All central heating systems that are pressurised systems will need to be repressurised at some point so that they continue to work as efficiently as possible. This generally requires manually topping up the amount of water within the system and although this sounds like a daunting task, anyone can do it as long as they have a good set of instructions and the handbook to their boiler.

Why does this have to be done?
Everyone knows that heating water over and over makes some of it evaporate and this is exactly what happens in your central heating system. Every time you turn your boiler on and heat the water in the system, a small amount of it evaporates and eventually the water pressure begins to fall. If left, the pressure can fall so far that your boiler will stop working and so you need to repressurise the system as soon as you notice a fall. There are other reasons for a fall in pressure, such as leaks in the system, but these will require the help of a professional and shouldn’t be tackled alone.

How do you know your system needs repressurising?
All boilers that are part of a pressurised system will have a very obvious and easy to read pressure gauge which monitors the water pressure within the heating system. This gauge needs to be checked on a monthly basis to see that the pressure is within the recommended levels – these will be noted in the boiler’s handbook. If the pressure has dropped then it’s time to repressurise.

How do you repressurise a boiler system?
Firstly you need to locate your filling loop. This will be located close to the boiler and looks like a stop tap with one end attached to the cold water mains pipe and the other end attached to the central heating system pipe work. Occasionally, the filling loop may not be permanently attached to the heating system and so you will need to attach it first before turning the tap! In some cases the filling loop may be integrated within the boiler itself and you will need the boiler handbook for further instructions.

Once the filling loop is attached to the system you can open the tap but it is best to do this slowly as you don’t want to flood the system. When the tap is opened, cold water is injected into the central heating system and the pressure gauge on the boiler should begin to rise. Make sure you or someone else can see the gauge as you don’t want to over pressurise. If you do slightly over pressurise the system the safety valve will kick in an release the excess pressure but this only works to a certain degree so keep a close eye on the gauge.

When this is done you simply disconnect from the system if need be and check the gauge over the next couple of days to see there are no problems. Most systems only need repressurising every three or four months and then it isn’t by much however it might be worth checking a bit more frequently over the winter months when the boiler is on much more often.

Guest Article by Clare Lynock

Everybody knows that the more efficient your boiler is the lower your energy usage and subsequently the more money you save on your gas bills. But how do you increase the efficiency of your boiler in the first place? Below are the top five ways to make your boiler as energy conscious as possible.

1. Replace it with a new SEDBUK ‘A’ rated condensing boiler! Obviously this isn’t the kind of thing you can do on the spur of the moment and it is a big expense but some new combi boilers have an efficiency rating of over 95%. This means that you can probably recoup your investment within a few years simply by lowering your gas bills.
2. Have an annual service. Some companies, such as British Gas, have monthly plans that protect your boiler against breakdowns and as part of the plan you get a free annual service. This service checks the main parts of your boiler and makes sure it is working at an optimum level of efficiency.
3. Arrange to have your entire system power flushed. Power flushing is a great way to remove all of the debris and limescale from your radiators and pipe work so that hot water can flow freely around the system to warm the house. The freer the water movement, the more effective the heating system is and the less your boiler has to work. In simple terms, you get the same level of heating but using a lot less energy. Unfortunately power flushing is a little on the expensive side however it does increase your boiler’s efficiency quite dramatically and it will save you money in the long run – especially if you have an older boiler and heating system.
4. Fit a magnetic filter and a limescale filter to your heating system. The magnetic filters available today are great for removing iron oxide from the system and this alone can improve your boiler’s efficiency and lower your energy consumption. If you then add to that a limescale filter you can improve the quality of the water entering the system and remove the majority of the limescale before it reaches the boiler and starts to effect its performance. Both of these additions are relatively cheap and can increase your boiler’s efficiency by quite a considerable amount.
5. Fit thermostatic radiator valves to all suitable radiators. These fantastic little pieces of equipment allow you to vary the radiator temperature in each of the rooms in your house so you can turn those you don’t use down and those you do use up. By turning little-used radiators down you use less energy and increase boiler efficiency – another easy way to save money.

There are plenty of other ways to increase your boiler’s efficiency so you end up saving money however the five above are easy to do and relatively inexpensive – with the exception of number 1! If you did all of the things mentioned above then you would have one of the cleanest and most energy efficient heating systems on the planet and it wouldn’t take that long to recover your investment.

Guest Article by Clare Lynock

Unfortunately it’s a fact of life that technical things, such as boilers, break down from time to time and it’s normally when you need it most. In the wrong hands, a boiler can be a very dangerous piece of equipment and so it is vital that, should you boiler decide to die a death, you contact a registered CORGI heating engineer to fix the problem and not try to patch it together with a DIY job.

