Heating repairs

Not every heating fault is the boiler. If the boiler fires but the house stays cold, the problem is often elsewhere in the system: a stuck motorised valve, a failed pump, a thermostat or programmer that has stopped talking to the boiler, or radiators that are airlocked or badly balanced.

What Andrew checks

He works through the system in order, from the controls to the boiler, the pump and valves, then out to the radiators, so the repair goes to the part that has actually failed. On systems with a hot water cylinder, he also checks the zone valves that split heating and hot water.

Typical repairs

Common fixes include replacing a pump or motorised valve, swapping a faulty room thermostat or wireless receiver, freeing a sticking radiator valve and rebalancing radiators so the far rooms warm up too. If sludge is behind the problem, a power flush may be the longer-term answer, and faults inside the boiler itself are covered under boiler repair.