In the 5 houses I’ve rented, I’ve had trouble with the boiler in 4. FOUR. Ranging from water not getting hot enough, leaks, cutting out, not heating the rooms in the top bedrooms and more. It’s always a bit of a nightmare to get a landlord to fix your boiler. After getting people out to look at it, order new parts, debate buying a new one, it’s not an overnight fix. If you own a home, it can be a hefty cost to fix a broken boiler – which is why I always recommend getting boiler cover as well as looking after your central heating system as much as possible.
You can tell I’m 30 years old now I’m more about heating and renting houses rather than lipstick and dresses! It’s important!
With Summer just around the corner, it’s common practise turn the central heating off and rub our hands together with glee about how much we’ll save on our energy bills over the next few months.
Though whilst it might be tempting to turn your boiler off completely to save money on your energy costs, this can actually cause problems to your home that could actually cost you more money in the long run.
Hot water needs
You may not need any heating from your radiators when summer rolls around, but unless you have an electric shower you’re going to miss the hot water! If your home runs on gas to power the hot water you’re going to have to make sure that your boiler is switched on. Dishwashers and washing machines can heat up cold water somewhat, but it won’t be nearly as hot as it needs to be.
Technical problems
Turning your boiler off for a long period of time can leave you facing with a whole host of problems when it comes to turning it back on again when the weather turns cold. Without water regularly circulating through the pipes not only will lime scale and soot build up, but your pump valves may also seize up, playing havoc on your central heating systems when they are turned on again.
Servicing opportunities
Getting your boiler serviced on a yearly basis is the best way to avoid having to pay above the odds for an engineer to take a look at any issues over the Winter months. Keeping on top of the servicing can mean the difference between simply upgrading your central heating pump, or having to install a whole new boiler. With this in mind, Summer is the best time of year to get your boiler serviced as there is far less demand and, if any issues do arise, you won’t have to worry about not having any heating during the warmer months.
We usually turn of the central heating but the boiler is always on, so we always have hot water whenever we need. Also as you said you wouldn’t want lime scale in the pipes so it is best to run it one in a while 🙂 x
Ela BellaWorld
I usually turn mine off about May time, and it doesn’t come back on until late November! Saves a lot of money! 🙂 Tania Michele xx
I prefer to rent, so I don’t have to deal with this 🙂
This is such a useful post! You’ve reminded me, we really need to get our boiler serviced – so thank you! Also, we have a Nest thermostat installed which never allows our boiler to completely switch off. And it keeps the boiler at a certain temp meaning a) your house never gets too cold but also b) the pipes never clog up, freeze up or stop working! It’s a nifty little device. And yes, I did just say nifty >.<