. Then there’s the little things we’ve fixed like a door thresholds that were broken, a leaky tap, as well as a leaky toilet.

The heating though, really takes the cake. Every year it’s something different and this year started right on cue with the downstairs radiators not heating up, while the upstairs one seemed okay. I don’t know exactly when this issue started, but the heating was definitely on two weeks ago downstairs, and then stopped last week. I think it was gradual as we didn’t notice it getting colder down stairs until I walked through the living room and noticed that the radiator wasn’t hot. I checked the others, and the downstairs ones were as cold as corpses. The upstairs ones were full of life.

We called a plumber, the same one who fixed an issue we had last year, and he seemed to find the issue. The three point valve wasn’t working correctly, he replaced it and the problem seemed to be fixed. We had heating downstairs and all was right with the world. But that was too good to be true, the next morning we woke up and the heating wouldn’t turn on. We called the plumber again, but got no response. It was a Saturday, so maybe he wasn’t working. We also turned the valve to manual, which turned the heating on. So we thought, let’s wait until Monday. Then call again and he can have a look to see what’s up with it.

All was well for the rest of the weekend, and Monday he didn’t reply again. To be honest at this point, was had given up hope on him, and thought we would survive until pay day and then get someone else to have a look at it. For what it’s worth the heating was working alright as long as the valve was in manual. It wasn’t cold in the house. It’s important for the story, to note that our heating is on a timer. At 10pm every night the thermostat turns down automatically to 5 degrees, and that’s been working fine up until yesterday, when while the thermostat turned down, as expected, the heating went into overdrive and started heating the house up faster than it has done at any point in the five years that we’ve lived here and there didn’t seem to be a way to turn it off.

We have a smart thermostat, which wasn’t acting very smart and we couldn’t get the heating to turn off at all. In the end, we turned it all off at the plug, and that did the trick. This morning we turned it back on, and it all seemed okay again. We hoped that rebooting everything fixed whatever happened. It kicked in at 8am, as it’s supposed to, and the day went well, until the heating went into overdrive mode again around lunch time. So this time, we contacted the company who makes the thermostat (they were shut last night when it happened, so we couldn’t contact then). They sent us some troubleshooting steps, then one of their team looked into it, who said it was our connection dropping out last night that caused the issue and it should all be fixed now. I think that’s a rubbish response as it doesn’t explain what happened at lunchtime today, but either way since then we haven’t had any issues and if it happens again I’ll contact them straight away.

So by mid afternoon, I was a little stressed with it all. It’s taken a week, and then the plumber contacts us to ask what’s up, so we told him about the valve not working unless it was pushed to manual. He said that’s not good. Then came round to have a look. After a lot of looking and checking things, he thinks something’s wrong with the wiring. We’re getting a second opinion on that, just in case.

In case the above doesn’t make it obvious, I’m not a plumber and I don’t really understand how our heating system works. I just wanted to let everyone know why the film reviews have been a little sparse over the last week or so. Following troubleshooting steps to try and get things to work, waiting for the plumber to turn up, screaming at the wall about the existence, and googling how cold a book can be without it being damaged (you know the big worries of life), has taken up a lot of my time. Hopefully it’s fixed soon, and at least the heating seems to be working, even if it’s not exactly the way it’s supposed to be. Maybe I’ll get to see Violent Night before Christmas, maybe I won’t. Either way I’ll be back to reviewing regularly, as soon as I can. Until then, look forward to part two (and hopefully the last) of this heating saga that’s going on right now. It’s not that interesting to be honest, so you probably won’t be looking forward to more, but it’s coming. I can promise you that.

Thanks for reading and until next time,

Ashley