I'm printing this out and handing it to the poor bloke who is going to sell me a new gas space heater.
While the RatPack in Canberra is still dithering about whether to slug us another 5% GST or do the decent thing and halve their own Superannuation and cut off all perks to former RatPackers of both parties to save money, I decided to get in first, just in case.
The dear old Vulcan has been chugging away for 40 years now with only a few hiccups like the freezing winter when the fan called it quits. Fortunately we found a vulcan parts place only a click away and a new one was installed, upside down and everything had to be pulled out again and re-done but it purred. The cats were happy, I still had two at this time and they were happy on mohair rugs either side of the oil upright heater. I had six loads of clothes and blankets and a tiny air heater. The other problem with it was the ceramic bricks used to conduct the heat, fragile to say the least and to buy one was more expensive than to buy a whole new box but saving the best of the bad lot paid off next time one shattered. Automatic thermostat gave up the ghost fairly early on but the tradie said not to replace it, just do it myself. Good advice, getting up and down was usually the only exercise I got all winter.
This year I have some money, almost enough to put down a decent deposit and pay the rest off. The computer found several in the area and one I really liked with a 4 star energy rating and a nice beige colour. Rang Hardly Normal for a price. I was shunted to 3 different departments with mumblings, ditherings and silences. Finally someone found the price list but I'm sure I didn't hear right when they said it was just over two thousand but probably 3 when the installation was factored in but they did have one in store. This was for someone else who hadn't come in to pay yet but they were prepared to piss them off in favour of me because I was going to pay it off not pay at once. Don't they just love that interest. Nothing about checking out the house to see if it would fit in the Vulcan space, just arrive and sign the papers.
I tried the next on the list. This was a list of showrooms that had the heaters on display and could be turned on for me to view. HN was on this list and I think they must have bribed someone. The Good Guys sold them but didn't have any on display so I ditched them but I will come back with another story. I also looked at the possibility of buying a gas cooker and heater together and pay both. Good Guys had a lovely range, various prices though for almost the same sort of cooker so I'm reading the small print and measuring up when I discovered that an under the hob grill was almost never there. One did have the grill in the oven. So that is something on the procrastinate list and the mouse gets to live in the insulation for a bit longer.
Next cab off the rank was a place called Flaming Mo's and it's five minutes away by car or an hour of me walking. A favour called in from the Nephew should do it. Actually a few favours, the smoke alarm fell out of the ceiling again and now I have six holes to be polyfilled, the light in the front room is still hanging down because they don't put the proper screws in with new fittings just to make you spend more and 5 years ago he promised to put in a double electric point in the laundry so I would not have double adapters for dryer and washer. Still waiting.
Back to Flaming Mo's, the guy knew everything about the heater I wanted, gave me a price but couldn't say about an installation fee until the gas fitter came and checked the flue and the space size.
He did ask if I had a chimney and I said no, silence, am I sure? I have a flue but the builder said it was a waste of money to have a chimney without an open fire so what I saved there I spent on electrical outlets except in the bloody laundry.
So going up to have a look as soon as I can grab himself which should be tomorrow considering what he put in the recycle bin which I can't move. Of course you know what will happen, we will probably have the mildest winter in years.
7 comments:
Good luck with the new heater when you finally decide on one; stove too. I have an under bench oven with the griller inside it, I find it annoying to use because it is lower than it would be on a regular stove with an under hob griller. I've used it maybe three times since I moved here.
I need a new heater myself, I have the aircon, but it heats slowly and only heats the one room, I want another portable 3-bar halogen heater, but they seem to be very hard to find now.
Our griller is in the oven and we don't like it. We mostly use the barbecue outside. Mind, I do not miss cleaning the griller. We too had Vulcan space heaters in two different houses. I had to replace the fan on one. I bought it from Vulcan in the outer eastern suburbs, somewhere. I seem to remember it hung on springs in the unit. Yes, had to replace those delicate things above the burner too. They were good heaters and the pets missed them when we move to the next place with a wall furnace. We've bought a few things lately from the Good Guys and we are pretty happy with the service. I am not really impressed with Norma Harvey. Good luck with it.
River, I thought the same thing about the oven griller and I'm taller than you and had visions of me doing a Hansel and Gretal with my bad balance.
I don't think you'll find a halogen heater but I've seen small free standing gas heaters which would save on the aircon. Angel would love it.
Andrew, you should have been around here with two kids, 4 cats and 3 dogs, no room in front of the Vulcan and wall furnaces were always a dead loss. I need to see the flames to feel warm. Flaming Mo's only deals in gas heaters so I think I might be okay there. The pilot light is looking very yellow instead of blue which might just mean a good clean out but if I turn the thing off and it doesn't go on again is not a chance I want to take.
The Ratpack are looking a HOW they will slug us extra. Not if. Never if. Re your last post. I like the idea of River's and my dragons crispifying them.
Good luck on the heater front. And bring on winter. Please.
ElChi, I know how you love winter but I want a little bit of autumn first. You know the crisp mornings and a bit of sun for the afternoons but if you look around at all the Crepe Myrtle trees, the colours are brilliant and legend has it that this means a hot March.
I'll have to look into the gas heaters, but do they work on bottled gas? The only gas supply here is connected to my hot water system, everything else is electric. So would I have to buy replacement gas cylinders each winter?
Good luck finding the heater that you like. I am sure the shops will have the right one for you very soon. Also, good luck with the stove. Ours was a bit of a similar mission as we did not have a chimney too. We made it work anyway. My husbands brother is very good in construction and fitted it.
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