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Should you find yourself in the unfortunate position that your boiler is not working, and there is no electricity going to it.
Check to see if all the switches associated with the boiler and the heating system are on. These could have been switched off by accident, or if moving into a new property the previous people may have switched it off.
The locations of the switches to a boiler can be found in a number of places including a dedicated switch with a fuse built into that switch plate, called a switch fused spur. The switch fuse Spurs could be located close to the boiler, in an airing cupboard, or close to the fuse box. Also looking associated cupboards around the fuse box, open side sockets. If you do not have a switch fuse spur then the boiler could be wired up onto a simple lead and onto a three pin plug which is plugged into a close by socket.
One of the first things to do is after you have located the potential switch, or the plug top which plugs into the socket, check and make sure you have switch this on. Should the boiler not start or there are no lights on the boiler, then check your consumer unit. Some of the more modern installations have a separate dedicated circuit to your boiler/central heating.
If you find the switch fuse spur or the plug, is to check the fuse within it.
With a switch fuse spur switch off the electricity at the switch and gently prise open to one side the fuse carrier, if you do not feel confident to do this then switch off the electricity completely at the fuse board and then attempt it, the fuse carrier will be a little stiff as it is holding in the fuse in some very tight contacts within the fuse spur. If you still do not feel confident in doing this then call out your local electrician who will be only too happy to assist you in this matter.
A typical fuse to replace this is either a 3 amp or a 5 amp fuse. You should not be using a 13 amp fuse as this will not protect the electrical components within your boiler and central heating system controls. You can see the amperage written on the side of the fuse, and replacement fuses can be easily obtained from your local DIY store or electrical wholesaler, a pack of fuses it’s normally just a couple of pounds.
If you have a regular three pin plug, then remove this from the wall, and screw the main centre screw between all the plug pins, and gently remove the fuse. A typical fuse to replace this is either a 3 amp or a 5 amp fuse. You should not be using a 13 amp fuse as this will not protect the electrical components within your boiler and central heating system controls. You can see the amperage written on the side of the fuse, and replacement fuses can be easily obtained from your local DIY store or electrical wholesaler, a pack of fuses it’s normally just a couple of pounds.
After replacing the fuses and insuring that the switches are on both on the wall and also in the consumer unit itself, and the boiler is still not working, the next step is to call out an electrician to investigate the fault of the problem. You may find there has been an electrical fault in the system and unbeknown to you there is an electrical fault in the system and the fuse perpetually burns out. There can be a number of reasons for this, as a boiler system involves heat and water, water could be inadvertently touching some live conductors and tripping the circuit or blowing the fuse.
However within a modern boiler, there are some safety fuses within the circuit boards, these can be replaced by a qualified boiler engineer, or they find that the circuit board associated with the boiler has burnt out or has a fault on it. The boiler engineer will offer you options on direct new replacements, but bear in mind the older the boiler, the more obscure and potential replacement circuit boards can be found difficult to obtain. A lot of boiler engineers do offer replacement circuit boards, where damage circuit boards are sent off to a repair company, who repair them, and then sell them as refurbished circuit boards. This is often a lot cheaper than an original circuit board.
A qualified & GAS SAFE engineer is Nick Stephens from Bennix Plumbing & Heating Services, he carries out a lot our Emergency Boiler work for our customers.
Karen and her team of "Bright Sparks" are wonderful to deal with and needless to say know their negatives from their positives with just a dash of earth . I would recommend their services to anybody.
I was very pleased with the prompt and efficient service. The electrician phoned in advance to confirm his time of arrival and was friendly and polite.
‘Excellent service, quick and very efficient. Tidy work. No problem recommending Karen and her team. Will definitely use these guys again!’
Karen was amazing I can not recommend her highly enough she went over and above my expectations and was indeed a bright spark to my day and helped with love ❤
I had an emergency situation arising from a constantly tripping appliance. A call to Bright Sparks, who have helped me before, led me to their website’s ‘Knowledge Centre’ and although I’ve used similar help sites before this was excellent – clear, well laid out, and logically organised – and as someone with zero electrical knowledge I managed to find the fault myself! I followed up the situation on the phone and got more advice. Really impressed by the Bright Sparks service and will continue to use them and their Knowledge Centre again in the future.
