The Bulgarian Boiler Saga

It has been two and a half years since the boiler in my farmhouse had been installed and in that time it has roughly been used for about half that time. So when it broke down I was very surprised, it still looked brand new and I couldn’t understand why this happened.

Both Galia and I were staying in the Skalitsa farmhouse for three or four days, still cleaning the place after English guests when this happened. There was a little ‘pop’ and water started pouring out of the bottom of the 40 litre boiler. We knew at this stage that it would cost money whatever happens. Either a repair bill or a new boiler, it was my opinion that a new boiler was needed, but that’s just my English way of thinking the worst. Galia was sure that this could be repaired for two reasons. The first, she is Bulgarian and that’s what they do here. The second and more convincing reason from where I was standing, was her brother has a boiler business where he designs and makes them for the whole of Bulgaria and for export. He was probably the most knowledgeable person in the whole of Bulgaria when it comes to boiler systems and Galia works at the factory it the office. What a stroke of luck.

Let’s go back to the problem in hand in the farmhouse bathroom. The only way we could stop the water was to turn it off from the main stop tap in the garden, the little stop tap under the boiler turned off but not fully so there was still water seeping into the boil. We couldn’t drain the system unless this was cut off, so it was no water in the house until the boiler had been drained and the inlet pipe sealed off. Of course we didn’t realise that the little tap didn’t stop the flow fully until 24 hours later when we knew that we’d probably drained 400 litres at this point.

So the boiler was finally drained after cutting all the water off and the local hardware stored visited for a plug nut to fit to seal the inlet pipe coming into the bathroom. This worked and the wait was on to get the boiler repaired or replaced. It was man handled into the Lada for the 35 km trip to Yambol and the boiler factory. I was still convinced that a new system was needed.

The next day the boiler was dropped off to the factory, the wait was on to see whether a fix could be made. Luckily we didn’t have any guests booked in the farmhouse, we would have had to cancel due to no hot water. We manage fine without it but non Bulgarian tend to expect the full works, even with 25% discount which would have been given in view of this.

The Friday came and we picked the boiler up which was apparently repaired. There was a whole bucket of black residue from inside the boiler and the heating elements had to be replaced along with the emergency pressure tap. The cost, 30 leva, we were not charged for the service, it was a family affair.

On the way back to the farmhouse we had to buy another flexi pipe and stop valve as the previous one had snapped and expired the previous week when dismounting the system. So another 6 leva for these bits and it was Skalitsa bound with hope of a hot shower in the air.

Within the hour the system was up and running, although the little stop valve had to be omitted due not being able to screwed flush to the wall as the on/off mechanism just got in the way. Like before the stop tap would have to be operated from the main stop valve in the garden. Success? Yes we both had a hot shower that evening and another in the morning.

Was this the end of story? No Sunday the system broke down again it looks like the thermostat has blow a fuse, so it is back to Yambol to buy a new one. The thermostat was non repairable as it was a sealed unit. We would have to wait another week before we return and try again.

The thermostat part was bought for 15 leva but again there was no guarantee that this was the part that was broken. I use my best diagnosis to guess the waiting game still went on to Friday evening.

The first thing I did when arriving at the farmhouse was insert the thermostat and a jump for joy was made as the whole system finally worked perfectly. That evening we both had a lovely hot shower and the whole episode over. This weekend was the first since the spring that we had stayed there and had electric, running water and hot water throughout the weekend. Relax we did.

Galia was calling me a maestro plumber and electrician all weekend, she thinks because I am English and led a sheltered life in the UK I know nothing about plumbing or electric. She is half right. The boiler saga over and I am that much wiser with it.





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Lada Tyres!

There had been a worrying time from day one of buying my Lada. The steering was faulty and from the feel of it a major cost to fix.

Every time a turn was made there was a big bump and the steering wheel just bumped and over-steered. This happened in both left and right directions but the main thing here was that the car still went left and right but suddenly! Added to this the steering was very stiff and Popeye styled workouts were had whenever the driving was made. It was especially hard in Yambol town where much steering and three point turns were needed.

Throughout the two years of owning the car this was something I put up and to me was part and parcel of the Lada drive. I even had other Bulgarian assessing the problem and the sharp intake of breath at the thought of the cost of repair always seemed to the assessed outcome. So it was left, as long as the car could steer that was the prime objective.

The last year or so both front types constantly leaked air. Every few day it was a trip to a garage to pump them up again. Getting he repaired was something that was always put off as it cost money. The tyres had good tread and they worked, the air in the garages was free so it carried on. This is how it is in Bulgaria, any way to save money, it is works and is a little inconvenient to keep it working and doesn’t cost anything that’s how it is.

Finally it was time to get the tyres seen to, initially with a view of repairing the existing tyres as we had a little spare cash to see to this brought over from working in England. We estimated that this should only cost a maximum of 20 lv for both, but I knew at least one of the tyres were beyond repair looking at the bulges on the tyre wall. This had been the state of the tyres from day one but again it still rolled on regardless and got us places.

We looked at the cost of tyres many times and that just the though of the cost put us off from doing anything about it, until Galia spotted some very cheap tyres in a supermarket 70 lv each.

So one day we decided to check these out and looked at the tyre sizes we needed for the Lada. To do this we checked the existing tyres sizes on the car and they were found to be 185 (whatever that meant). The equivalent size was found in the supermarket each amounting to 75 lv. Before committing to buy them we thought we would check out whether they could be repaired.

A particular garage opposite the fire station was pointed out and recommended to us by Galia’s son, so on recommendation we checked it out. Dimtar, the owner was fixing a child’s motorbike he had imported from England as he attended to our requests to check out what we should do with the two front tyres.

He took them both off and it was quite obvious these couldn’t be repaired with the state of both of the inside walls. It was no wonder they were loosing air as the rubber was fractured in numerous places and at least three of four nails embedded in the tread. Added to all this they were the wrong sized tyres for a Lada. His recommendation was two new tyres both correctly sized for the vehicle. Was this a Bulgaria classic trick for us to be hoodwinked into buying two new tyres?

We had now breathed a sigh of relief in one hand but held out breath in view of how much he was to charge. Another sigh of relief was made when the cost was 64 lv for each tyre fitted, balanced and ready to roll. We agreed and they were set up within 20 minutes.

What a good deal we got in view of the supermarket prices being asked for without fitting or balancing. And what a close shave it was with is going to buy the wrong sized tyres from there.

The biggest joy and relief after all this was after all this time with the wrong sized tyres on the car and the stress on steering the problem has completely disappeared. It really does feel like driving a Roll Royska compared to before!