Your local Yellow Pages will have a long list of gas and heating engineers however some may charge more than others for the same work and you aren’t going to know which is which. An alternative is to visit the CORGI website where the list of engineers only contains reputable companies and individuals. It may take ten extra minutes to find what you’re looking for but it could save you hundreds of pounds in additional work that isn’t strictly necessary should you choose the wrong company.

Another option that will help should your boiler develop a fault is a Homecare plan from British Gas. Other companies may offer similar services and it might be worth looking around for the cheapest option that provides the maintenance cover you need but the British Gas plan is probably the best known one to date. You simply pay a monthly fee to British Gas and they fix your boiler should it break down. The plan has a number of levels though and some of the basic levels might leave you having to pay for some parts if not labour. My plan paid for the call out, the first hour of labour and one part; anything after that incurred an additional charge so if you have an old or a temperamental boiler that breaks down quite regularly then it might be worth spending the extra each month and signing up for the full Homecare plan.

Really old boilers and those that tend to go on the blink quite often may be better off in the scrapyard. Today you can buy a new combination boiler for an average sized three bedroom house from around £2500 fitted and tested (British Gas will charge more however). This may sound like a lot of money however you won’t need a Homecare plan for the first year as the manufacturer’s warranty will cover it and you can use the money you save towards the new boiler. You will also see an increase in heating efficiency which will then save you money on your heating bills and before you know it you will have recouped the price of the boiler plus more.

So should your boiler go on the blink then you can try the various options above. If these are too costly however then I suggest a good sleeping bag and a thick duvet in preference to having a go at fixing it yourself, after all you may still be cold but at least you’ll be alive.

Guest Article by Clare Lynock

Right, back boilers are usually known for trouble-free, long lives. Although they might now be frowned on by an energy-conscious government which virtually insists on highly efficient condensing boilers, a good back boiler will do the business.

But, there’s always the exception.

My back boiler is situated in our top-floor maisonette and provides water for the hot water taps and the central heating system. It runs off coal and is reasonably good at providing a fair degree of heat, as long as it’s stoked up. You keep the coal-fire banked up and the heat efficiently heats up the water in the back boiler. Okay, so a lot of the heat escapes up the chimney, but this type of boiler is simple to use.

A thermostat sits near the fire in the lounge and the system has for many years behaved itself.

Unfortunately, for some time the thermostat had been stuck and this was causing the water to overheat. I wasn’t aware of this, nor of the unfortunate side effect: black silt which was leaking out from the boiler pipes in the airing cupboard.

And it didn’t stop there. The black silt had proceeded to work its way from the cupboard, down the walls and into the property below. And bear in mind that this silt is much like black treacle. Once dry, it effectively ruins anything it touches.

Only when the neighbour came to discuss the source of the black sludge rivers running down his wallpaper did we trace the source back to my airing cupboard, and then my boiler.

Fixing the problem was quite simple. A heating engineer swapped the faulty thermostat, the boiler stopped over-heating and everything went back to normal, apart from the redecoration that was needed to my airing cupboard and the neighbour’s walls.

But it just goes to show that once in while, even if you have your annual boiler and heating system service, it’s worth giving your kit the once over.

And one other thing about back boilers I discovered. Technically, they are now viewed as inefficient and potentially lethal. Although they break down considerably less than a conventional boiler, they have been shown to be responsible for more carbon monoxide leaks. They are potentially more dangerous than other boilers, but if you service regularly and keep an eye on them, then the worse should not happen.

When I chatted to the heating engineer about when the day came for my back boiler to be replaced, he did say that new building regulations now insisted on the installation of a highly efficient condensing boiler, unless that was impractical. In other words, a condensing boiler requires an outside wall for the siting of the flue and drain system. My maisonette’s kitchen wouldn’t allow that, so I can once again install a coal-fired back boiler.

And just in case you’re wondering, a condensing boiler is over 90% efficient, saving fuel costs and carbon dioxide release, because it not only uses the heat from the initial burning of the fuel source, but also takes the heat from the exhaust gases. Hence it needs an outside situated flue and special drains to take away waste fluid which is generated by the use of the exhaust gases.

But, whichever boiler you have, just remember that one key lesson: don’t ignore it. Just because you think it’s working properly, doesn’t necessarily mean it is.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

British Gas dominates the gas supply and central heating market in the U.K., but is that a good, or a bad thing?

