Remember the Beast from the East in February 2018? The infamous winter freeze that caused the UK to come to a standstill? The same freeze that caused 1000's of boilers to break down and stop working? We definitely do!
The truth is, almost all of those boiler breakdown could have been prevented if the boiler was better prepared for the winter.
That's why in this short blog post we're going to run through 3 quick things that you can do to help ensure your boiler never breaks down during the winter again.
3 tips to maintain your boiler this winter
Insulate your condensate pipe
A frozen condensate pipe is without doubt the most common cause for a broken boiler during the winter.
What is the condensate pipe?
The condensate pipe is often mounted outside of the property and is used to discharge waste water from the boiler's condensing process into a sewer.
What happens when the condensate pipe freezes?
When a condensate pipe freezes, the water from the condensing process has nowhere to go, so clogs up the pipe and stops your boiler from working.
How do you insulate your condensate pipe to stop it from freezing?
The easiest way to stop an outdoor condensate pipe from freezing is to ensure it is fully clad with a waterproof cladding.
Bleed your radiators
It's not too uncommon for air to become inside a central heating system, and more specifically, radiators. This trapped air results in heat being unable to rise to the top of your radiators, making your room inherently colder.
To stop this from happening, you need to bleed your radiators.
To do this, head over to your local DIY store, grab a bleed key, turn your central heating off, open up the radiators bleed valve and the bleed the radiators.
Service your boiler
Think of a boiler service like a service on a car. Servicing your boiler isn't necessarily a legal requirement, but it's definitely highly recommended.
When your boiler is serviced, you can ensure that your boiler is working as efficiently as it should be, i.e. it's not costing you an unnecessary amount of money to run and all of your parts are working as they should be.
Your boiler should be serviced on an annual basis, preferably in the summer months so you can prepare it for winter!
Would you like us to look at your boiler?
Is your boiler playing up? Would you like a Gas Safe registered engineer to come out and take a look? Give our gas engineers in Southend-on-Sea a call on 01702 808750 or 07884 300700 or send us a message through our contact form.
We also cover Leigh on sea, Eastwood, Rayleigh, Hockley, Rochford, Ashingdon, Hawkwell, Hull-bridge, Westcliff On sea, Thorpe bay, Shoeburyness, North Shoebury, Great Wakering, Chalkwell, Benfleet, Hadleigh, Thundersley, Daws Heath and all surrounding areas.
