It’s getting cold, that means we are all rediscovering our central heating after the summer lay off. This includes your tenants. Not wishing to scare landlords here is a list of the cost of rectifying common boiler faults. Landlords it’s time to get saving unless you can persuade your tenants to go green and dispense with central heating and hot water altogether!
Expert, Corgi registered gas engineer Brian Philmore, rates the common boiler faults in order of the problems he most commonly faces.
Printed circuit board
£220 to replace. The PCB is the heart of the boiler, connecting everything together. Without it the boiler can’t function.
Automatic air vent
£85 to replace. An automatic air vent lets out air that collects within the boiler.
Pump
£200 to replace. The pump moves the heated water from the boiler through the pipe work to the radiators, and back to the boiler for re-heating.
Overheat thermostat
£95 to replace. The overheat thermostat is a safety device to stop the boiler overheating if the control thermostat fails.
Heat exchanger
£350 to replace. Heats the water by transferring energy from the gas, if this goes it can be very expensive to replace.
Expansion vessel
£140 to replace. The expansion vessel stops the heating system from being over-pressurized.
Gas valve
£180 to replace. The gas valve regulates the flow of gas to the burner.
Burner
£150 to replace. Mixes air and gas to be burned inside the boiler.
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Hot water and steam systems work similarly, but neither are typically installed in newer homes. However, because both are still in existing homes, here are some maintenance tips for them.
Because water retains heat, it is used to store and distribute heat in home systems. There are two types of hot water systems: the gravity system and the hydronic or forced hot water type. Hot water heating systems can be powered by gas, oil, or electricity. Gravity systems depend on the upward flow of hot water to circulate heated water from the boiler through a system of pipes to radiators in the rooms of your home. The better radiators for hot water systems are called convectors. These units employ a series of fans to disperse the heat.
The heat from the water in the radiators or convectors is transferred first to the metal radiators and then to the air. As the water loses its heat, it sinks and flows back to the boiler through return pipes. Most gravity systems heat the water to no more than about 180 degrees Farenheit, and cooled water that goes back to the boiler rarely falls below 120 degrees Farenheit.
Hydronic hot water systems use a motor-driven pump to move the hot water.
Open gravity systems have an overflow outlet to let water escape; this prevents a buildup of excess pressure in the system. Closed systems have a sealed expansion tank; when water pressure builds up in the system, the excess water flows into the expansion tank to prevent damage to the pipes or the boiler. Hydronic hot water systems are much like closed gravity systems, except a hydronic system uses a motor-driven circulating pump to move the water. As a result, water in a hydronic system moves more rapidly and arrives at the room radiator with less heat loss than water in a gravity system.
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