Friday, July 12, 2013

Heat

A couple of years ago I blogged about a new electric blanket that had controls which looked like a revamped iPod, it was purely cosmetic, the touch dial was just a disguise for a switch that moved the temperature up and down so this week when our old boiler of seventeen years was replaced I was intrigued to find a similar control device on the new boiler.

My, things have moved on. Replacing a boiler is always a pain, even more so today because the product guarantee that used to be ten years is down to a paltry five in most cases and finding a good replacement boiler is so hard also there is a massive amount of new regulation to consider when fitting. So this week we have had a week of disruption with no heating or hot water but now we have a brand spanning new boiler to play with. And play with it I did.

It's not a fancy expensive one but it contains a lot of new additions that amaze me. For a start it uses a weather compensator attached to the outside of the house to regulate the heating. It has digital controls for water temperature, room temperature, heating curves, holiday modes, outside temperature monitoring and predictive heating all accessed using the funky control panel. Chortle.

I like things like this, being able to tweak every aspect appeals. I'm even more amazed at the amount of work that went in to replacing it, some of the craftmanship on the pipe work is outstanding and the steady hum is quite comforting knowing the warming heart of the house is healthy. So a bit of a nerdy entry really, sorry and all that, just wish it had access to iTunes and Netflix. Imagine settling down infront of a boiler to watch your favourite films. I once knew, and this is true by the way, somebody that moved out of their parents house into their own and used to spend time getting amazed by watching the program cycle on their washing machine. That is entirely true, their favourite was the 30 degree fast wash, don't ask me why it just got them all excited and stuff.

Whilst we are on this subject I had another friend, I say friend it's only by the oddity that I knew them but every day for lunch they used to bring for lunch a small glass bottle of Irn Brew, a mango and Dairylee cheese triangles which he used to eat noisily by making a small hole in the corner and squirting it wriggly like into his mouth. The mango was always sliced into eight pieces and eaten in order from one end to another. As you can see knowing people like this it's no wonder I'm amazed by the control system of a new boiler.

Now, where's my little roundels of Edam, I must peel them anticlockwise whilst raising the temperature of the shower unit, oh, and I must have seven grapes ready, one for each degree I alter the ambient room temperature, it doesn't get better than this!

 

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