Top tips to prepare your boiler for winter

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An annual boiler service checks the well-being of your boiler and is a major step towards ensuring your central heating and hot water system are working as efficiently as possible.

It will highlight any issues causing the boiler to work overtime, drive up bills and risk more costly repairs or even failures later on that might leave you without heat and hot water.

 Don’t fall into the trap of turning your heating off after the winter and leaving it until the season comes around again.

Test run your heating briefly during the warmer weather and certainly well before you really need it again. This helps the boiler itself and the entire central heating system – from the thermostat to the flow of water running through your radiators – potentially highlighting any issues before cold weather really hits.

 Apart from a healthy boiler, an effective central heating system needs radiators in tip top condition too – so bleed these regularly.

Use a radiator key to open the bleed valve (usually located at the top of your radiator) until you hear a hissing sound, which is air escaping, but keep a rag handy for the moment when water starts to follow - your signal to close the valve again.

This process helps remove excess air that may impact the efficiency of the system and lead to lukewarm radiators.

If you don’t hear the release of air or water this could be due to the pressure of the boiler. Look for a pressure gauge, or something similar, on the boiler to help validate this.

 Faulty thermostats can lead to rooms being too hot or too cold. Common signs here include:

• Room too hot or too cold for the chosen setting
• Boiler isn’t ‘kicking in’
• Radiators fail to warm up

Firstly, make sure that your thermostat is switched on and that you’re not accidently allowing it to override your settings via the override option. You could also check the thermostat’s battery if applicable.

You can also slowly increase the temperature of your central heating. By doing this, you’ll be able to hear a clicking sound as well as noise from the boiler. If this isn’t happening, this could be a sign that your thermostat isn’t sending the correct signals to your boiler.

This is essentially a spring clean for your central heating using a pressurised powerflush unit to push water around your system to clear debris, limescale, sludge and blockages that may be hindering performance of your boiler and central heating system.

This will help improve heat distribution, efficiency and energy consumption, ultimately reducing energy costs. If you think your boiler could benefit from a powerflush, please let us know 

 Over time, dirt, chalk, sludge and other grime can build up within your boiler and central heating system. As we’ve already said, a consistent, undisturbed flow of water must flow through your system to optimise efficiency.

But you can help prevent any build-up in the first place by installing a heating system filter. It will aid efficiency and prolong the life of your boiler and its components, plus save you money and energy consumption in the long run.