Some boiler basics - Things to check before calling John

First and foremost, remember your boiler needs 6 signals in order to fire up.

✔ Water pressure ✔ Water temperature

✔ Electricity ✔ Gas

✔ Room temperature ✔ Time

All of the above act as switches and if one is not on, the boiler will not light:

1. Water pressure – Check the gauge on the boiler and make sure it is set somewhere between the numbers 1 and 2. If it is too low, increase the pressure. If you don’t know how, call me. If it’s too high (in the red). Call me.

2. Water temperature – This is the boiler temperature and shouldn’t be tampered with. If you suspect this, call me.

3. Electricity supply – Is the boiler display dead? If so, call me.

4. Gas pressure – If this is suspected, check to see if your gas cooker, fire etc. still works. If not, call a Gas Safe Engineer.

5. Room temperature – If the thermostat/programmer displays a room temperature that is above what the boiler is set to light at, it won’t light until the temperature drops. In other words the boiler thinks it's plenty warm enough.

6. Time – If the programmer is set such that the boiler should come on at certain times, it won’t light outside these times.

Note: - If you wish the boiler to light outside the set times, set the programmer to ‘advance’ or ‘on’. Just remember that ‘on’ means that the boiler will remain on until you alter the programmer.

Addendum: Something else to remember about your new (or not) combi boiler:

It heats your hot water at mains pressure, thus showers etc. will run much faster than you are used to. So, if you turn the hot tap to lessen the flow, the water will generally get hotter, as it's taking longer to travel through the boiler.