Find a Heating Engineer you can trust in Dalwhinnie.

What Size Of Oil Boiler Do I Need?

When it comes to oil boilers, there are three main types - the combi, system and conventional. Within these types, you’d discover there happens to be a wide range of sizes to choose from. First and foremost, we must note that the size has to do with the amount of energy they offer to your heating and hot water system rather than the physical dimensions.

The rule of thumb is, the larger your house (which implies the more hot taps, radiators and showers), the more powerful (bigger) the oil boiler you’d require. For instance, a four-bedroom apartment with three showers occupied by a family of four will definitely need a more powerful boiler than a a bungalow featuring a single occupant.

It is, however, important to also note that it’s not all about going for the biggest oil boiler. If you decide to choose an oil boiler with a much bigger capacity that needed, not only will you be wasting money on the initial purchase as well as installation, but also lose money operating it. And in a converse scenario, if you go for the cheaper and lower-powered oil boiler in an attempt to save up some money, you’re most likely to end up with tepid radiators while also frequently running out of hot water. Hence, the importance of determining the appropriate size of boiler for your particular household before purchase.

To determine the appropriate size, determining the number of bathrooms, radiators as well as the total number of people living in the property would be a step in the right direction.

Numbers of Radiators Combi System Boiler Regular

Up to 10 24 to 27kW 9 to 18kW 9 to 18kW

10 to 15 28 to 34kW 18 to 26kW 18 to 26kW

15 to 20 35 to 42kW 27 to 40kW 27 to 40kW

How Often Should You Service An Oil Boiler?

If you have an oil boiler, you probably know the importance of having it serviced to ensure its proper functioning, prolong its useful life as well as ensuring the safety of your home. However, the question that most frequently arises is how often would one need to service the prized hating system? If you’re also looking for the answer to this same question, then you’ve come to the right place. To make sure your oil boiler is running smoothly, safely and efficiently, it should be serviced as often as once in a year. You certainly do want to know the numerous disadvantages of failing to service your boiler. Not only will neglecting your oil boiler service result in possible faults as well as higher energy bill caused by its inefficiency, but can also lead to your warranty ending early.

Therefore, you should ensure your oil boiler is serviced by a qualified heating engineer on an annual basis to make sure it’s running just as it should. This will give you peace of mind knowing you wouldn’t be spending huge bucks on possible repairs and in some cases, replacements.

As a landlord in the UK, it’s a legal requirement to make sure that your oil boiler and flue system is services on a yearly basis in your rental property.

Unlike a gas and oil boiler, an electric boiler do not require the same level of maintenance or servicing. However, it’ll be a nice move to ensure that it’s also checked once in a while.

Overall, it’s important to note that failure to service your oil boiler on a yearly basis can give rise to multiple risks. These includes a rise in energy bills, carbon monoxide leak, fault that can cause boiler breakdown as well as an expensive repair or replacement bill.

Your LPG storage tank will need to go outside your property, possibly underground if you have limited space. There are planning rules that restrict where you can put your tank, especially if your property is listed or on designated land. Take a look at our planning permission article to find out more.

How Much Does It Cost To Move A Gas Meter?

When your gas meter is not in the right location while completing your renovation works or extending your property, it can be a worrying experience.

As a homeowner, you’re not allowed by the law to move your gas meter by yourself - it’s a very dangerous task that’s too risky to undertake just by watching a Youtube video or reading a blog post. Moving of a gas meter can and should only be carried out by a qualified and licensed gas supplier. And this, ultimately, gives rise to the question - how much does it cost to move a gas meter? Before we provide an answer for that, let’s look at what moving of a gas meter entails.

First and foremost, moving of a gas meter typically involves switching off the gas source to your home or property. The pipeline about 2 metres away from your property would be cut into for safety reasons and diverted into another position. Furthermore, you can as well apply that your meter should be re-fitted and re-linked to the inner copper pipeline, but that’s if the inner copper pipeline happens to be within two metres of the new location of your gas meter.

