Before reporting a repair, please try the following:
- Double-check that the gas, electrical and water supplies to your appliance, are turned on - somebody could have accidentally turned them off - an indicator light or a digital display on the boiler should be visible if the electricity supply is on. If this isn't the case, check the fuse.
- Try using the reset button on your boiler.
- Look at the display to see if there's a fault code. If there is, look at the manufacturer's instructions/user manual, or use the internet to establish what the fault means and if there's an easy fix - but only try fixing the fault if you feel confident.
- Try putting your central heating on maximum for a short while to see if that kickstarts the boiler back into action.
- Check that the thermostat is turned up and the clock timer is on. You may need to change its battery (if it's not hard-wired).
- Some combi and system boilers have a pressure gauge showing system water pressure - this usually needs to be at around 1 bar. It's easy to re-pressurise the boiler by following some simple instructions set out in the user manual - these will also be available on the manufacturer's website. Never overfill a boiler as this will cause further problems.
- Never attempt to repair a gas pipe or take the cover off a boiler. Only Gas Safe-registered engineers are permitted to work on gas installations and boilers.
- Do you have a boiler system with a permanent pilot light? Check that it hasn’t gone out – this is a very common issue with older boilers.
- Have the clocks gone forwards or back? Your clock programmer might just need adjusting to the right time.
- Has there been a power cut and a break in the energy supply? Your heating clock programmer may have been reset to the original factory settings. Test the central heating by setting it to come on in 15 minutes' time - if that works, simply re-enter your preferred central heating settings.
- Try turning the electrical supply to the boiler off and back on again - the switch is usually near the boiler or in the airing cupboard. This will reset your boiler and may resolve the problem.
- As a temporary solution if your boiler fails, if you have an electric immersion heater you can get hot water by switching this on (if it's not already in use). The isolator switch which controls the heater will usually be in or just outside your airing cupboard. Please note that only heating systems with a hot water storage cylinder located in an airing cupboard are likely to have an electric immersion heater.
In most cases, one of these tips will fix your heating so that you don’t have to wait for an engineer - meaning you can get toasty warm again.
However, if you've tried all these things and your heating still isn't working, please contact our heating contractor Sureserve Compliance South by calling 020 8269 5981.