Skip to content
Home » Repairing the heater: tips in the event of a defect

Repairing the heater: tips in the event of a defect

Heater broke?! – If the boiler stutters and the heat no longer reach the house, consumers have to repair the heating. While minor problems can easily be eliminated by yourself, a heating specialist should be contacted in the event of serious malfunctions. We provide an overview of the most common sources of error and simple tips for emergency furnace repair Scarborough them.

Repairing the heater: this is how it works

Gurgling radiators, rustling valves, and cold rooms: many symptoms speak for a defect in the heating system. But not all homeowners have to call a professional straight away. The following overview shows the top 4 errors that consumers can eliminate themselves with a little manual skill:

  • The heating does not work because of the air in the system.
  • The system pressure is very low.
  • Clamp the thermostats to the radiator.
  • The heating control is set incorrectly.

Do you have any of the problems mentioned? In the following sections, we provide tips to help homeowners easily repair the heating themselves. Otherwise, an expert should check the heater. 

Technician man using a wrench fixing modern air conditioning system, maintenance and repair concept

Tip 1: Vent cold radiators

If individual radiators stay cold, this can be due to too much air in the system. This collects in higher places and disrupts the circulation of the heating water. For this to be able to transport the heat to all rooms again without problems, homeowners have to repair and ventilate the heating. To do this, first, turn off the boiler and the heating pump and turn all thermostats on. Do-it-yourselfers then go through each radiator, open the vent valve with a special key and check whether air is still flowing out. If none comes, you can close the valves and put the heating system back into operation.

Tip 2: Repair and top up the heater

If several radiators stay cold, this does not necessarily mean that the entire system is broken or defective. The fault can also lie in a water level that is too low. This can be seen with a look at the pressure gauge: If it shows a pressure of 1.2 to 1.8 bar in the detached house, everything should be fine. If the instrument shows a lower value, homeowners need to top up the heating water. To do this, they switch off the boiler and pump and open all thermostats on the radiators. If the tap water in the house meets the manufacturer’s specifications, you can then connect the heating system to the tap using a hose. You then open the valves and wait until the pressure on the manometer rises to the desired value. Once this is achieved, do-it-yourselfers can close the valves, remove the hose and turn on the heating again. If the pressure drops again quickly after the work, the heating expansion vessel could be defective. In this case, an installer must be commissioned.

Warning: If the water quality is unsuitable, there is a risk of damage to the boiler. Therefore the VDI guideline 2035 must be observed. If you are unsure about this, you should hire an expert.

Tip 3: make clamping thermostats workable

Especially at the beginning of the heating season, some radiators may not get warm at all. If so, homeowners can check the thermostats. If these are stuck, you have to repair the heater. Do-it-yourselfers unscrew the rotating head of the components so that they can see the pin in the valve. This should normally be easy to move and slide out again after a little pressure. If that doesn’t work, homeowners can carefully push the pin in and out with pliers until it sits freely in the valve again. A little fat or oil will help maintain this condition for a long time. Once everything is done, do-it-yourselfers can reinstall the thermostatic head and heat it as usual.

Tip 4: Repair the heating control

Is the boiler working, the radiators are warm, and yet the house does not reach the desired temperatures? Then the cause could be in the regulation. Under certain circumstances, a misaligned heating curve can be the cause of the problems. The boiler uses the control function to determine how much it has to do at certain outside temperatures to be able to optimally compensate for the heat losses from the building. We explain how this works step by step in the article Setting the heating curve.