New boiler fitted, wood burning stove maintenance

My new boiler is being fitted today.

A colleague has problems with his new condensing boiler's pipes freezing up in winter. Pat, the plumber, says the Valiant boiler, which I'm getting, is made in Germany, which have harder winters than I will, and the water condenses into a container which then vents a quantity of water at a time. He can't promise it won't freeze, but he doesn't expect it to.

I am here in the dining room while Pat and his nephew, Tony, work on the boiler upstairs. It sounds as if they could come through the ceiling at any moment!

Also today, my wood burning stove had a maintenance check and the chimney was swept. This done by Abbotts Stoves, which fitted the stove two years ago. £96! With the cost of wood and the cost of this, and still needing gas to heat upstairs, I'm  certainly not saving any money - and that is ignoring the cost of getting and fitting the stove in the first place!

But, with the price of gas rising, that could change in the future. It's fuel security. And any lowering of the demand for conventional fuel takes away from the argument for nuclear power!

Getting rid of stuff and a new boiler

Three things put on Freegle and safely collected. The person who responded to my email about the 4th thing - a metal fence post holder - hasn't responded to my email offering it to her.  Bit of a pain as I had today off and took some things to the PDSA shop and that could have gone too, but am keeping it for a few more days in case she responds.

My boiler is 14 1/2 years old and my handyman who does the maintenance has said it could last a few more years or could break down at any time.  Safest to get it replaced while it is still working, so had the plumber who replaced a friend's boiler visit to give me a quote.

I was worried about condensing boilers as a colleague has one and the pipe kept freezing in the cold weather. The plumber said some installers keep the outlet pipe at the first narrow size instead of changing to a large size, and some boilers dribble condensation all the time (I am paraphrasing here) but the Valiant boiler he will quote me for is a German make where winters are colder so they have thought of this. The condensation collects and is vented about a 1/4 pint at a time. It doesn't guarantee the outlet pipe will never freeze but makes it unlikely. Plan to have the work done in June. Expensive, but should be more economical to run.