A boiler that will not fire up on a cold morning is stressful. Before you book a call-out, a few simple checks can sometimes get the heating back on. If they do not, they give the engineer useful information. None of these checks involve opening the boiler.
First: if you smell gas
Turn off the gas at the meter if it is safe to do so, open windows and doors, do not use electrical switches or naked flames, and call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999. Do this before anything else.
Checks you can safely make
Power. Is the boiler display lit? Check the fused switch near the boiler and your consumer unit for a tripped switch.
Gas supply. Do other gas appliances, such as the hob, work? On a prepayment meter, check you have credit.
Thermostat and timer. Turn the room thermostat up a few degrees and check the programmer is set to on. After a power cut, the clock may need resetting.
Pressure. If the gauge reads below about 1 bar, the boiler may have locked out on low pressure.
Frozen condensate pipe. In freezing weather, this is the most common reason a condensing boiler stops.
Reset. If the display shows a fault code, write it down and try the reset once, following your manual. If it locks out again, stop and call an engineer.
If the pressure is low, read our guide to boiler losing pressure and how to repressurise.
In freezing weather, see how to thaw a frozen condensate pipe.
Heating works but no hot water, or the other way round
On a combi boiler, hot water without heating often points to the thermostat, timer or a diverter valve, while heating without hot water can be a diverter valve or flow sensor fault. If you have a hot water cylinder, check the hot water is switched on at the programmer and the cylinder thermostat is set correctly. Faults with internal components need an engineer.
Radiators cold but the boiler is running
If some radiators are cold at the top, they probably need bleeding. If radiators are cold at the bottom, or the whole system heats slowly, there may be sludge in the system. Both are heating system problems rather than boiler faults.
Our heating engineers in Norwich can help with radiators, heating controls and power flushing.
When to call an engineer
If these checks do not solve it, if the boiler keeps locking out, or if you see leaks, scorch marks or hear loud banging, switch the boiler off and call a Gas Safe registered engineer. Tell us the make, model and any fault code: it helps us diagnose the problem faster.
Heatcare Norwich engineers are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for emergency boiler repairs in Norwich. Our call-out rate is £70 for the first hour, and the majority of call outs are resolved within the first hour.
