What to Do If Your Boiler Breaks Down?

With its ability to keep water hot and warm up your home, the boiler is one of the most essential tools that every home needs. While its functions are often overlooked by many individuals, its breakdown often leads to an array of problems that affect the comfort and convenience of everyone in the household.

Resultantly, you need to solve the problem quickly and return your home to its rightful state. As you are planning to call an expert for boiler service, what should you do if your boiler breaks down?

Know the signs of a faulty or broken boiler

If you don’t know when your boiler is broken or faulty, it will be difficult for you to deal with the problem. So, the first thing is to know the signs of a broken boiler, which include:

• Strange tapping, whistling, or banging noises
• Inability to turn on
• Inefficiency that is noticed through higher than average usage of gas
• A leak around the pipes of the boiler
• Boiler showing a higher system water pressure rather than a continuous, steady pressure
• The pilot flames or lights are showing yellow or orange, instead of blue

Carry out a quick assessment and repair of the boiler

Once you notice any of the aforementioned signs, the next thing to do is to take the right actions towards repairing or replacing the boiler. Given this, here are some vital things you need to do:

1. Assess the electricity supply

The electricity supply is one of the main areas that may develop some faults. Hence, you should start your repair task by checking the supply. You should check the following:

• Prepaid meter – be certain that you have not run out of credit.
• Fuse box – check the fuse box to ascertain whether it has been tripped or not. Also, check if the timer is still in good condition and the clock display is the same as the current time.
• Fan – is the fan operating as it should? If it’s not doing so, consider replacing it.
• Ignition lead – if this ignition lead is faulty, let a Gas Safe registered engineer assist you to replace it.

2. Check the water supply

Sometimes, the only problem with your boiler is the water supply. So, ascertain that the hot water supply is switched on. If this doesn’t solve the problem, get in touch with your water supplier to restore the water supply.

3. Check the oil or gas supply

• Gas pressure – too little or too much gas can result in some issues with your boiler. So, check the fault code of the boiler to know whether the gas pressure is faulty or not.
• Gas valve – if your boiler doesn’t ignite, it is likely that the gas valve has a problem. Therefore, you shouldn’t hesitate to assess the value to see if it is damaged or blocked.

4. Assess the programmer and thermostat

The central heating programmer and thermostat are also other major culprits of a faulty boiler. Consequently, it is crucial for you to check these parts to be sure they are in good condition. The thermostat must be set above room temperature while the programmer must be switched on. For a system that uses a timer, adjust the clock to ensure it is neither too backward nor too forward.

Other parts you can check include the boiler pressure, pilot light, and frozen pipes. Also, you should consider taking a look at your boiler fault codes to note if they indicate any problems.

Notably, you cannot handle most of the problems yourself; therefore, contact a Gas Safe Registered engineer for a professional boiler service.