A mammoth undertaking

I arranged to work from home this morning so that Tony, the boiler service man, could come back and fit a new valve to my hot water tank, to stop the drip which he discovered on Tuesday. However, I got a phone call at 8:30 this morning to say that, unfortunately, he had ordered the wrong part and that the new valve he had got in for me wouldn’t fit. Instead, he wanted to come back here this morning to have another look at the valve so that he could order the correct part number……

Tony did turn up this morning, very apologetic, and disappeared up into the loft to have another go at identifying the part number that was needed. But he still didn’t seem sure, so asked me if I had the installation manual for the boiler. That really tested my filing system! The hot water tank was installed as part of the extension only a few years ago, and thankfully I was able to track down the paperwork which came with it. Tony took that away with him, and I am assured that the correct new part will be delivered to him on Monday. So I will have to work from home again on Tuesday morning, and dial in to the project progress meeting that’s planned. That’s not very convenient, but I’ve just got to get this leak fixed and I’m even busier at work in the second half of the week.

The delay also means that I’m going to have to brave the mice and go back up into the loft over the weekend to empty the drip-catcher. At least Tony was able to empty it while he was here, which saved me one trip up the ladder. I’ve replaced Tuesday’s tupperware container with the salad crisper from the fridge – it’s got the same area but about three times the volume, so doesn’t need emptying so often. The only good news is that there does still seem to be plenty of mouse-bait up in the loft, so I won’t need to get Tim, the pest controller, back just yet. I’m deliberately not looking too hard for dead mice – and hoping very much that I don’t see any live ones!