Boiler efficiency is very important – from cutting costs at home to keeping your home sufficiently warm. Want to keep your boiler efficiency working at tip-top condition? Our Warmable experts have prepared 8 ways to keep your boiler healthy and improve efficiency.
1. Get Your Boiler Serviced Annually
Annually servicing your boiler is crucial for efficiency and to prevent long-term damage. During an annual service, a Gas Safe registered engineer comes to your home to test your gas boiler.
Contact us today to get a professional sent to your home for a regular service in 24-48 hours.
2. Practice Preventative Maintenance
There are things you can do at home each month to keep your boiler running smoothly. This includes:
- Checking for build up of debris externally
- Looking for hot spots or leaks
- Checking the combustion air
- Making sure lights and alarms and working
- Inspecting valves
These are just some of the actions you can take to check your boiler efficiency monthly.
3. Keep your water pressure topped up
Efficient boilers rely on sufficient water pressure. When water pressure drops, it means the boiler has to work harder, using more fuel to heat the home and becoming less efficient.
The pressure of your boiler can be checked on the pressure gauge and should be between 1 and 2. You can use the boiler manual to check specific instructions for your boiler manufacturer.
Boiler pressure naturally decreases over time but could increase suddenly due to a water leak. You can hire a professional to help you increase your boiler pressure.
4. Bleed the radiators
It can be an effort to bleed your radiators regularly but it can make a big difference in how efficiently your boiler runs. Air can build up over time inside the heating system and cause a blockage. This results in the top half of the radiator losing heating. When you bleed a radiator, you let the air out of the heating system allowing the hot water to circulate better.
5. Run the heat every month
This one may seem counterintuitive but it’s important to run the heat every month – even during the summer. Although you may be concerned about cutting costs in warmer months, turning your boiler off for months at a time can be bad for your boiler. If you run the boiler at least once over the hotter months, it can stop the boiler pipes from seizing up and can prevent future problems.
6. Use a smart thermostat
Smart thermostats help you take control of your heating system. These clever devices let your heating automatically adjust depending on various factors such as whether anybody is at home or the outside temperature.
7. Properly insulate cylinder and pipes
Insulating your property should be one of the first steps when it comes to keeping your home warm and toasty while keeping energy bills down. Insulating the cylinder (for regular or system boilers) and pipes of your boiler is a very important step that’s often skipped. By insulating these elements, your boiler won’t have to heat the water up so regularly resulting in lower energy usage.
8. Replace Your Boiler
Time for a boiler replacement? If your boiler is more than 8 years old, it might be time for a change. As modern boilers are much more efficient, investing in a new boiler could cut your heating bills substantially – as much as £580 annually! More modern boilers are also more reliable so you could save money in the long run on fewer repairs.
Want a new boiler but don’t know where to start? At Warmable, we work with over 1,000 Gas Safe Registered Engineers across the UK. Get in touch today and we can arrange a boiler installation within 24 to 48 hours at the best available price.
