How to keep your boiler at its best

With the colder weather now on its way, our attention will turn towards our boilers and heating our homes.

And with the current energy crisis, it’s never been more important to ensure that your boiler is working at its best, to help ensure you can heat your home as efficiently as possible. 

So, here are five things you should consider to help keep your boiler working at its best all year round. 

Whether you already have a high efficiency condensing boiler or an older boiler, one of the most important things you can do is to get it serviced at least once a year. This will ensure it runs efficiently and smoothly for years to come. Rather than waiting for something to go wrong and paying premium prices for boiler repairs, servicing your boiler regularly can help you identify any issues early and prevent costly repairs down the road. A typical boiler service can cost between £60-£100¹, but if you have boiler cover its worth checking, as some companies who offer boiler cover do also include an annual service.

If you have a condensing combi boiler one of the key things you can do to ensure it’s working efficiently is to check the flow temperature. The boiler flow temperature is the temperature your boiler heats the water to before it’s sent to the radiators around your home. As the flow temperature is different to the thermostat temperature, it’s often something people don't think about and could be set at a temperature that's too high.

By simply checking and potentially reducing the flow temperature, you could help to reduce your gas bills by between 6-8%² and reduce your carbon emissions, without impacting the heat of your home.

If you’re unsure how to do this or what to set the temperature at, we suggest asking an engineer to check the flow temperature for you and they can advise on the correct temperature to set it at.  

The flow temperature will depend on the size of your radiators, how well your home is insulated and your thermostat temperature, however your home should still feel warm once you’ve reduced the flow temperature. The only difference you will find is that the radiators don’t feel quite as hot to touch as the system will be running a little cooler.  

If you have a health condition, we advise you to seek further advise before considering reducing the flow temperature of your boiler. 

If you have a boiler with a water tank, adding an insulation jacket could save you around £155³ a year on your energy bills. A jacket costs around £17⁴ and improves the efficiency of your system by reducing the heat that can escape through its walls. This means that the water in the tank stays hot for longer periods of time, which means you need to use less gas to re-heat the water you’re using.

Ensuring you have the most appropriate controls for your boiler system can improve the efficiency of your boiler. Your system controls should include a boiler thermostat, a timer or programmer, a room thermostat and thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs).

By using a programmer, you can set your system to turn off automatically when you're not at home or after you've gone to bed. In addition, using smart heating controls, such as Bosch EasyControl, allow you to make adjustments from anywhere with your smartphone, computer, or tablet. Many smart thermostats can learn from your habits and automatically adjust the thermostat for you, making saving energy even easier.

The efficiency levels of boilers in the UK are determined by measuring how much fuel is converted into energy that is used (and not wasted). All modern gas boilers are condensing boilers, which are more efficient because they can capture energy from condensed water vapour⁵ and recover more heat, requiring less fuel to run.

If you don't already have a condensing boiler, now is a great time to consider upgrading your boiler to a more energy efficient one before the cold weather starts. As well as being more energy efficient, condensing boilers are cheaper to run and depending on the boiler you have, you could save up to £380⁶ a year by upgrading your boiler.

So, whether you’re considering buying a new boiler or you’re happy your boiler is meeting your needs and is as energy efficient as possible, now is the ideal time to give it some much needed TLC.

Find out about E.ON’s latest boiler offers and how we can help you choose one that’s right for your home. If you have a question about your boiler, visit E.ON’s Heat Hub, our dedicated boiler pages to find answers to all your boiler questions. 

_{1.       Cost information can be found at: Boiler guide.co.uk/articles/much-boiler-service-cost}

_{2.       The Heating Hub: Save up to 8% on your gas bills, by turning down the 'flow' temperature}

_{3.       Energy Saving Trust: Home insulation/insulating tanks pipes and radiators. Savings information for boilers in the UK based on a semi-detached, gas-heated house}

_{4.       Energy Saving Trust: Home insulation/insulating tanks pipes and radiators}

_{5.       Energy Saving Trust: Home energy efficiency/boiler replacement}

_{6.     Energy Saving Trust: Home energy efficiency/boiler replacement, savings based on semi-detached replacing a G-rated boiler with a new A-rated condensing boiler}