Boiler Troubleshooting
There is never a good time for your boiler to break down, whether it’s the middle of winter, the school holidays, or now, as many people are home working. It’s frustrating.
Here are some simple checks you can carry out on your boiler before you call an engineer.
Electrical Checks
Just to check, does your boiler have power? Have you had a power cut? Is the fuse OK? Has the trip to the distribution board failed? If so, reset the switch. If it keeps tripping, unplug everything on that circuit and turn each electrical item back on until you find the cause.
Have you paid your energy bills?! Sounds silly, but the number of callouts we have had when there is simply no credit on the key meter, or it’s a new property, etc. The only way of knowing is to look at other gas or electric appliances and see if they work and check with your energy provider(s).
Re-pressurising your Boiler
Low Pressure is the most common and easiest to fix on your boiler. There should be a water pressure indicator on the front of your boiler or sometimes underneath the main case. If the indicator is below 1 or 0.8, depending on your boiler, your boiler pressure is too low, and you will not have hot water or heating. You may even get a manufacturer error code as well.
Next, you need to find the boiler’s filling loop, probably at the bottom of the unit.
Please ensure the boiler is turned off and the ends of the hose are attached to the valves.
Open the valves, and you should hear water filling up the system.
Watch the pressure indicator until it reaches 1.5, then close the valves and switch the boiler back on.
There are many videos on YouTube which can show you how to do this, as not all boilers are the same.
When you’re searching on YouTube, put the boiler make, model, and the words re-pressuring, or if you have an error fault code on the boiler, you can just use that.
e.g. Valliant (make) 825 pure (model) repressurise or re-pressurise boiler or F22 (error code)
If you need help with your boiler manual again, Google Make, Model, and Manual PDF may help.
Is there a Pilot Light?
A lot of older boilers need a pilot light to work. There should be a small glass viewing point on your boiler, and you should see a tiny blue flame if it works correctly. The most common cause of this failure is sudden drafts and wind changes blowing down the flue. Your boiler should have a reset switch or system; this can be found in the boiler manual or the case of the boiler. If you have lost your boiler manual again, Google Make, Model, Manual PDF. This may also help you.
If the boiler still doesn’t relight, you must call an engineer after you have carried out your relevant checks.
Condensate Pipe
The condensate pipe is usually a winter issue. It’s the white plastic pipe that flows from the bottom of the boiler to the outside of your property.
In the winter, these can freeze up, and the water will backfill into the boiler, either shutting it down or throwing up a fault code (which, again, you can check online or in your manual). The easiest way to fix this is to pour boiling water from your kettle onto the plastic pipe outside. Start from the bottom up; this will thaw out the ice, and you should be able to reset your boiler. After doing this, buy some additional pipe lagging and put it around the outside pipes to help prevent this.
It is always worth checking your condensate pipe as sometimes the drain they go into is blocked, which backfills into the boiler.
If your drain is blocked. Worst-case scenario: cut the pipe and feed it into a bucket. You will have to remember to empty the bucket, though!
Boiler Controls
If the boiler looks alive and is not doing what you want it to, then quite often, it’s the controls. Carry out the following checks on the controls:
- Check it’s switched on with a full charge or working batteries. Please don’t use cheap batteries. Sometimes, they’re not strong enough to give the boiler the signal strength it needs.
- Ensure that the temperature is turned up to the level you require and you’re not just a bit chilly.
- Check your Wi-Fi connection, if applicable, with the boiler thermostat. Have you just changed your Wi-Fi password?
- Run over the time settings, ensuring no ‘holiday modes’, stand-by options or unnoticed daily schedules have been set. Have the clocks gone back or forwards, putting you out for 1 hour?
These are all easy fixes. Could you replace the batteries in your thermostat, clear any settings and restore to manual operation?
If all else fails, refer to the thermostat manual. If you still need this, try downloading it online; search on Google: Make, Model and Manual PDF.
