Central Heating and Boiler Servicing

Happy Friday everyone and welcome again to another blog post.

I must say that after a good few blog posts now I am really enjoying writing them. It is a nice way to communicate and provides a few minutes of self-reflection on knowledge and what we do as a company. Amazing what allowing your thoughts to flow out does hey??!!

This week……. boiler servicing. I think generally most households now realise the importance of servicing, especially when it is required for the maintaining of warranty agreements from manufacturers. An annual service will make sure your appliance continues to work as the manufacturer intended and will highlight any current or potential issues within your boiler which can be dealt with straight away before they get worse and far more costly. A good boiler service is money well spent, trust me!!! It mainly boils down keeping the appliance, our customers, and their homes SAFE!!

However, not many customers know what should be done on a service as it can vary a lot from engineer to engineer and company to company. One of the absolute classic comments we get when servicing a new customers boiler is ‘My last guy never did that; they never took all that out’.

Now, there is an official line when it comes to servicing, and that is to FOLLOW THE MANUFACTURER’S INSTRUCTIONS. These too can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer but in general a service means one thing – strip and clean!!!

When we hear the classic comment as mentioned above and you ask what the customer saw, it is usually that the guy took the case off, had a very quick look and a poke around, put the case back on, put his machine in the pipe outside, printed off a ticket and then left within 20 minutes having relieved them of anywhere between £50 and £120. I know myself some people do make this up as I have myself been told this when a customer has not recognised me from the year before and I know exactly what I have done there. However, I have serviced enough boilers in my time (Easily well in to the thousands over 16 years) to know when a boiler hasn’t been serviced properly previously and in the majority of cases, I am on the customers side when they tell me it was not done thoroughly.

So, what should you expect??

I can only give the following guidance and then tell you how we do it. I am sure you can create your own educated view from this.

-- A full boiler service is quite an involved process. If it is completed in anything under 45 minutes, I would be suspicious. Some boilers are easier to work on then others. Some can be stripped and put back together extremely quickly, others are very fiddly indeed.

-- Some manufacturers will state in their instructions, that so long as certain tests are passed such as an emissions test or fan pressure test, then there is no immediate requirement for strip clean servicing. As that is an official line, not much anybody can say, but we tend to disregard this view at FJM, we passionately believe EVERYTHING must be stripped cleaned. We have had boilers which pass their checks, but on closer inspection have multiple faults that if left for another 12 months, could easily lead to serious issues and possible requirement for new boilers.

-- Has the engineer engaged with you?? A service is a fantastic opportunity for you as a customer to be allowed to air any niggling issues or express concern. Your radiators may not work as you like, you may notice a small drip every now and then or hear a strange noise. Has your engineer checked to make sure everything is working ok or if you have any issues? If they have not, they want to be in and out and do not be surprised when they are gone within 20-30 minutes!

-- Has your engineer offered you advice on safety, how to work your system more efficiently or offered advice on how to increase the efficiency of your system and protect it from future issues?

I know full well, that the vast majority of people who read this will probably be thinking back to their last service (if they had one) and only remember the engineer arriving, leaving them alone by the boiler with a cup of tea, and then seeing them out 30 minutes later without any idea of what they have done. Many customers get the feeling a lot of engineer’s hate being watched or spoken to while they work. We are in YOUR house, watch us, talk to us, find out what we are doing, that is your right in your home. Here at FJM, Pete and I love a good natter and are both only too willing to talk to you about what we do and why we do it. We love teaching our customers how their boilers and heating systems work just as much as we like to talk about football (cricket for Pete), politics, the weather, our love of dogs and all manner of other things.

Here is what to expect from us on a service.

-- Before we do anything, we will find out how you are and let you know how we like our tea. Milk and 1 for me, milk and 2 for Pete, thank you.

-- Once the tea order is in, we will then ask if everything is working ok and discuss any issues you may have. Hopefully, everything is fine, but it is quite common for customers to have some sort of issue they wish to tell us about.

-- Your boiler will be stripped and cleaned and as many components as physically possible removed and cleaned.

-- Burners and electrodes are removed, cleaned and seals replaced where necessary. We carry a large amount of seals, gaskets, and serviceable spares on our vans for most boilers and eventualities.

-- Heat exchangers are cleaned and where necessary either washed through or hoovered out.

-- Fans are removed, cleaned, and lubricated

-- Air filters are cleaned

-- All flue and water seals and gaskets are inspected/replaced if necessary

-- Condense siphons are removed and cleaned out.

-- All safety checks are then carried out, these include testing emissions, smoke tests, gas pressures and gas usage, and checking all safety devices operate as they should in case of failure.

-- We will give you a service record for your boiler which you will sign and sign your boiler service record in the manual. These records are legal documents. Make sure you get one every time!!!

-- We will always offer and hope to be allowed to check airing cupboards, lofts and radiators so that we can check every component we possibly can. We want to know that everything is working well and in good shape so that we can be confident in telling you that your system is going to continue working as you expect.

-- Before we leave, we will always endeavor to tell you how you can improve your system for efficiency and comfort. This could be advising a new boiler, installing a smart thermostat, fitting a carbon monoxide alarm or magnetic heating filter, re-piping to stop air ingress, or even just turning your boiler temperature down a bit to take the stress out of the system and reduce gas usage. And unless it is a safety issue which needs immediate attention, our advice is just that, ADVICE. There is no pressure selling, we give you the information, you do with it as you wish.

It is rare for Pete or me to be out of a boiler service in less then an hour. Most take up to 90 minutes when they are done properly, thoroughly, and safely. But do not be fooled, appliances will go wrong and often do regardless of servicing. A service can cover off 80% of eventualities but unfortunately, we do not have crystal balls to be able to see the future. But regular servicing is proven to dramatically decrease the number of breakdown callouts required over the lifetime of any boiler or heating system.

I hope from this you can see the value in how a boiler service should be done. And in summary it comes down to having a good job done by an engineer who cares about their industry and knowledge, cares about their job, and cares about their customers in equal measures. I can 110% say without question that Myself, Pete and Suzy all care a lot for what we do and who we do it for and I am also confident my customers would back us up on that too. 99.9% of new customers we see, become loyal customers, our retention rates speak for themselves. 

I look forward to next weeks post, have a lovely weekend everyone. Hopefully, this rain passes very soon.