How To Keep Your Boiler In Tip-Top Condition
AD/Collaborative post ~ words and opinions are all my own.
I live in rented accommodation which I suppose makes us lucky, financially at least, when it comes to boiler repairs. However, when it comes to sorting something out in a timely fashion, being a tenant does not usually work in your favour. We had our (VERY old) boiler marked as dangerous about 2 months ago, before the start of the summer holidays. It’s now mid-September and we still don’t have a functioning boiler, hot water and heating! With autumn and winter on the way soon, I’m really concerned that it will still be dragging on and we’ll all be freezing our way through the winter months.
If I had known how to carry out a few simple boiler checks I could have caught the issues earlier and therefore started the repair process sooner. It got me thinking about the financial implications that an unexpected bill, such a boiler repair, could have on a homeowner, especially around this time of year when Christmas is on the way.
So I thought I’d put a blog post together that highlights some simple ways you can stay on top of all things boiler related in the hopes that if there is a problem, you can pick it up sooner rather than later. Should you happen to be in the area and need assistance, you can get a great quote for a boiler repair in Leeds or a whole new boiler installation in Leeds from Woolfoot Heating. They offer a great service and are well worth a phone call if you need them!
How To Keep Your Boiler In Tip-Top Condition
1. Make sure you have a carbon monoxide detector in the same room as your boiler.
We had a carbon monoxide leak in our boiler and, as everyone will tell you, without a detector it’s almost impossible to tell if you’re experiencing a leak. In my opinion, the closer you can have it to the boiler, the better. Ours was on the other side of the room and it never indicated a danger, probably because there wasn’t enough carbon monoxide reaching it to trigger the alarm. If we’d had it closer to the boiler, we would have known sooner about the leak and therefore we would have been able to get our boiler repaired or new boiler installed sooner.
2. Check your boiler’s display panel.
If you notice a change in colour of the display, or some odd symbols you’ve not seen before, it could mean you have a fault. You can check the fault codes against the boiler’s handbook or the manufacturer’s website to ascertain what the issue is. Some faults can be rectified simply by resetting your boiler, whereas others may require someone to come out and fix the problem.
3. Perform boiler maintenance, especially as winter sets in.
There are quite a few things that you can do to help prevent an emergency boiler call out. Firstly, before it gets too cold, lag your pipes. Pipe lagging (insulation) costs around £1 a metre in most DIY shops, so it’s a cheap, effective way of keeping your pipes in tip-top condition. If you’ve had your boiler turned off, or set to water only during the summer, it’s a good idea to turn the heating on once a month for around 15 to 30 minutes just to ensure it’ll run smoothly in the winter. Most importantly, get your boiler serviced. It is an additional cost, but it is cheaper to have your boiler serviced than it is to repair or replace the whole unit.