先週は月曜日から土曜日の日程で東北出張。久しぶりの遠征出張でしたのでカラダは疲れているハズだけれど、心理的には久しぶりの「準地元」行脚で爽快感がありました。
で、土曜日夕方５時過ぎには自宅に帰還。ふと気付いたら、お隣さんでは写真のような雪像を造作されていた（笑）。まことに見事な作品。なんでも最近流行の子ども向けキャラなんだそうで、道行く多くのみなさんがスマホを向けていたそうです。かくいうわたしも思わずシャッターを押してしまっていた。
といった真冬の北海道風景でありますが、わたしのデスク回りではやや低温気味。カミさんに聞いたら「不在だったから、暖房レベル下げていた」とのこと。わが家は今現在は石油ボイラーによる蓄熱型の床暖房であります。これまでの30年以上の間、何度か暖房システムは実験的に変更してきていたのですが、いまは元々のこのシステムに復帰している。面積が広く地下を入れれば４階建てなのでエアコンを補助暖房に使用。ベーシックな暖房方式は温水循環床暖房で、各所での体感にあわせての運転を行っている。事務所建築でもあるので大量の事務機器、とくに北海道でも数カ所というDTP用のプリンターなども設置されている関係から「冷房」も必須なのですね。集中と分散の暖冷房・組み合わせ対応。
なんですが、さすがに出張の疲労感があるので、簡単にデータ類を片付けたあとすぐにベッドに直行してひたすら体力の復元に努めていました。で、昨日日曜日に早朝目覚めてあらためて確認したら、けっこうな室温低下ぶりで16度前後。通常21度前後は確保しているのでこれでは、ちょっと仕事のデスク環境としてはキビシイ。そこでボイラーの床暖房の運転状況を確認したら、どうも１週間以上、運転されていないような管理状況。実際には他の室温レベルが高く推移していたので、体感的に暖房運転の必要性を感じなかったそうでした。
で、コントローラーを使って床暖房レベルを上げるべく燃焼運転させようとしたのですが、なぜか起動しない。燃焼サインを表すランプが赤く点滅を繰り返している。・・・まったくはじめて遭遇する反応。
あいにくの日曜日なのでどこも相談対応が難しく、やむなく自力対応。
そうしたらカミさんが「試しに・・・」ということでボイラーの電源コンセントを確認して、いったん抜いて、そのあと再度接続させてみたところ、運転再開して燃焼が始まった。
コントローラーの表示でも正常運転が示されはじめていた。
今回の障害としてコントローラーは操作すればふつうに反応はしている。ところがその運転指令がボイラーには伝達されない、ということは・・・という推理で一番初源的な電気信号の受発信がされていないことに気着目した。ボイラー本体には電源スイッチは装置されていない。その機能は遠隔コントローラー（わが家の場合ボイラーは１階の機械室、コントローラーは２階の壁面設置）でだけ行える。この間の信号伝達に問題があるのではと冷静に考えてみたということ。まことに正解、頭が下がる。
まずはボイラーメーカーや建築施工者への連絡対応を優先したわたしですが、整理整頓して現状把握、問題点チェック対応を進めたカミさんに脱帽、感謝でありました。よきユーザーの鑑。
「老いては妻に従え」っていう人生訓は聞きませんが、言ってみれば「灯台もと暗し」「急がば回れ」という教訓でありました。ふ〜、よかった。ひと安心ですが、冬場の暖房問題は放置すればいのちや健康にかかわる。注意を怠ってはならないですね。
さて本日朝はそこそこの積雪。雪かき出動であります。
English version⬇
Returned from a week-long business trip, heating boiler malfunction?
The indoor climate in Hokkaido is generally above 20 degrees Celsius in almost all rooms. Problems occurred in the operation operation of the base heating oil boiler storage-type floor heating system. Lesson learned. ...
Last week, I went on a business trip to Tohoku from Monday to Saturday. It had been a long time since I had been on a business trip, so my body was tired, but psychologically, I felt refreshed after a long absence from my "semi-local" area.
I returned home after 5:00 p.m. on Saturday evening. Suddenly I noticed that my neighbor had made a snow sculpture like the one in the photo (laugh). A truly magnificent work of art. I heard that it was a character for children, which is very popular these days, and many people on the street were pointing their smartphones at it. I couldn't help but press the shutter button myself.
It was a midwinter scene in Hokkaido, but the temperature around my desk was a little low. When I asked my wife about it, she said, "I was away, so I turned down the heating level. Our house is currently heated by a storage-type floor heating system using an oil boiler. Over the past 30 years, the heating system has been changed several times on an experimental basis, but now we are back to this original system. Air conditioning is used for supplemental heating because of the large area and four floors if the basement is included. The basic heating system is hot water circulating floor heating, which is operated according to the experience in each area. Since this is also an office building, a large amount of office equipment, especially printers for DTP (desktop publishing), which are only a few places in Hokkaido, are installed, so "cooling" is also essential. The combination of centralized and dispersed heating and cooling.
I was feeling tired from the business trip, so I went straight to bed after cleaning up some data and worked hard to regain my strength. Yesterday, Sunday, I woke up early in the morning and found that the room temperature had dropped considerably to around 16 degrees Celsius. Since I usually keep the room temperature at around 21 degrees Celsius, this was not a good environment for my work desk. I then checked the operation status of the floor heating system in the boiler, and found that it had not been in operation for more than a week. In fact, the other room temperature levels had remained high, so he did not feel the need to operate the heating system.
So, I tried to use the controller to run the combustion to increase the floor heating level, but for some reason it would not start. The light indicating the combustion sign is repeatedly blinking red. ... a reaction I am encountering for the first time at all.
Unfortunately, it was a Sunday, so it was difficult for us to consult with anyone, and we were forced to take care of the problem ourselves.
Then, my wife said, "Let's give it a try..." I checked the boiler's power outlet, unplugged it, and then reconnected it, and it resumed operation and started burning.
The controller display also began to show normal operation.
The controller responded normally when operated, but the boiler did not respond to the operation commands. However, the operation command is not transmitted to the boiler, which means that...we realized that the most fundamental electrical signal was not being received or transmitted. The boiler itself is not equipped with a power switch. That function can only be performed by a remote controller (in our case, the boiler is located in the machine room on the first floor, and the controller is installed on the wall on the second floor). I thought calmly that there might be a problem with the signal transmission between the two. You are absolutely right, and I bow down to you.
I gave priority to contacting the boiler manufacturer and the building contractor first, but I am grateful to Kami for her organized efforts to understand the current situation and to check the problem. She is a good user.
I never heard the life lesson, "Follow your wife when you are old," but it was a lesson of "it's dark under the lighthouse" and "if you hurry, it will turn out fine. I am glad to hear that. I am relieved, but the heating problem in winter can be life-threatening and health-threatening if left unchecked. We must not neglect caution.
Well, there was a good amount of snow this morning. I had to go out to shovel snow.