How to lengthen the lifespan of your boiler

As a boiler is a significant investment, it is wise to look after it properly. This will ensure that it runs efficiently for longer, reducing the long-term running costs of the boiler. By proactively maintaining your boiler, you will help to prevent faults from developing and increase its lifespan.

When attempting to extend the lifespan of your boiler, the first consideration should always be to make sure that you have it serviced each year. A qualified engineer checking your boiler frequently will help to detect any minor faults early on. Not only will you be able to prevent these issues from becoming more serious, having your boiler serviced annually will generally be required for you to remain compliant with any manufacturer warranties or insurance policy terms.

When air gets trapped in your radiators, they will fail to heat up properly. As a result, this will put unnecessary pressure on your boiler. Bleeding your radiators regularly, releases any trapped air, helping to keep your heating system working productively. Fortunately, this maintenance work is a simple process, that you can carry out yourself.

Naturally, over an extended period, limescale and corrosion can build up in your central heating system. If this sludge is left untreated, it can be detrimental to the performance of the system. Usually, this will cause cold patches in the radiators, although, it might potentially damage the system more seriously. To prevent this from happening, a heating engineer can add an inhibitor to your central heating system, to break down the sludge.

The build-up of sludge in the system tends to be rust from the pipes and radiators. A magnetic filter can help the system to work more efficiently, by attracting the metallic elements and filtering them out. This can be used as an alternative to inhibitor but is even more effective when the two are combined.

Although switching the boiler on during the summer might seem unnecessary, it will keep the boiler parts moving and functioning properly. So, instead of leaving it untouched for several months, whereby it might suffer as a result later down the line, switching it on once a month, should be enough to prevent any problems from developing.

If you have not optimised an inhibitor or a magnetic filter to prevent sludge from causing a blockage in your heating system, then you might need to clear the debris away. This can be done by a heating engineer, who can use a powerflush to remove the sludge from the system.

During the height of winter when the weather is at its coldest, your outside pipes are at risk of freezing. A frozen condensate pipe will lead to a blockage, forcing the condensation to go back into the boiler and cause it to shut down. While they can be defrosted by pouring hot water over them, it is best to prevent the pipes from freezing over, in the first place. To do this, you can apply lagging to the pipes, which essentially works as insulation.