No heating or hot water

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.

Check your electricity supply

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 and select option 2 to report a repair.

Check your gas supply

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.

If you have a prepayment meter

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 your thermostat

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.

Check your boiler’s pressure

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.

  1. Turn your boiler off.
  2. Under your boiler there will be a filling loop. This may be a flexible hose or rigid hose or pipe that connects 2 water pipes. There will be 1 or 2 taps at either end. These may be grey, blue or black. If there are no taps, there may be a white oval-shaped handle.
  3. Turn the handle or taps to the left so they are in the same direction of the hose. You will hear water running and see the boiler pressure gauge increasing.
  4. When the pressure is at 1.5 bar, turn the handle or taps to the right so they are back in their original position, 90 degrees to the hose or pipe.
  5. If the pressure stays up and there are no obvious leaks, turn your boiler back on.

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, call 0191 525 5000 and select option 2 to report a repair, Monday to Thursday, from 8:30am to 5pm, and Friday, from 8:30am to 12:30pm.

Mondays and Tuesdays are the days when we get the most calls about repairs. This means call waiting times are less on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Check your radiators

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.

  1. Switch off your central heating and let the system cool.
  2. When the system is cool, find the square bleed screw at one end of your radiator.
  3. Place the dry cloth under the bleed screw to soak up the small amount of water that comes out.
  4. Put the radiator key into the screw and turn it carefully and slowly to the left until you hear a hissing sound as the trapped air escapes. Only turn the key 2 times so the screw stays in the radiator.
  5. When the hissing stops, carefully and slowly turn the screw to the right but avoid tightening it too much.

It is important to do this before winter if you use your radiators less during the summer.

How to report a repair

Your repair is an emergency if you have done these checks and:

  • your boiler, heating and hot water is still not working
  • you do not have another form of heating like a fire
  • it is between 31 October and 1 May

Call 0191 525 5000 and select option 2 to report an emergency repair, 24 hours a day.

If your repair is not an emergency, call 0191 525 5000 and select option 2, Monday to Thursday, from 8:30am to 5pm, and Friday, from 8:30am to 12:30pm.

Mondays and Tuesdays are the days when we get the most calls about repairs. This means call waiting times are less on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.