A warm home helps reduce illness and prevent damp. There are checks you can do to fix your heating and hot water before you report a repair.
Make sure your boiler is turned on at the wall. If your boiler is on and displays an error code or there is a flashing light, press the reset button.
If nothing electrical in your home is working, check outside for signs of a power cut, like streetlights not working.
If it is a power cut, call 105. If it is not a power cut, call 0191 525 5000 to report a repair.
Switch on another gas appliance, like a gas cooker, to make sure your home’s gas supply is working. If another appliance works, it means your gas supply is fine.
Make sure you have enough credit. Some energy suppliers switch off a gas supply if credit falls below a certain level. If your prepayment meter has enough credit, follow the instructions on your meter to reset it.
Check its display to see if there is a battery icon. If there is, it means your thermostat needs new batteries. Replace the batteries and press the reset button to restart the thermostat.
If the batteries are OK, set the thermostat to be above the current temperature of the room. This may cause your boiler and heating to start working.
Make sure your boiler’s pressure gauge is between 1 and 1.5 bar. If it is lower than 1 bar or in the red, your boiler pressure is too low.
How you increase your boiler pressure depends on your boiler. These steps are for the most common boilers we have in our properties.
After you have used your boiler and it has cooled down, check the pressure has stayed above 1 bar. If it is below 1 bar or if you regularly need to increase your boiler’s pressure:
When your boiler is running, check the temperature at the top and bottom of your radiators. If the top part of your radiator is colder than the bottom half, the radiator has trapped air in it. If more than one radiator is cold, we need to check your entire heating system.
To remove trapped air and make your radiators more efficient, you need to bleed your radiators. To bleed a radiator, you need a radiator key and a dry cloth.
Follow these steps to bleed a radiator.
It is important to do this before winter if you use your radiators less during the summer.
Your repair is classed as an emergency if you have done these checks and:
You can report an emergency repair 24 hours a day by calling 0191 525 5000.
If your repair is not an emergency, you can: