Winter survival guide 2 – six quick ways to solve boiler problems

6 tips that will help you solve boiler problems in your student accommodation

In my last blog, I covered wiping out mould and mildew in the winter months. In the second part of the Purple Frog Winter Survival Guide, you’ll discover six simple checks that could help you solve boiler problems.

Cold outside is fine, as long as you’re cosy warm in your student accommodation. But sometimes you can be puzzling over the boiler, rather than enjoying the caress of warmth from the central heating.

If you’re turning on the heating for the first time and there’s no heat, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the boilers on the blink. Here’s six quick checks that you can do yourself that should solve boiler problems and get you toasty in no time.

1. Is the boiler on?

It sounds silly, but sometimes the boiler will get turned off at the wall. Check if there’s lights on or that the display is showing. If not, there will be a switch on the wall next to the boiler. Switch this on. Has that fixed it? Yes: yah! No: try tip two.

2. Is the gas supply on?

Again, it sounds ridiculous, but it’s been known for people to turn it off at mains and not tell the other tenants. This tends to happen when everyone goes off for Christmas. The simplest way to check if this is the problem is to turn on a hob in the kitchen (if it’s gas). Or have a look at the on/off lever next to the gas meter. You will usually find a sticker indicating which direction is on/off.

3. Do you have hot water?

Run the hot tap for a few minutes and see if you eventually get hot water through. If not, try resetting the boiler. In the first instance, use the switches/buttons on the boiler itself – there should be a reset option on the front. If this isn’t doing the trick try switching it on/off at the wall with a short delay between switching back on.

4. Do you have heating?

If not, check the boiler is switched for heating to come on at the controls (not left in timer mode or off). You may also need to check any room thermostats (these may be digital box or a wheel on the wall in the lounge or another room. These don’t tend to be in the kitchen/bathroom, though. Check that this isn’t turned down to ‘0’. If that’s the case, you won’t get any heat regardless of the settings on the boiler.

5. Does the boiler have enough pressure for the heating to work?

You should be able to find a pressure gauge (some can be digital, but most  are analogue) either displayed on the front of the boiler or underneath with a scale of 0-4 or colour coded (Red/Green or sometimes Grey).

The pressure needs to be at 1.5 bars (or in the Green) to operate, if it’s below you may need to add pressure. I’ve posted a couple of YouTube videos below. There’s a surprising number of different makes and models of boilers, though. So you may want to try Googling ‘how to add pressure to a [insert make and model number of boiler]’ and you may find a handy Youtube video of your own.

6. is it only one room that’s cold?

If there is no heating in just one room, check the radiator isn’t turned off at the control at the side. If partially warm, they may need bleeding.

These simple checks should take you all of five minutes. If there’s still no heat, contact the maintenance department.

You can find more information in boilers, and some other simple checks that might help get the heat pumping, on our How To page about boilers and heating systems.

My last blog covers the crucial issue of preventing burst pipes in your student property.