The cold season is here, and if you don’t want to freeze this winter, you might want to do some checks on your boiler. You may have noticed that for quite a while, your boiler messes around with the temperature. You want to keep a nice and warm temperature in the house, but it seems like your boiler disagrees, as it won’t work properly. You have to fix this technical issue as soon as possible, to make sure you keep yourself warm this winter. Besides the technical issues, it comes from the financial part, which is the most difficult one.
Recently, your heating consumption was insanely high. So, if you don’t want to waste energy and money, make sure you seriously consider doing some checks to your boiler. No one wants to go through something like that. Boiler maintenance is very important, but most people make the same mistake every year and ignore this task. Boilers are expensive, as these are designed to run for many years. Because of that, you’ll need to take good care of any piece of equipment. What happens if you don’t? Keep reading and learn how to maintain your boiler in top conditions and avoid technical faults.
1. Cleaning is essential
Boilers must be cleaned each year to ensure that they operate efficiently. Not doing this task of cleaning them can reduce their efficiency and cause mechanisms to break. This results in a safety hazard, which requires a heating system specialist to evaluate your gas boiler. But why not do it yourself?
How to clean your boiler? First, shut off the switch button to the main natural gas supply. Let it cool for a while (a couple of hours), and then try to handle the parts. In such scenarios, it’s best to keep the owner’s manual for instructions. After locating the heat exchanger, remove dust from it with a brush until they’re perfectly clean. You can use a small hand-held vacuum cleaner to ensure that you completely remove any dirt inside the boiler.
Neglecting this may lead you to very costly breakdowns. If it turns out you need to replace your boiler, but can’t afford it at the moment, you still have another great option: search for boiler rental NYC (New York City).
2. Protect pipes from freezing
This is a fairly obvious tip (hopefully), to protect pipes from freezing. It is one of the most common causes of issues with boilers. During winter, temperature can drop below zero, so the external pipes can freeze. This will lead to a broken boiler. When pipes are freezing, the system gets blocked, and pressure is built inside the boiler. What to do next?
You can try to pour warm water over the pipes until the ice melts. Obviously, you can prevent this from happening if you isolate the pipes in the first place. It’s not expensive, it’s actually a cheap and easy procedure. You can even find kits online or at local improvement stores. Let’s say that you’re going on holidays during winter. It’s best not to turn off the heating system completely, but set a lower temperature and put it on a timer. To ensure that you expand your boiler’s lifespan, even during summer, turn it on for 20 minutes once a month. It’s obvious that this won’t prevent the pipes from freezing, but it will stop pump seizure.
3. Get the temperature right
Setting the right temperature to your boiler it’s crucial to your pocket and comfort. Many people wonder at what temperature to set their boilers when they’re home or away? When you’re gone, keeping the temperature set at 18°C is ideal. When you’re asleep or active around the house, it’s best to keep it around 21°C. If you constantly fuss over the thermostat, or you’re too cold in the morning, and too hot during the rest of the day, it means that you don’t have a standard room temperature.
Finding the right temperature can take years of trying. Everyone has a different idea of how warm or how cold a room should be. But you should first pay attention to your preferences. If you like to wear cozy clothes at home and cuddle under the blanket, consider turning the room temperature a couple degrees lower. If wearing shorts and a T-shirt is what makes you feel comfortable, then adjust the temperature according to your preferences.
4. Check the radiators
Radiators not working? If the radiators aren’t heating up properly, then there are a few reasons why this is happening, including:
- Air pockets in the radiator
- Blockages
- Radiator thermostat doesn’t work properly
- Radiator leak
- Valve fault
- Boiler pressure is too low
So, there you have it: these are the common reasons why radiator failure. There could be more serious problems with your heating system, so you should check if it actually works. You can check if you have hot water or not, or if your boiler is making a weird noise – it could be indicating that there’s even a major issue. If you have observed anything like this, then it might be the right time to call a professional heating specialist as soon as possible.
5. Contact an authorized technician
Having your boiler checked regularly is important to make sure that it operates safely and efficiently. For this reason, it’s best to leave the work on experts’ hands and call an experienced technician. During the visit, they’ll perform a lot of safety and effectual checks on your boiler. Why is a boiler inspection important? Having your boiler inspected by a professional will allow you to have time to fix any issues before the temperatures drop under zero. It’s inconvenient for many people, which is why they avoid doing it. But hopefully, in this article, you’ve found the necessary reasons why you should regularly do boiler inspections. Ask your friends, family, and neighbors for recommendations, and search them online.
