First of all, determine which system is heated or supplying your home with hot water. Regardless of the type of appliance, there are a number of things that must be checked to determine the cause of the malfunction (also watch our instruction video):
- Are the fuses still intact and is the Residual Current Device (RCD, or residual current circuit breaker) in your meter cupboard still on?
- Is the thermostat working? It can be that the batteries are empty or that the wireless connection has been lost, so that no signal is passed on to the boiler. See the thermostat manual to find out how to solve this.
- Is the temperature on the room thermostat set high enough?
- Does the thermostat have a digital display? Check if it shows strange messages/error codes. If so, find out what it means in the manual.
- Have the (thermostat) knobs of the radiators been turned open and have the radiators been bled? For more information about venting the installation, see the question “How can the heating system be bled?”.
- Are there any hot water taps leaking somewhere?
- Has it been extremely cold outside or is it now? Then it may be that the pipes are or have been frozen. If you suspect this, please contact us immediately.
If the above matters are all in order and your home is heated/supplied with hot water by a central heating unit, the unit itself can be examined for malfunctions:
- Is the gas valve open? If no, then open this one unless there is a reason why the gas valve has been turned off.
- Is the power plug in the socket? If no, plug it in unless there is some reason why the power has been interrupted.
- In case of an older type of boiler: does the pilot light burn? If not, look in the manual of the boiler or contact your landlord/manager.
- In case of a more modern boiler: is a fault reported on the display? If so, find out what the malfunction is in the manual and how you can solve it yourself.
- Is the water pressure high enough? The pressure must be between 1.5 and 2 bar. If the pressure is too low, please refer to the question “How to top up the central heating boiler when the pressure gets too low?”.
- Does the boiler and/or radiators produce a strange noise? Then it may be that the heating system has to be bled. For this, look as stated above under the question “How can the heating system be bled?”.
- Is there no demonstrable reason for the malfunction? Then reset the installation by pressing the reset button or removing the plug from the socket for 30 minutes.
If the malfunction cannot be resolved despite the tips mentioned above, the malfunction can be reported (preferably by e-mail) to the landlord/manager. Indicate what you’ve already tried yourself, whether there are certain error codes, since when the problem has occurred, what the frequency of the problem is, etc. Also include photos/videos to clarify the problem.
