Boilers deteriorate over time, and the warning signs aren’t always obvious to the untrained eye. That’s what makes a breakdown feel so sudden, and even one day without heating or hot water can be stressful. Here are three signs that your gas boiler may need checking, repairing or replacing.
You can smell gas.
Natural gas has no smell of its own, so suppliers add one to make leaks easy to notice. If you smell gas when you aren’t cooking, or can smell it around your home:
- Open doors and windows.
- Turn the gas off at the meter, if you can do so safely.
- Don’t use electrical switches, naked flames or anything else that could cause a spark.
- Leave the property and call the free National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999.
The flame is yellow or keeps going out.
If you can see your boiler’s flame, it should burn a crisp blue. A lazy yellow or orange flame is a sign that the gas isn’t burning properly, which can produce carbon monoxide. If your boiler has a pilot light, which many older boilers do, it continually going out is also a warning sign that something isn’t right.
Carbon monoxide has no colour or smell. Headaches, dizziness, nausea, tiredness and breathlessness can all be symptoms of exposure, so fit a carbon monoxide alarm and see our tips for keeping gas safe at home.
There are black marks around the boiler.
Soot, stains or scorch marks on or around your boiler or flue might look like harmless heat discolouration, but they can be a sign that fumes are spilling out rather than leaving through the flue. Stop using the boiler and have a Gas Safe registered engineer check it before you use it again.
Gas Safe boiler servicing with Power Flush Wizard.
We recommend having your boiler serviced every year to make sure there are no underlying faults that could cause problems later. A service checks that your boiler is working safely, helps it last longer and flags up any serious issues early, so you can plan for repairs or a new boiler rather than be caught out.
Our Gas Safe boiler servicing is carried out by Gas Safe registered engineers. Call us on 0800 3277 448 to book a service at a time that suits you, or, if your heating needs a clean too, build a free power flush estimate online in about a minute.
