The first look confirmed that it was a good idea to replace this puppy. When I pulled the electrical plug from the socket the insulation just crumbled in my fingers leaving all the wires exposed. This could have started a fire a long time ago already!

After removal of all the pipes and cables from the heating unit all my worries were confirmed. This thing was just to heavy to lift. It didn't fit through the staircase either. I guess they used a crane before the roof was made to put it up there.

I had no choice but to dismantle the damn thing. After removing all the parts and bits I was left with large peaces of iron weighing at least 50 kg each. After bringing them all to the shed via the attic ladder and the stairs I simply didn't have any strength left. I just turned off the attic lights and plunged on the couch. It took me about 3 days and liters Heineken to recover from this sauna workout :-)

After visiting a lot of stores comparising prices and capacities I went to the specialist and bought a new Vaillant Heating Unit. Luckily it was a lot easier to carry the big box up to the attic then the old pieces down so I thanked God for that.

After reading the specifications I realised that the height of the attic created another challenge. The height is not high enough according the specifications so I will have to make the best of it. The highest place is in the middle of the attic and I had to hang the unit on the chimney. When I picked up my water-level (is that correct English?) I noticed that is was in use as a nursery for insects (Bees probably). They shouldn't have done that :-)

Unfortunately the Chimney itself has been made with a slope. This made it impossible to hang the unit on it directly. As a solution I made a frame of wood and attached it on the beams under the floor and on the chimney itself . This was a solid base for the new heating unit. After that I also gave the expansion barrel a new place and cleaned up. Finally we're going places :-)

For efficient burning the heating unit needs a special chimney that combines the waste of burned gas and the forced intake of fresh air. I knew this when I bought it and I also knew that this was going to be a problem because of the limited space under the roof.

Now, when I finally had the unit hanging in the only place possible I had to figure a way to put it on the roof in a meaningful way!
I went back to the shop and one of the specialists was very helpful to tell me that in this case I should have bought a different kind of heating unit. Thanks for advising the wrong one and no, they could not take that one back.

So I went back home and started thinking about a creative solution. When I had an idea that even might work, I went back to the shop to discuss it with one of the specialist when one of them told me a very simple way to just use the original system and two short pipes. Thanks again boys. After that it was just a matter of climbing on the roof, making a big hole in it, assembling all the pipes and closing all gaps again in case it might rain one day :-)

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