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How to get your boiler ready for the winter

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18-09-2020

There’s been a lot of predictability and uncertainty about 2020. However, one thing that remains the same as ever as the colder and rainier months loom, is the importance of assessing your boiler and central heating system for any issues that might pose problems at such a challenging time of year.

After all, you’ll be depending on your boiler a lot more in the coming months than would have been necessary during the spring and summer. So, what checks do you need to perform right now?

Test turning it on

It’s hardly the most ‘expert’ of steps that you could take, but just turning on your boiler and seeing how it responds right now, before the colder weather comes in, is a good starting point for assessing its health. It all seems well... so far, so good.

Take a look at your thermostats

One of the most common complaints of London and Home Counties residents over the winter is a room being too hot or too cold, and it is often a malfunctioning thermostat that is to blame for this.

It’s not unheard-of for a room thermostat to blow, thereby meaning it fails to send a signal to the valve that enables the heating of the radiators. That, in turn, will leave you with a cold room.

Alternatively, it may be that your thermostat is unable to tell when to cut off the heat. This causes the room’s temperature to escalate, as you will be forced to have your heating either at the maximum temperature, or not at all. That might make for a toasty room, but it could cause discomfort as well as, of course, result in the consumption of much more energy than needed.

So, don’t hesitate to play around with each thermostat to check that the boiler actually responds to the selected setting.

Check the pipes

Cold weather also maximises the chances of uninsulated pipes freezing, which could imperil the functioning of your boiler.

Preventing this problem during the winter could be as simple as leaving on your heating permanently, albeit on a low temperature, or you could arrange to have the pipes insulated.

Determine the boiler pressure

Boilers usually have a boiler pressure gauge, and it should be easy to tell whether the pressure is in the red or the green – the latter typically between 1 and 1.5 when the system is cold.

You might respond to an overly high pressure by bleeding the radiators, or a too-low pressure by increasing the pressure with your refilling loop. But if the boiler pressure seems unstable, we would urge you to get it looked at by one of our Woking, Acton or Banstead plumbers.

Get the boiler serviced

There are always certain issues that a professional can detect that many non-qualified people won’t – so even if you have followed all of the above steps, an annual boiler service remains crucial.

Remember that by having our Streatham, Weybridge or Banstead plumbers check your boiler now, you can have any potential problems identified and addressed well in advance of the winter, thereby giving you important peace of mind. Call 0203 370 0066 now for free advice and quotes.

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