Gas boiler woes

One of my frequent pleasures at the end of a day is to soak in a nice warm, bubbly bath. Last Friday evening was such an occasion. I ran the bath, added a big dollop of lavender bubble bath liquid, stripped off (photo inadmissible) and put one foot in the water.  It was freezing cold!  Mystified, I wrapped a dressing gown around my naked frame and went downstairs to investigate.

Hoping that it might just be a glitch, I turned off the boiler, counted to 10 and turned it on again. Well, it works with computers, so why not with boilers? It didn't.

According to the manual, fault F62 indicates a gas valve shut-off delay, which basically means that gas is continuing to seep into the boiler after the valve has supposedly closed. A couple of 'helpful' videos in YouTube informed me that repairing this was likely to be painfully expensive as I would most likely need a new control board (£162) or gas valve (£120), or possibly both. With repair costs and call-out charge, I could well be looking at a bill in excess of £400. Ouch!

"Ah," I hear you say, "Why didn't you insure it?" Answer: because I never do. Every time I buy a new computer, washing machine, fridge, freezer, camera, vacuum cleaner, television, video recoder or fully automated foo-foo valve I am offered insurance against it malfunctioning. I say 'no' every time and over the years must have saved myself many, many hundreds of pounds.  Perhaps, though, this time my luck had run out.

I did a cursory Internet search for boiler repair cover. Top of the Google list was Scottish Power and their cheapest offering was £6.71 per month; maximum repair cost £500; I pay the first £50. Well, I moved into this house 52 months ago, so (discounting inflation) would have paid out 52 x £6.71 = £348.92. Add the £50 excess and – assuming the worst-case repair bill – I'd just about be breaking even. Actually, though, I've had gas boilers for the last 45 years, never insured them and never – until last Saturday – had one go wrong. That's a lot of maintenance money saved.

This tale has a happy ending. My trusted gas repair man arrived today, diagnosed a sticky gas valve, opened and closed it a couple of time and the fault disappeared. If it recurs within a few days, then he'll fit a new one for me. Hopefully, though, all I'll have to pay is his modest call-out fee. He also showed me how to safely override the fault for a single heating cycle, so if I am unlucky enough to get another 'F62', I won't have to live in a cold house until he arrives.  What a guy!

Will I be taking out Scottish Power's Boiler Cover?  I think not.