Boiler Service For Efficient Heating
Make sure that your boiler service is efficiently conducted as this will not only save you money, but will also help to extend the working life of the boiler, and also, if it’s a gas appliance, it will help to keep you and your loved ones safe from the threat of carbon monoxide poisoning.
You’ll be surprised how just tweaking a few settings can sometimes make a noticeable difference to both your physical and your financial comfort.
Maintenance and repairs of boilers are best left to the professionals
Whilst it’s okay to check out your settings, and one or two other things we’re about to discuss, you shouldn’t ever try to do any maintenance or repairs yourself; not unless of course you just happen to be a “Gas Safe Registered” technician. If you’re not; be sure to always employ a professional who is.
Check your boiler timer and time settings
In order to maximise the efficiency of your boiler, and the effectiveness of keeping your house or flat nice and warm, and making sure there’s always plenty of hot water on tap when you need it, it’s important to ensure your timers are working properly. When you’ve got an electronic programmable controller, it’s really just a case of checking that your on-off times are set correctly, and periodically looking to see that the indicator lights are showing that the heating is on and off when it should be.
Boiler time setting saver tips
If you’ve got an electric clock timer with a moving dial, then you need to make sure that the dial doesn’t get stuck so it’s able to rotate freely. Whatever sort of programmer you’ve got don’t forget to adjust it for changes from winter to summer time, and vice versa. Don’t forget also, that if you’ve got an electric water heater it’s always cheaper to heat your water overnight on the Economy 7 tariff, providing of course that your hot water tank is well insulated.
How old is your thermostat?
It’s always a good idea to check the age of your thermostat(s). As they age, the accuracy of your thermostat usually suffers, and this will result in temperatures being misread, causing the heating to turn itself on and off at the wrong temperatures. It’s always worth checking that your “Gas Safe Register” approved heating engineer has cleaned and reset an old thermostat when he/she come to do the maintenance. Bear in mind that you always have the option to buy a new one (which will include additional energy-saving controls) from your local DIY store. There are relatively inexpensive and could save you a significant amount of money from on future heating bills.
Check your radiator valves
Another easy check that you can do for yourself is to see if the thermostatic, or lock shield, valves on your radiators are working properly. All you need to do, is to reset the thermostat on the thermostatic valve, or, having removed the plastic cover on a lock shield type valve, adjust the setting, and see what happens. If the radiators don’t come on, as they should, then you know you’ve got a problem and you can call a “Gas Safe Registered” engineer to come and check it out for you.
Be prepared
The best way to ensure the efficiency of your boiler is to have it regularly checked and maintained by a bona fide “Gas Safe Registered” plumbing contractor. If you don’t already know of one, then it’s always a good idea to track one down and make a note of their contact details to keep in a safe place. That way, if an emergency ever arises, you’ll know who to contact. It always pays to be prepared!
