My boiler’s not working, what do I do??

If you’ve ended up here from a Google search, you’re probably cold, and want things fixed ASAP!

Before calling out a Gas Safe Registered engineer, or taking to the boiler with a hammer like the post main picture (albeit tempting, it will not help, I promise), there’s a few things you can do to either point your engineer in the right direction, or in a best case, solve the issue yourself!

Step 1: Do I have gas?

Check your gas meter ECV (handle) is on or has credit, if you have other gas appliances, do they ignite? If you have no gas, call your provider or the national grid team on 0800111999.

Step 2: Does my boiler have power?

Most newer boilers have permanent lives for a fascia display or at least an LED on the front that will stay lit when there is power to the appliance. Has your RCD at the electric meter tripped? Has anything else in the boilers location tripped?

Step 3: Do I have a loss of heating, hot water or both?

If your hot water is working but your heating isn’t, have you turned up your thermostat high enough? Is your programmer set to come on?

If you have heating but no hot water, again, is the programmer set to come on? Is it an individual tap or all of my taps?
(If you have hot water at all outlets except one, it’s likely a fault on your taps rather than the appliance, especially if this is a mixer tap).

Step 4: Is the boiler showing any fauly codes? Are there any unusual noises? Is the boiler doing anything irregular to what you have noticed in the past?

It’s really handy for engineers for you to note all of these things down, especially with intermittent faults which can be an absolute minefield to diagnose. Nothing is too much information when it comes to boiler fault diagnosis and any patterns you may have noticed are key!

Step 4.1: Have you checked the boiler pressure (pressurised systems only): sometimes the boiler pressure can decrease gradually over time without there being a leak or fault on the expansion vessel etc.

Step 4.2: What happens when you reset the boiler? Does the fault disappear? Does it cut out straight away again?

Step 5: Call or email RJ Heating to assist you with any boiler or central heating breakdowns you may have.