Boiler not working, no hot water

jamesb1239

There should be a little viewing window in the front of the boiler, when you look through this is there a flame? Does your hot water usually come on demand or do you have it set on a timer/press a button when you want it?

Are there any lights illuminated on the front of the boiler? and also is there a pressure gauge on the front of the boiler? if so what is the reading from this? as if there has been a drop in pressure the boiler would cut out.

Also is there an ignition button to light the pilot or is it one of the automatic ones?

May be able to help with a little more information

Gman0365

Dont bother messing about. Phone 0800 111 999 and state that you have "NO GAS". They will send an engineer out within 2 hours and will confirm whether or not there is gas at the meter. If the gas supply is OK then you will need to contact a Gas Safe Registered engineer to look at the combi for a fault.

Without seeing it I would reckon that its probably not firing up due to low water pressure. If the engineer from the National Gas Emergency Service is nice enough then he may even top it up for you. Dont be concerned about phoning and wasting their time, it could well be that the gas service is choked or the meter has jammed, how are you to know, you only have one appliance? Also, you will not be charged for the visit. Just try to phone at a reasonable time i.e. not 2am!

Pssst

Is the gas meter a prepayment meter? If not, then it is very unlikely to be at fault.

If it IS a prepayment meter,check the screen for any error messages such as call help/blank screen/5 dashes flashing. If any of those are appropriate ring your gas supplier. They will then arrange for someone to come and attend to it.

You cannot contact your gas transporter ( eg nat grid) directly to report metering faults. They have to be routed through your gas supplier who can then decide who is to attend and fix. That may not be nat grid. It could be one of many companies.

If however the meter is functioning normally , is showing ON and in credit then contact your landlord.

Do not make erroneous NO GAS calls to the gas emergency service. It is an emergency service just like any other and it is not there for the spurious use of people who cannot get the correct diagnostic and repairs done by those actually responsible.

f they do attend and they have any sense,their only responsibility is to check there is gas at the meter outlet then leave.

lemontart

Gman0365 wrote: »

Dont bother messing about. Phone 0800 111 999 and state that you have "NO GAS". They will send an engineer out within 2 hours and will confirm whether or not there is gas at the meter. If the gas supply is OK then you will need to contact a Gas Safe Registered engineer to look at the combi for a fault.

Without seeing it I would reckon that its probably not firing up due to low water pressure. If the engineer from the National Gas Emergency Service is nice enough then he may even top it up for you. Dont be concerned about phoning and wasting their time, it could well be that the gas service is choked or the meter has jammed, how are you to know, you only have one appliance? Also, you will not be charged for the visit. Just try to phone at a reasonable time i.e. not 2am!

oh dear before you think it necessary to call the emergency service do the following if it is a prepaid meter and the screen is blank, or says call help or says off or battery failed call your supplier not the emergency service, if you call the emergency service out regardless as gman suggests he will not top your meter up or fix it for a meter error as gman suggests as that is not his job he is there to make sure you are safe, if you pay for your gas by bill and no gas is getting through having they yes call them but if it is a boiler fault they will make you safe and you will need to get the landlord to get it repaired by a gas safe engineer,.

and you will be asked about your meter in the call, if they arrive to find it is faulty prepayment they will make safe and tell you to call your supplier so you will have waited around for them then have to call supplier and wait another 4 hrs for the correct metering engineer from your suppliers metering contractors so it is advisable to check that first

Gman0365

I was giving advice based on it being a credit meter installed at the OP's property. I knew I would be flamed for advising to phone emergency service however, why should they not? I attend gas emergency jobs on a daily basis and regularly receive jobs with the description "NO GAS - only one appliance". The OP is not a qualified gas engineer, how are they to know whether the appliance is faulty or the gas supply has failed.

The credit meter could be bound inside and not passing gas, there could be a medium pressure regualtor that has slammed shut. Someone could of turned off a riser islation valve in a communal stairwell. There are any number of circumstances where the NO GAS situation could be dealt with by an emergency service engineer.

