Requiem for a long, hard life

In the early hours of this year, as we sat in the lounge along with KSP and Jonas, drinking in the new year, something blew the lights in the stuga. But not just the lights. It also blew the heat pump. This is not ideal in winter. Okay, a lack of lights isn’t that disastrous but a lack of warmth when the temperature is plummeting, can be decidedly unpleasant.

Fortunately, the underfloor heating in the bathroom was not affected, so Fi has managed to survive. Wrapping herself in the electric blanket has also helped a lot.

As reported, Lukas came and fixed the lights. He said something to do with the way the stuga was earthed blew the dimmer circuits in the lights and the board in the heater. He fixed the lights but could only offer advice on the heat pump.

Today, while Mirinda was at uni giving a presentation on the history of the wolf and Fi was wandering around Stockholm ahead of her second farewell dinner with Jason, the amazing Kristoffer came over and looked at the heat pump.

Like a doctor in an A&E department, he pronounced it dead. He explained why he’d arrived at that diagnosis but, the upshot was terminal. He told me it was inevitable. The heater was 18 years old and they generally have a working life of between 10 and 12 years. The old workhorse was going to die somehow and it chose the new year to achieve permanent retirement.

He then had some better news. The heat pump in the house, which was still a whipper-snapper at five years old, was working beautifully. He gave it a full service, cleaned the filters, tested the various pressures, fixtures and fittings and ticked off the health report as excellent.

He clearly is the god of heat pumps. After he left, the heater started working better than it ever had for us. Kristoffer obviously has the magic touch.

He is going to organise to have the new heat pump installed in the stuga, hopefully in the immediate future. As it is, the outside temperature is constantly on the rise to mild. As a consequence, the snow has melted off the roof and the ground is starting to re-emerge.

Of course, a random cold snap could happen at any time, hopefully after the new heat pump is up and running.

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