Do you want to pay more than you need to heat your home and warm your water?
You could be doing just that if your boiler is more than 15 years old. Though there are a number of tell-tale signs you should look out for that might indicate your boiler needs replacing.
If your house takes an age to warm up when the boiler is activated or it never seems to heat up sufficiently, your boiler may not be working efficiently.
It’s a good idea in the first instance to call a professional. We provide a boiler service and recommend that you call us so we can accurately establish the cause. We would need to check that your radiators are in good nick first, for instance, before we looked into any boiler issues.
Safety is the first consideration. If your pilot light is burning yellow instead of blue, that’s a sign of carbon monoxide leakage. At low levels, carbon monoxide can replicate flu symptoms such as headaches, dizziness and nausea. Breathing difficulties are brought on by greater exposure and in serious cases, fatal carbon monoxide poisoning.
A faint smell coming from your boiler is also a sign of carbon monoxide emission. But more noticeably, dark marks round the casing of your boiler will tell you that you need to take immediate action.
Any strange clunking or whirring noises you spot could be due to the wear and tear of the pump or the fan.
An ageing boiler will need more attention. If on a regular basis you find yourself having to reset or top up the pressure in your boiler, or you’re calling out an engineer more frequently, your boiler is probably reaching its expiry date. The engineer may also have problems finding spare parts for an older model boiler.
Of course, an inefficient boiler will be costing you a significant amount of money. You might find your direct debit payments increasing noticeably even when factoring in price hikes enforced by your energy provider.
Modern boilers come with an efficiency rating from A – the best – to G. ‘A’ signals 90% efficiency or more; ‘G’, less than 70%. Your boiler engineer can perform a simple gas analysis test to gauge your boiler’s efficiency. Replacing an older inefficient boiler could save you hundreds of pounds a year.
If you’re in the Swindon area, do give us a call if you think you might need your boiler serviced, repaired or replaced.
