hello ladies

well i am planning a home water birth (already have the pool and MW is happy with everything) problem is my boiler has broken,its been playing up for a while but now although i have heating i have NO HOT WATER and boiling pans and kettles would take hours to fill the pool (i am guessing) so is there any heaters out there i can buy or hire that will allow me to heat the pool if i filled it with cold water

or

has anyone filled a birthpool in a box using pans and kettles and if so how long did it take?

i am really panicking about it now as i have been having contraction on and off for the past 2 days so think its close and we dont get paid until middle of april so can get the boiler fixed until then

talk about great timing

Is the boiler completely broken, i.e. can it be reset and re-started each time until you can afford to repair it? Sorry, it's just that I used to work for a boiler firm and sometimes you can get it up and running in short bursts until someone can repair it. What kind is it, do you know? I take it it's a combi boiler that does heating and hot water?

What crap timing. Wouldnt you feel better going into the hospital if you have no heating or hot water?? Im not sure how you would get the water heated TBH. Couldnt you get a gas safe engineer out and pay them by credit card?x

hi yeah its a really old combi boiler and like i said heating works fine it just wont kick in for the hot water any more for the past week or so we have been able to get it going long enough to fill at bath (so we thought we would be ok until mid april) but know we cant seem to get it to kick in for longer than a few mins (thought OH was going to take a hammer to it yesterday he really lost his cool with it ) british gas have said they can come and fix it for a set fee of £79 which would be fine but with it now being school holidays having both my stepsons here all day even without going out anywhere with them is expensive (2 growing boys eat me out of house and home )

its just bloody typical the boiler chooses now to die

we have heating its just the hot water that causing me an issue i think i might have to put a creeping phone call in to daddy and see if he will pay the £79 to british gas and us pay him back after we get paid

i am just wanting some options incase he cant help us out

i would rather have a home birth on "dry land" than go to the hospital if i am honest which it may come down to yet as i could always labor in the bath (only takes 30 mins or so to fill the bath with pans (and we have a bigish bath)

I hope your dad can help with the cost to repair. Just to set your mind at ease a little, I would hazard a guess that the problem is either with a thermostat on the water side, causing it to lockout, or a diverter switch inside getting stuck, meaning it doesn't stay open long enough to let the water run through. Both issues are pretty easily repaired if the guy has spare parts available though. Just make sure when you call them out, to give as much information as possible re make and model and the problem, so that they should try to make sure they have the parts available, or at least ordered before they come.

As for filling the bath, I can only recommend pans off the hob, or a friendly neighbour with a long hose???
You could pay them back for any water used that way. But for your peace of mind, I think it would be wise to try and scrape together the money to get the boiler fixed. You're going to need to clean up yourself after baby comes, and you don't know what state the pool water will be in by then if you get my drift!!

Good luck to you getting it sorted. It is sods law that this happens right next to your due date and you don't need the stress. I'll probably have the same happen in June as I plan a water birth at home too! x

Sorry karla, thats pants, our boilers total crap too (we rent so no chance of getting a new one) this is a worry of mine too how were going to get the pool filled, the hot water comes out so slow from our taps my hubbys just going to do it by bucket which is going to take such a long time =( . Its a long shot but would a nieghbour help?? Im not sure there is any kind of heater you could use as it possibly would melt thematerial of the pool but ill have a good search and see if i can find anything

Sorry if this is a really dumb question but do you not have an immersion switch thing next to your water tank for backup hot water? I thought all houses had them!

no we dont the only hot water we have (or dont have as the case maybe) is from the combi boiler

Thats really bad! I thought an immersion switch was a requirement!
I think you should definitely ask to borrow the money from someone
I might be completely wrong but i thought a birthing pool had to be kept at a minimum temperature so as not to freeze the baby (and mum!!)
Hope you get it sorted quickly