Boiler Emergency Over Christmas: What to Do

A boiler breaking down between Christmas and New Year is the worst possible timing. The house is full, the shops are shut, parts suppliers are closed, and half the trade is off. Here is what actually happens over the festive period in the North East, and how to avoid needing any of it.

Why the holiday period is worse than the rest of winter

Three things stack up at once. Demand goes up, because houses are fuller and the heating runs longer. Availability goes down, because most firms run a skeleton service. And parts merchants close, so a repair that would take two hours in November can wait days for a component in late December.

The result is that a fault which would be a routine call out becomes a genuine problem.

What counts as an emergency

Not everything needs someone out on Boxing Day. Genuine emergencies are no heating or hot water at all in cold weather, particularly with young children, elderly or vulnerable people in the house; any suspected gas leak; a boiler leaking water onto electrics; and any carbon monoxide alarm sounding.

Things that can usually wait a day or two are a single radiator not heating, a slight drop in pressure that you can top up, or a boiler that is noisy but still working.

If you smell gas, this comes first

Do not touch light switches or anything electrical. Open windows and doors. Turn the gas off at the meter if you can do it safely. Get everyone out. Ring the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999. That line runs 24 hours a day, every day of the year, including Christmas Day, and it is free.

The same applies if a carbon monoxide alarm goes off. Get out first, ring afterwards.

Things you can sort yourself over the holidays

• Frozen condensate pipe. The most common festive breakdown there is, and one of the few you can genuinely fix. Warm, not boiling, water on the outside pipe. Our guide covers it safely.
• Low pressure. Top up with the filling loop to between 1 and 1.5 bar cold. If it keeps falling, see pressure that keeps dropping.
• One reset. How to reset your boiler. If it locks out again, stop and ring someone.
• Cold radiators. If the boiler is fine but rooms are not warming, that is circulation, not the boiler. See radiators cold at the bottom.

Keeping the house safe while you wait

Close doors to unused rooms and heat one space properly rather than the whole house. Keep the loft hatch slightly open in a hard frost so warm air reaches the pipework. If the property will be empty over the holidays, leave the heating on a low setting rather than off entirely, and know where the stopcock is in case a pipe does go.

Do not use gas hobs, ovens or outdoor heaters to heat rooms. It is a carbon monoxide risk and every year people are harmed doing it.

The honest advice

Almost every festive emergency we attend was preventable in September or October. A service catches the seizing pump and the tired diverter valve while it is an inconvenience rather than a crisis, and lagging an external condensate pipe costs a few pounds. Our piece on why boilers break down in the first cold snap covers the rest.

If your boiler is already limping and it is showing the signs of needing replacing, deal with it before December rather than gambling on it lasting the winter. New boiler installation starts from £1,790 including VAT, and we cover Tyne and Wear and County Durham.