6 Valuable Tips to Maintain Your Home’s Boiler

When it comes to household jobs, taking care of your boiler should definitely be on your list. If we leave its maintenance or service for another week or month, we are so close to a big repairs bill. Servicing your boiler is vitally important whether it’s brand new or a bit long in the tooth. Making sure that your boiler is working well helps with your bills and safety. Here are some useful tips for taking care of your home’s boiler to make sure your central heating is performing well.

1.     Annual Boiler Service:

If you get your boiler serviced annually, it will keep running in tip-top condition. A boiler insurance will get you covered if anything goes wrong with your boiler.  Moreover, Boiler cover from Corgi offers a network of more than 4500 local engineers in the UK that provide 24/7 customer support and unlimited callouts for repairs and breakdown. This insurance also covers the costs of parts and labour. Annual boiler service will make sure that your boiler is running efficiently. This includes a range of maintenance services so that your boiler will remain in its best condition and safe. Your engineer will detect the issues in your boiler and will make the necessary repairs and or replacements.

2.     Bleed the Radiators:

This is an easy and quick task, and you can perform it yourself. Check the radiators while your heating is on and place your hand on each radiator to feel if they are warm from top to bottom. If you feel a cool spot along the top, that’s the indication of an air pocket in the boiler system, and your radiator needs bleeding. You can bleed the radiator and get rid of the air pocket after turning off the heat. Open a valve on the radiator and let the trapped air out.

3.     Balance the Radiators:

This is a tricky but worthwhile exercise, and you may require expert help for this. After bleeding your radiators, you may notice that some are warmer than others. You can adjust the radiators so that the really hot ones become less hot and the cooler ones warm-up.

4.     Clean the Boiler Regularly:

Your boiler tends to collect a lot of dust all year round. Regularly clean your boiler to avoid the buildup of dust and to prolong the life of your boiler system. Do not clean the interior of your boiler by yourself as you may cause damage to the system. This task should be left to an expert. Regular dusting from outside of your boiler is what you can do to prevent the dust from getting inside.

5.     Keep an Eye on Pressure:

Keep an eye on the pressure gauge of the boiler to ensure that the pressure levels are correct. If the pressure is low, seek the help of a boiler service engineer to top it up. Moreover, annual boiler service will also check if your boiler is running to the manufacturer’s recommended pressure levels. A pressure drop indicates a leak that needs to be fixed by a specialist.

6.     Check for Dripping from the Overflow Pipe:

If water is dripping from the overflow pipe that’s usually located outside your property, it could indicate a problem with your boiler. Commonly, this problem means that the pressure release valve has become faulty. This could also result from overfilling the boiler. You’ll need the help of an engineer to resolve this problem.

What if your boiler’s at the end of its life? 


If your boiler is incredibly old i.e. over 10 years of age and with an expired warranty,  you may want to consider installing a brand new boiler. An old boiler will likely cost you more in repairs and will have lost its optimum efficiency, meaning it will cost more to run too. 

Of course, boilers aren’t cheap to buy, which is why it’s important to check if you are eligible for a boiler grant. You can do a super quick check on this at Boilergrants.org.uk.