If Your Home Boiler Is Having Issues, Try These Troubleshooting Tips
If Your Home Boiler Is Having Issues, Try These Troubleshooting Tips
If you heat your home with a boiler, you should know the importance of good maintenance and attending to problems quickly. You don't want to be in the middle of a cold spell and have a breakdown. That's why it's a good idea to know how to do some boiler troubleshooting, before calling the expert.
Common Problems
- It seems elementary, but often the reason for an apparent boiler malfunction can be traced to a lack of power. So before you reach for the phone, check the power supply. If the boiler is powered by electricity, confirm that your home is getting power. If you use natural gas, check to see if the stopcock is open. It should be. If there's no gas flowing through, contact your gas supplier.
- If the boiler has a pilot light, check to see that it's lit; if not, follow manufacturer's instructions and relight it. If there's no pilot light, try pressing the de-blocking button. If it doesn't work, see if the central heating pressure is set correctly, according to manufacturer's instructions. If the pressure is correct, and the system still doesn't work, it's probably a gas supply problem or you need a repair.
- Be sure to check that the control is turned to the "on" position. Also remember that the control has to be turned to a temperature higher than the room temperature for the system to come on.
- If the thermostat is old, it may not read the heat settings properly and turn on as needed. You may have it repaired by recalibrating it, but newer thermostats are more energy efficient, so you may want to replace it.
- Check the timer to see if it's working properly. If not, the batteries may need to be changed.
- In very cold weather, condensation may freeze in the condensate pipe, causing blockage and shutting down the system. Listen for gurgling sounds and check for a warning light or fault code on the display.
