Boiler Breakdown Advice

· 3 min read
Boiler Breakdown Advice

I have listed a few of the most common boiler breakdown problems below to obtain the boiler backup and working.

You wake up one morning looking to jump in the shower only to find you haven't any hot water, you go and check the boiler and notice a fault code is showing on the display, just what exactly do you do?

Great site  need to discover what the fault code is and just why it has made the boiler breakdown.

All boilers are given a users manual, inside this manual will undoubtedly be listed all of the fault codes and the reason behind the code to display.

The fault code reason is a guide on what to check on for, sometimes it can be a combination of problems, but it's a starting place to trace the problem.

Sometimes it's a quick fix just by pushing the reset button, other times it's rather a bit more involved.

Most boiler breakdown fault codes could be avoided just by keeping your boiler on a regular basis.

All boiler manufactures recommend having a boiler service carried out each year to keep the boiler working as it was designed for.

A boiler is just like a car engine, if left un-serviced it will eventually breakdown and could possibly be costly to repair.

Probably the most common boiler problems is low water pressure, that is caused by the water within the whole of the system dropping to a spot where in fact the boiler sensor senses low water and throws up a fault code and locks the boiler out.

Low water pressure can mean many things, it could be a leak somewhere on the machine, a radiator valve leaking or perhaps a leak on a pipe somewhere.

The most common response to this problem may be the expansion vessel. If your boiler has been dealing with no problems for the last after some duration, then suddenly you notice the water pressure must be topped up once in a while, the chances will be the expansion vessel needs checking.

The expansion vessel is like a balloon, over time it'll loose its pressure and water will enter the vessel, once this happens you could have a boiler breakdown with a fault code displaying on the boiler screen.

The expansion vessel is really a very important part of the boiler and must be maintained each year.

Another common boiler breakdown is because of dirty water, that is caused when no inhibitor is put into the system water.

You may have noticed if you have ever vented a radiator that the water is quite dirty as it pertains from the vent, this normally indicates no inhibitor within the machine, even if inhibitor was added, overtime it'll dilute down and will ought to be topped up, this should be checked each year.

The dirty water will eventually block up the boiler heat exchanger, this cause the boiler to overheat and head to lockout.

Have you ever encounter a boiler breakdown if it is snowing outside even freezing?

Most boilers nowadays are condensing boilers, and when the boiler is working it produces condense.

The condense must exit into a drain, internally is preferable, but sometimes the condense pipe goes to an outside drain, if this is actually the case the pipe must be protected from the cold with pipe lagging.

If the condense pipe freeze over, the condense will start to back up in to the boiler and finally the boiler will breakdown, with a fault code displaying on the boiler display.

These are just a couple of the most frequent boiler breakdown faults that may be avoided if only you'd the boiler serviced.

Boilers do breakdown even when serviced each year, but not just as much as a boiler not serviced.

Will have your boiler serviced each year by a Gas Safe Registered company, don't use Joe Bloggs from down the road just because he could be cheaper.


All Gas Safe Engineers have to re-sit their gas exams every five years to carry on working within the gas industry.

I hope this advice helps you keeping in mind your boiler working and producing all of the heat and hot water you need.