Emergency

Not that long ago I highly praised our 2005 wood pellet central heating & how reliable it had been for 15 years.

Last night coming home after evening dog walk, heard strange mechanical noises coming from the unit. There aren't many moving parts but the main one, a motor which drives a couple of chains to move the pellets around was making intermittent clicks and the chains kept jumping about.

Fearing it may be causing other damage, shut down the unit and called the out-of-office-hours mobile number of the manufacturer/supplier/servicer who had only a few days before done the annual service. After several exchanges incl. videos, agreed they would come by tomorrow.

Turned out the motor was indeed dying. I could have let it keep running until it eventually gave up the ghost without causing harm. I guess 15 years service for a motor that is in operation whenever the unit is one. Until 2017 when we got PV on the roof, the system ran 365 days a year if only to heat the water tank for a few hours in summer.

It's a tiny motor really , size of a 500ml coke can but I'm sure it will cost a fortune!