Boiler Maintenance Overview
Boiler maintenance is mainly for skilled people. As a faulty gas boiler can be dangerous any tradesman working on a gas boiler must be Gas Safe certified. If they are then you can be assured that you are not putting your life at risk while your central heating is being repaired. Whilst there are a few maintenance and fault repair items you can deal with it is recommended that you identify a good Gas Safe plumber in your area or take out a boiler maintenance contract before a boiler fault arises.
There are many forms of boiler breakdown cover with the ability to expand the protection for a gas boiler breakdown to your full plumbing and heating, an annual boiler service and complete central heating care available also.
In a boiler breakdown emergency, you may need to read the boiler manual quickly. It is a good idea to locate this now and store it in a place where you can find it easily should you have a boiler problem in the future. If you have lost it you can get a replacement by telephoning the manufacturer or download the appropriate manual directly from their website.
If your boiler has stopped you could check the boiler manual to see whether there is a guide to some simple steps that you could take to get the central heating working again. Some boilers have indicator lights which may guide you towards the reason for the problem.
If there is no flame or the flame is not burning effectively as a first boiler maintenance step you can check it through the boiler pilot window on many older boilers. This applies to boilers typically over 20 years old and on these you often can check the pilot light without needing to dissemble any part of the boiler which would be dangerous. There will normally be a glass see-through window that allows you to observe the pilot light flame. If your boiler is operating properly the flame should be mainly blue, if it is yellow, you’ll need to call out a boiler maintenance engineer.
If your pilot light has gone out, check your boiler manual to understand what the reason could be and how to turn it back on again. Typically, this will involve holding down the pilot light reset button for a period and clicking the ignition switch.
After the pilot light flame reappears, you’ll typically need to keep the reset button held down for at least 30 seconds before releasing it. If this doesn’t work after a few attempts, you’ll need to call out a boiler maintenance engineer. If you have a boiler maintenance plan from the likes of Homeserve, npower or British Gas this will be easy with a simple phone call.
In a cold winter many boilers fail because the condensate drain gets blocked. High efficiency modern boilers extract most of the heat from the exhaust gases and this can cause moisture to gather in the boiler. This is drained away through a small pipe and the water can become frozen in the winter.
If this happens the boiler may close down until the pipe is unblocked. To get your boiler going again you may elect to telephone your boiler maintenance contract provider or follow the simple steps below.
Use warm, but not boiling water to unfreeze the pipe. This will be a temporary fix but a very important first step as it could mean that you can restart the boiler without calling the central heating maintenance company. To avoid the problem reoccurring lag the pipe with insulating material. If the pipe is not vertical it may need to be re-installed to stop water accumulating and running the risk of freezing.
Boiler Maintenance Contracts
Boiler breakdown costs can be high and there are only a few boiler maintenance steps you can take yourself. Often we have plumbing and heating in the winter when help is hard to find. If maintaining your boiler in a safe and efficient condition is important, and you do not want to suffer the consequences of a boiler breakdown on your own, get a boiler maintenance contract now before trouble strikes.
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