Often, personal experience provides the best judge as to whether you can trust a huge company like British Gas and one particularly bad experience sticks in my mind.

I used to own a property in a small town which was in fact two terraced houses, which had fell into disrepair, and had then been refurbished to a reasonable standard. The house was spread over four floors, cellar, downstairs, upstairs and attic. In the end, after various stages of the refurbishment spread over a number of years, the central hearing system was running heat into 20 radiators in 18 rooms.

Such was the size of the property, that during the initial refurbishment, the plumbers who installed the new central heating system had recommended an industrial boiler to provide enough hot water for the water supply and for the central heating. So, they installed a small industrial gas unit; the type of boiler that might run a small office: sitting on the floor, it was about a foot-and-half square and three feet tall. It was a simple unit, with simple controls and worked as a conventional boiler, i.e. when switched on, it provided tonnes of water for the heating system and water cylinder.

When it was installed, global warming was a concept that had yet to be invented and fuel energy costs did not match the gold price.

For the first decade it sat happily heating away, oblivious to the failing environment and the impending gas market price fluctuations. And as the heating system was quite complex – three separate pipe runs serving three different floors, three thermostats and 20 radiators, a British Gas service plan was entered into to provide some security. Every month some forty odd pounds was paid over to British Gas in return for a comprehensive service agreement.

Now, British Gas turned out to be reasonable suppliers. They turned up once a year to service the boiler and the odd bang and moan in the piping system. The only problem was when calling their service line. As our account was held by the British Gas Industrial Division (by virtue of the amount of gas we were consuming), and not British Gas Consumer Division, they couldn’t believe that a house could have an industrial sized boiler and we had to explain the situation for the umpteenth time.

But, eventually an engineer would turn up and complete the service, declare the system fit, maybe replace the pilot light gas feed supply pipe (which went every few months) and also maybe fit a new set of burners.

Everyone was happy, until the time when we noticed the water was heating up to such a point that you could easily be scalded by the hot water. We hadn’t noticed at first, because the main benefit with such a large boiler was lashings of hot water, on demand.

But, things were now getting silly, and if we wanted to avoid a trip to the burns unit, then action had to be taken.

In came an engineer and after some time understanding the system (we never saw the same engineer twice), he declared there was a problem with silt in the system. And not just a bit of silt, but a lot of silt. So much silt that the system was in danger of jamming up, or blowing up. And what was worse, a small header in the attic – which acted as a back-up in case the cold water system flow ran dry and the boiler turned on, had no water to heat and exploded – was literally boiling, creating steam that had damaged the roof joists with condensation.

Now, bear in mind that this happened about ten years into the British Gas Service contract.

I had a simple argument. British Gas had for years been paid handsomely to service the system and was thus responsible for any fault, and was certainly culpable when it came to the roof joists. The problem of silt should have been picked up in the regular services. British Gas, first in writing and then via a personal visit from an area manager, disagreed, saying that a build up of silt was not covered by the service agreement.

The manager was not impressed with my analogy to car servicing. If I got my car serviced and was told it was road-worthy, and then went out and the brakes failed and I crashed, then that garage was at fault. British Gas had declared my boiler roadworthy and therefore should stand by that sign-off. And how could I, a mere user of the boiler, be able to detect silt in the system?

They counter claimed that because there had been so many additions to the system – new piping, new radiators etc – that silt must have been introduced during those times and British Gas had not been informed of the alterations.

An impasse was quickly reached. I was not prepared to pay them to do the necessary remedial work and they were not prepared to do it for free. After more heated arguments, examination of the service contract fine print and the threatened use of lawyers, a compromise was reached: the costs would be split half and half.

So, British Gas brought in their mega-powerful flush machine called the Octopus and for one whole day, engineers completely flushed the system and banished the silt. And as it turned out, the roof joints suffered no permanent damage.

But it taught me a few serious lessons. Firstly, examine the fine print of the service contract before you sign it. Secondly, ensure that the engineer servicing your system is fully aware of any problems, that he completes all the checks as stipulated and that he’s also aware of any modifications made by another party, say your local plumber. Put these in writing. Thirdly, bear in mind that your gas supplier can be a fair weather friend. When things are going well, you’re a valued customer; when things are going not too well, you’re a nuisance.

So, remember, don’t take anything for granted when it come to the major gas suppliers and their promises.

But as to whether British Gas is a beauty, or a beast, I would go as far as to say that on the whole, although they may not be a blemish free beauty, they are certainly not a beast. Lets say somewhere in between!

Guest Article by Neil Camp