There is no hot water

and in the middle of winter this is not exactly a happy state of affairs.

The problem became obvious yesterday morning when water suddenly began to flow off the roof. I had a suspicion I knew what was wrong. There was a similar problem once before and it was, to put it mildly, expensive to fix.

The water is heated by solar panels with an electrical back up. It was the system recommended at the time. The Senior Cat had doubts, my BIL had doubts but it was government policy so they went ahead with it. There is a three hundred and twenty litre gravity feed tank in the roof. There is more than enough water there for the size of the house. It is assumed to be enough for a family although there have never been more than three people living here. 

The problem is the solar panels and the way they must be connected to the tank. We have had some very cold weather recently and the various connections do not like it. 

My long suffering BIL who knows far more than I do about such things had to come over after work and investigate. "Not good news Cat," he told me after he had climbed up to have a look. I watched anxiously on - more concerned about him getting down again safely than anything else. Yes he was wearing a head light and his helmet but...

He came in and turned off the tap which feeds the hot water into the house and the back up - which only works if the sun has not done enough work - and said, "Sorry, you will have to use a kettle. I'll see if I can get hold of my mate J... tomorrow."

I have cold water. I have a kettle. I have not had a shower. Grrrrrr. I thought of the way my BIL had installed a gas hot water service at their place. No, it might not be environmentally friendly to have gas but it has not failed in all the years they have lived there. Our solar is much less efficient and it has failed completely and expensively on two occasions now.

It is yet another reason to find somewhere else to live. This house has reached the stage where things are starting to go wrong on a regular basis...and I am not a ladder climbing cat!