The boiler of DOOM....

When we bought our house, 10 years and 8 months ago, we discovered that the boiler was rather old (40+ years - it was installed when the house was brand new) and needed to be replaced. Phone calls to various oil companies resulted in us sticking with the company that serviced the equipment for the previous owners, and we bought a nice, compact, efficient boiler to take it's place.

Now, 8 months outside of the "we'll replace it free" part of the warranty, the dang thing is leaking. The oil company points us to the manufacturer, since it's still "under their warranty" - and the warranty says that we have to pay a pro-rated amount for a new block and then installation by the oil company. To the tune of $1500+.

Now, I know King George wants me to take that "economic stimulus" payment, er, advance on next years taxes, and buy up a bunch of cheap, disposable electronics to help out the economy, but let's face it: at this point, I'll be spending it on keeping the hot water going in the house and gas for the car. I'm not an economist, but I don't really see how that's doing all that much to help the economy. But that's not the point.

Here we are, dealing with a leak in the boiler block. What's supposed to happen is that the water enters the block, which is heated by the rest of the boiler, and then it goes out down the pipes into the water tank and eventually out my taps. Instead what's happening is that there is a leak, so water - very very very very very hot water - is leaking out of the block and onto the floor. It's been doing that for a while apparently, because when I went to get something out of our second fridge, there was water on the side of it. The far side of the fridge from the boiler. Like, 15-20 feet from the boiler. F*#&$&#&#.

So, while I now wait for the manufacturer to get back to me about what, if anything they will do about extending our warranty, I ponder the pickle I find myself in. We've got kitty litter on the floor to soak up the excess water, and strict orders to the kids to avoid their lengthy, very hot showers. I cringe whenever the dishwasher or washing machine are used.

You'll note that I've avoided mentioning the name of the manufacturer. I'm doing that for two reasons - first I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt and hoping that they'll do the right thing here. Second, I'm planning another post for after their decision. The reason for leaving the name out now is that there are certain keyword searches I've done to find out... that the problem we're having isn't a lone instance. It's actually a pretty big deal - like I called some dealers in Connecticut that sell and service their products, mentioned the model I had, and they were able to guess what problem I'm having. Like hundreds of pages found referencing the problem when I search Google. Like I'm just cranky as all get out about the whole thing.

So, un-named manufacturer, what will you do? The right thing? Or the one that saves you some money but loses you yet another customer? And gets yet another page on the internet bad mouthing your company and products? I know what I'm hoping for....