During the coldest season of the year, we rely on our central heating and hot water more than ever. At Boiler Boys London, we often find that similar issues arise every winter, with homeowners needing rescuing from broken boilers or frozen pipes, so this blog post outlines some typical winter problems that are easily preventable.
Frozen pipes
Unfortunately, when temperatures drop below 0 degrees Celcius, you can almost guarantee that if you have external pipes from your boiler that is left exposed, you are likely to get frozen pipes.
External pipes have no protection from the elements and can easily freeze when the temperature suddenly drops. When this happens they can’t send hot water to your taps or radiators and your boiler can't function how you'd like them to.
One of the most common pipes to freeze is the condensation pipe which runs from the back of your boiler. If frozen, your boiler will no longer function properly, but this problem is easily rectifiable if you thaw the pipe by pouring warm water across the pipe. This will defrost the pipe and should get the boiler working again.
Frozen pipes are also easily preventable. To help prevent your pipes from freezing, you can try leaving your heating running at around 13 degrees while you are out so the pipes don’t have a chance to freeze up. Alternatively, you can purchase some pipe insulation (lagging) for any external pipes, to provide them with a layer of protection against cold temperatures.
Broken thermostat
During the winter, it is possible that your thermostat could stop working. Over time, parts in your thermostat wear out and you may find during winter when it is getting the most use, it ends up stopping to work. However, if this happens to you, there is no need to panic as this issue is simple to resolve. if this happens is fairly easy to resolve. Just give one of our engineers a call on 020 8997 0614 or email us at info@boilerboyslondon.co.uk to call in one of our engineers who can investigate the problem fix your thermostat.
The boiler's pilot light switches off
There are a number of reasons as to why your boiler's pilot light is turning itself off, and without it, your boiler will be unable to generate hot water for your home. While this issue may be easily remedied by turning off your boiler and then turning it back on again, you might want to give one of our experienced engineers a call just to ensure there are no further problems with your boiler, and to ensure no further risks to your safety.
