If you own your own home, you may have a heating system that depends on a boiler. If you are like most homeowners (and people in general), the amount of time you devote to thinking about your heating and cooling systems is minimal, at best. You may only think about your residential boiler when it starts to cause you problems. That is too bad because some routine care and feeding can prevent you from needing expensive repairs or from having a few colder than comfortable days and nights in your home. Here are a few things you can do to keep residential boilers healthy and happy all season long.
- Get it checked once a year. Once a year, you should have experienced professionals check out your heating system and provide the service that it needs. You should do this before the cold weather arrives in your town ot city. When the general contractors come out to your home they can inspect your boiler and make any changes to the setting that are needed. They can also make sure it is working and that it is operating at peak efficiency levels. You should have this done in August or September so that you will have reliable heat when it gets cold.
- Check your radiators regularly. You may find that not all of your radiators heat to the same temperature. It is worth it to check them all from time to time and make adjustments so that they are all about the same temperature. If you do not take this step, you can end up with rooms that are all too hot and then others that are not warm at all. Your system works best when all of your radiators are putting out the same amount of heat. This is also the way to keep your home at the most comfortable temperatures. For some systems, the task of making sure all of the radiators get the same amount of heat flowing through them is more complicated and really needs to be handled by a professional plumber. If you find your are having problems with it, you should not hesitate to contact the professionals.
- Make sure residential boilers have the proper ventilation. Your boiler and your heating system needs to have the right amount of ventilation to run the way it should. You need to make sure the area round anyresidential boilers is not full of clutter. This is not the place to store items such as coats, luggage or your holiday decorations. The right air flow is completely needed to keep it running the way you need it to. The manufacturer of your boiler has very specific requirements for your unit. If you are not sure how much space you need to leave for your boiler, you should break out your owner’s manual and check.
- Keep an eye on the flame in your boiler. From time to time, you should check the flame on your residential boiler. The flame you see needs to be blue. If you see any other color such as orange or yellow, even a little bit, may indicate that you have a problem with your residential boiler and you need to bring someone in to look at it.
- Keep an eye on your overflow pipe. There should be absolutely no water emanating from your residential boiler. This is another indication that there is a problem that needs to be addressed by a professional. Often, when there is water coming from this part of a boiler, it means there is an issue with the pressure released valve. It could mean that the boiler is old and the valve has just worn out.
- Make sure you can get to the flue. New regulations for residential boilers require homeowners have boilers installed where they can get to the flue. If you cannot access this, you will need someone to change that for you.
Most of what homeowners need to do to keep their residential boilers happy is keep an eye on them. Know how they sound when they are running and working well. You should never attempt to repair it yourself. Leave that to the professional plumbing contractors.