Your care home’s boiler runs all year round to keep your residents’ baths hot and rooms cosy. But what about caring for the boiler itself? Read our solutions to some of the most common issues.
1: Your boiler’s pilot light keeps going out
A pilot light is a small gas burner that’s permanently alight inside your boiler. If your boiler’s pilot light keeps going out, the issue could be something as simple as a draught blowing out the flame, or a build-up of soot on the gas nozzle.
Alternatively, a broken thermocouple could be stopping the gas supply. The thermocouple is a safety device in the boiler that detects temperature change of your pilot light, and knows if the pilot light has gone out.
What you can do
Firstly, make sure your care home’s other gas appliances are working properly. If they aren’t, you should contact your gas supplier as soon as possible and get the system looked at.
If your gas supply looks OK, it’s time to try reigniting the pilot light by following your boiler manufacturer’s instruction manual. If you’ve lost these, you can usually find them on the manufacturer’s website. This fault is often more common in older boilers, as modern systems ignite electronically. If the issue continues, it might be time to upgrade.
2. Your boiler is gurgling, whistling or banging
If your boiler is making unusual noises, the most likely cause is air in the system. Low water pressure or a failing pump could also be the cause. Whatever the cause, try not to ignore it: these noises are usually signs of a fault that could become a more serious issue (and potentially leave your care home without hot water or heating).
What you can do
If your boiler is humming or vibrating, check its settings. If its output temperatures are set too high, for instance, it could be working too hard for long periods of time. It’s also worth making sure that the boiler’s metal case is properly secure – if it isn’t sitting in its mounts properly, or there are screws missing, it’s much more likely to vibrate. Similarly, you’ll want to make sure any connectors are secure – these are usually brass fittings that can be carefully tightened with a spanner. If any noise continues, contact your supplier.
Bleeding your care home’s radiators can help if pipes are gurgling. A frozen condensate pipe will cause a similar noise (see number 9 below).
It’s worth knowing that knocking can be caused by the expansion and contraction of your heating pipes. This is normal, but it could be worth checking that the pipes aren’t fixed to floorboards or joists too tightly.
3. Your boiler is leaking
Causes will vary, depending on where the leak or drip is coming from, but a leaking system could mean a broken seal or valve, or is the result of corrosion. Whatever the reason, this isn’t a problem to ignore.
What you can do
Sadly, some problems are too serious or technical to tackle yourself. If you’re looking at a boiler leak, it’s always safer to call in a Gas Safe-registered engineer – never try to repair a boiler on your own.
4. Low boiler pressure
If your boiler’s pressure gauge shows a reading lower than 1 bar, or consistently loses pressure when it’s been topped up, you could be looking at a system leak or a faulty expansion vessel.
What you can do
Check for obvious leaks in and around your care home – radiators are the best place to start. If you do find a leak, call an engineer to repair your boiler immediately.
If there are no visible leaks, you could re-pressurise the system by carefully following your boiler manufacturer’s instruction manual. But if there’s still no improvement, call an engineer – it’s likely there’s a failed component in the system, or there’s a hidden leak.
5. Your communal or residents’ radiators are cold
If your care home’s radiators are only partially warm, or only some of them are working, the most likely culprit will be air in the heating system.
What you can do
Carefully bleed your radiators using a radiator key, which you can easily buy if you don’t already have one. Firstly, turn off the heating so hot water isn’t flowing to your radiators. Next, find the bleed valve on a radiator – it’s a small square or hexagonal nut, usually near the top. Pop your radiator key into the valve and slowly turn it anti-clockwise until there’s a hissing sound – this is air escaping the radiator. When water begins to trickle out (you might want to us a bowl or towel, just in case!) tighten the valve and move on to the next radiator.
If there’s no improvement, the system might need flushing – this needs to be carried out by a professional heating engineer.
6. The boiler is kettling
If your boiler is whistling like a kettle, a build-up of sludge, minerals or limescale is probably restricting its water flow, and causing the water inside the boiler to overheat and boil off. This is a common problem in areas with hard water.
What you can do
A kettling boiler is usually a sign that bigger problems are just around the corner, so it shouldn’t be ignored. Not only will the boiler be working much harder (and more inefficiently) to reach the temperatures you need, but it could also be stressing the system’s heat exchanger, causing cracks or other costly damage that could also lead to a breakdown. Similarly, kettling can cause your boiler’s internal pressure to increase, which could be dangerous if your safety valves aren’t working properly.
To solve the issue, call out a registered professional engineer and get your system professionally flushed. It shouldn’t take long!
7. Your boiler isn’t responding to the thermostat
A faulty thermostat can sometimes cause problems in a system that’s otherwise healthy.
What you can do
Check your thermostat. Sometimes, something as simple as an accidental knock can switch off or change its settings. If your thermostat settings look normal, but the temperature isn’t – or the controls aren’t responding at all – it could be time for a replacement, especially if it’s an older unit. You might also upgrade a thermostat if you’re upgrading your heating system. As this job involves wiring, it’s vital that you get a qualified professional involved.
8. Your condensate pipe is frozen
Condensing boilers come with a pipe that carries condensate (acidic water) to an external drain. In colder weather, the condensate pipe can sometimes freeze up, causing noise in the pipes. Your boiler should have a fault code that tells you when its condensate pipe is frozen.
What you can do
Thawing a condensate pipe is often as easy as warming up the pipe with a hair dryer or hot water bottle. Start near the boiler and work your way down the pipe – you should see water begin to flow into the drain. As this is such a common issue, you’ll find plenty of tutorials online, but if you’re not fully confident doing this yourself, don’t hesitate to call out a registered engineer.
9. Your care home boiler keeps switching off
10. There’s no heating or hot water
For any care home, being without heating and hot water is a problem that needs solving fast. In this situation, there could be a number of causes, most of which will need an emergency call-out and replacement parts.
What you can do
There’s rarely one single issue that leads to a boiler failing to provide heat or hot water, but it’s worth checking before anything else that there are no issues with your boiler’s water pressure or thermostat.
Your boiler is unlikely to fire up if its water pressure is showing as below 1 bar on the dial. If this is the case, it should be straightforward to repressurise the boiler by turning it off and adding a little more water through the filling loop, which will have one or two valves that can be opened. Take care to add water until the dial shows 1.5 bar, then close the valves again. (If you’re unsure about any of this, your boiler’s manual should have some handy pointers.)
When it comes to the thermostat, it’s a good idea to make sure its temperature hasn’t been set too low. If it has, the boiler simply won’t kick in.
If you’ve checked for these issues and still have no heating or hot water, it’s time to call in an engineer.
Need more boiler advice? We’re always here to help. Get in touch today.
