A distraught mum-of-five has been forced to wash her children in the showers at her local swimming baths after thieves ransacked her home and ripped out the piping and boiler.
Lisa Burton, who lives with her husband Nathan in St Ann's, said she has now been left without heating and hot water for seven weeks.
The 37-year-old trader was renting-out the house, which had been handed down by her husband's father in his will, while she lived in a separate property with her family.
However, Mrs Burton began to struggle to pay her rent as her husband fell ill with a condition which causes blood clots in his legs and lungs.
A few months after the tenants had left she decided to move back in so they had more money to live on.
At the beginning of June, she arrived at the house to find all of the copper piping had been ripped out, the boiler had been taken and the bathroom ceiling had collapsed from a subsequent water leak.
"We are freezing," she said.
"I've got five children under the age of 10 and my husband is poorly. I'm furious and I feel violated.
"We have to bathe by going to the swimming baths and use the showers there. That's how I'm having to wash them.
"A kind plumber came out and put cold water in for us for free because at first we had no water at all.
"I bought all the materials for the work and a man who knows about district heating came out but he found out that the whole system was completely written-off.
"He said it's going to cost a lot of money to repair it.
"I just need to find a plumber to put all the piping back but no-one will touch the district heating system.
"Because we are home owners we cannot get any help."
The district heating system is operated by EnviroEnergy, an arms-length company which was wholly transferred to Nottingham City Council in 1995.
Waste is incinerated at heat-producing plants which provide heated supply water to homes and business in the city for heating and domestic hot water.
Mrs Burton said because her father-in-law had purchased the three-bedroom house from Nottingham City Homes and handed it down to them six years ago - they now have to fund all repairs themselves.
She said she did not have any money to pay for home insurance on the property at the time that it was stripped of all piping.
Nathan Burton, 45, who cannot work due to suffering from pulmonary embolism - a condition that his father also died of - added: "It's stressful. We have to use a bucket to wash us. It has been freezing the last few days.
"We've tried to get the schematics for the heating system but we cannot even get them.
"We just need some help."
Sergeant Jon Straszewskyj, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “On 18 August 2019 we received a report of a burglary at a property in Cranmer Walk, St Ann’s.
“Copper piping and a water tank was taken. We have carried out enquiries and we are appealing for anyone who has any information about the burglary to contact Nottinghamshire Police on 101, quoting incident number 543 of 18 August 2019.”
