I wrote, twelve and more years ago, about the burgening relationship forming between me and my central heating system. I admit that over the intervening years, I became careless about its feelings and ignored it for months at a time. I have been rewarded by a cold spell, beginning approximately at the time of the freezing temperatures in December. I deserve nothing else.
As in my last piece, the list of faults had become extensive, and some I am yet to fix. This time though, with the system in its twenty seventh year, some of the failures have become difficult to address. I have been fortunate in obtaining spare parts, especially the safety systems which had become untrustworthy over the years, but significant components have reached their end of life, and are beyond complete repair.
I've come to realise that some symptoms, observed as long as five years ago, have been the result of leaks developing between the flue inner and outer pipes. These allows hot, wet flue gases to mix with incoming cold air, and result in condensation inside the boiler jacket. The excess water drips everywhere, causing rust and damage to the control system. The faults are inside the flue elbow, and inaccessible to any reasonable approach, short of a full removal and rebuild of the boiler and flue assembly.
I have patched as much as possible, by removing the fan assembly and applying metal tape. The boiler will again run without tripping the house RCD; condensate levels are under control. I will however need a new boiler soon. Before that, I'm considering playing with the valve, since it's jammed again. I'm enjoying being warm though, so I'll ignore the problem a while.