Also, under the PEMS (Post Emergency Metering Service) agreement between gas suppliers and gas emergency service providers the emergency service engineer CAN repair and exchange faulty meters regardless of whether it is a credit meter or a prepayment meter. This is dependent upon there being an agreement being in place between those two parties, however, the only time I have ever known there not to be an agreement in place is with Utility Warehouse customers. This may have now changed.

lemontart

t

Gman0365 wrote: »

I was giving advice based on it being a credit meter installed at the OP's property. I knew I would be flamed for advising to phone emergency service however, why should they not? I attend gas emergency jobs on a daily basis and regularly receive jobs with the description "NO GAS - only one appliance". The OP is not a qualified gas engineer, how are they to know whether the appliance is faulty or the gas supply has failed.

The credit meter could be bound inside and not passing gas, there could be a medium pressure regualtor that has slammed shut. Someone could of turned off a riser islation valve in a communal stairwell. There are any number of circumstances where the NO GAS situation could be dealt with by an emergency service engineer.

Also, under the PEMS (Post Emergency Metering Service) agreement between gas suppliers and gas emergency service providers the emergency service engineer CAN repair and exchange faulty meters regardless of whether it is a credit meter or a prepayment meter. This is dependent upon there being an agreement being in place between those two parties, however, the only time I have ever known there not to be an agreement in place is with Utility Warehouse customers. This may have now changed.

you said that he may top it up - "the National Gas Emergency Service is nice enough then he may even top it up for you". the advice Pssst and I give is first check the meter - if it is an etm or quantum meter with a display and msgs listed are displayed then it is reportable to supplier, If is says money for credit and on or it is a credit meter then yes call out emergency,

With regards to Pems contract it is sad fact of deregulation that not all meters have this in place and not all net works hold such contracts so is advisable not to say the engineer will automatically replace as that is not always the case and until the engineer gets there they will not know what is causing the problem, Then of course there is the issue of igts as well but that is all other matter But we can guarantee that the customer will be made safe which is the primary function of the emergency service. But the point being is that the supplier has to authorise faulty meter jobs ie error code faults and wind ons through their metering contractors be it national grid, enterprise onstream or other

Gman0365

lemontart wrote: »

t

you said that he may top it up - "the National Gas Emergency Service is nice enough then he may even top it up for you". the advice Pssst and I give is first check the meter - if it is an etm or quantum meter with a display and msgs listed are displayed then it is reportable to supplier, If is says money for credit and on or it is a credit meter then yes call out emergency,

With regards to Pems contract it is sad fact of deregulation that not all meters have this in place and not all net works hold such contracts so is advisable not to say the engineer will automatically replace as that is not always the case and until the engineer gets there they will not know what is causing the problem, Then of course there is the issue of igts as well but that is all other matter But we can guarantee that the customer will be made safe which is the primary function of the emergency service. But the point being is that the supplier has to authorise faulty meter jobs ie error code faults and wind ons through their metering contractors be it national grid, enterprise onstream or other

When I said he may top it up I was referring to the low water pressure if it was a combi, I didn't mention anything about ETM's in my post. Everyone seems to assume that the OP has a prepayment meter. Even if that was the case, upon calling the gas emergency service the call handler would ask sufficient questions to determine whether or not it was a faulty prepayment meter stating CALL HELP. Therefore there would be no need to send an emergency engineer out. Many consumers don't have a phone number for their gas supplier and when they see 0800111999 on the front of the meter you cant blame them for calling it when all else fails.

I did also say that PEMS contracts may not always be in place.

I stand-by my original advice. The call handlers at the National Gas Emergency Service accept spurious NO GAS calls all the time. I see no reason why the OP should not just be another one.

Pssst

They accept them for a number of reasons the main one being that their call handling script leads them in that direction

Perhaps the OP could ring when he has some spare time. Maybe when he comes home from the pub or similar at 11pm?

lemontart

Pssst wrote: »

They accept them for a number of reasons the main one being that their call handling script leads them in that direction

Perhaps the OP could ring when he has some spare time. Maybe when he comes home from the pub or similar at 11pm?

lol not only the script but knowledge of other questions to ask and experience but we know that if we hear certain things we know we have to raise a job even though we are certain that it is not an emergency job we must air on the side of caution and we always ask more questions to be clear on what is the problem ensuring safety at all times.