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Hi, I'm Tanisha and I'm a gas engineer for Mears. Today, we're going to talk about a few checks that you can do on your central heating system if it's not working.
The first thing you need to do is check if you're on a pre-paid or a post-paid meter; if you're on a pre-paid meter, please make sure you have enough credit on your meter. If you're on a post-paid meter and you have no gas, please contact your provider.
Let's look at the checks that you can make. Please check all of your radiator valves are open. You can open them by turning them anti-clockwise between 1 and 5 (1 obviously being minimum, 5 being maximum).
This is an example of a post-paid meter - please make sure that the handle is in the upright position, allowing gas to flow through the meter and into your property. Some gas meters will be found inside your property and sometimes they are outside, but either way, the handle should always be in the upright position.
The next thing you'd need to check is your boiler pressure. This is your pressure gauge. Your pressure gauge is normally on the front, sometimes underneath or sometimes on the side of the boiler. The pressure should be between 1 and 2. Not all boilers will have a pressure gauge - some boilers are digital and the pressure will be displayed in bar (that's what pressure is measured in). With some boilers you can top up the pressure yourself using one of these: this is called an external thinning loop. All you need to do is slowly move the black levers in the downward position, allowing water to flow through the pipes. Please keep your eye on the gauge: when the gauge is between the 1 and the 2, turn the lever off.
Sometimes, you just may need to reset your boiler. This button is normally found on the front of the boiler.
Sometimes your boiler might develop a fault internally. Most boilers nowadays have digital display screens, so it will either tell us an F code or an S code. Either way, tell us these codes and we can have a rough idea of what parts to bring and what the issue may be. Some models may not have a digital display screen - in that case, the boiler will have a flashing light sequence as shown here.