The time involved in the completion of a gas meter re-location project depends largely on the complexity of the job as each project is unique. Typically, the standard timescale from preparation to the final stage of moving a gas meter will take between 4 to 8 weeks. Finally, how much will it cost to relocate your gas meter?

As there are no government funds to subsidize gas meter relocation costs, this can be a very expensive work to carry out. Generally, the price to move a gas meter of about 5m will start within the range of £640 to £670.

Re-pressurising your boiler means that you allow more water to enter system via the filling loop. It can be easy to re-pressurise your boiler yourself. Always check your manual, but there are some simple steps you can take to restore pressure to your boiler:

1. Switch off your boiler and let it cool completely
2. Make sure both ends of your filling loop are attached
3. Open both valves to allow cold water into the system – you’ll hear it start to move
4. Look out for your pressure gauge to show 1.5 bar
5. Close both valves
6. Switch your boiler back on
7. Undo both ends of your filling loop and remove it. Remember some water might come out, so be ready to catch some spillage!

How To Install A Gas Cooktop In An Island

Are you thinking about installing a gas cooktop in your kitchen island? If yes, then you must know that there are clearance requirements that must be met (before you proceed) between the cut out and the countertop’s edge. Basically, there are incremental requirements for island installation due to the fact that it does not make an assumption that the product is going to be fitted against a rear wall that acts to protect the back of the unit. As a result, while doing an island install we must put the safety of the product into consideration much more that we do a standard install. What’s more? This island clearance requirement develops from a third-party agency and is a standard with all brands. So how do you install a gas cooktop in an island having the aforementioned requirements in mind?

• Use a foil tape to line the inside edges of the cut out. The function of this is to prevent heat damage as well as countertop’s discolouration. Put the cooktop top on a secured surface.

• Identify the pipe coming out of the cooktop’s side or bottom and brush onto the threads of the manifold entrance.

• Pass the pressure regulator onto the entrance of the manifold and make use of a wrench to tighten it.

• Brush the pipe joint compound onto one of the flare union adaptor’s threads and pass it into the regulator’s open end. Make it slightly tight with a full turn of the wrench.

• Connect the flare union adaptor’s open end with the flexible appliance connector hose, upon brushing on pipe joint compound.

• Put foam tape on the cooktop underside’s edges, if your cooktop comes with a glass burner plate.

• Turn the cooktop to set it into the cutout.

• Apply pipe-joint compound onto the flare union adaptor left and secure it firmly into the gas shutout valve.

• Connect the flexible hose connector’s free end with the flare union adaptor.

Condensing boilers are the in-thing when it comes to modern heating systems in UK homes and across the globe for a good reason. This is primarily due to the fact that condensing boilers happens to be highly efficient as it enables the fuel you’re burning to heat up your home go a lot further. Having a new high efficiency condensing boiler rather than an old G-rated non condensing boiler will not only enhance your heating controls, but also save you a lot of money annually. In this article, we’re going to take you through the basics of a condensing boiler. Let’s take a closer look!

If you’re interested in getting a greener and more efficient boiler, you simply can’t afford to look beyond a high efficiency condensing boiler. This is purely due to the fact that these condensing boilers happens to make a better use of the heat they’re able to produce from burning fuels like oil or gas ( in other words, they require less heat from the burner, which makes them a lot more efficient).

So how does a condensing boiler work? Unlike a non-condensing heat-nly boiler, some heat will be wasted in form of hot gases which are released from the flue. Meanwhile a condensing boiler captures some of the heat from these gases and puts them to use for heating up water that’s coming back from your central heating system. As a result, it requires just a minimal heat from the burner which make the boiler more efficient.

You should take note that all new modern boilers are condensing boilers. Therefore if you’re planning to replace an old boiler with a new one, you’ll definitely be buying a new condensing boiler and benefit from all the efficiency and savings that comes with it.

Who Fixes Boilers?

With boiler running for several hours in a day and working hard to ensure that our home stays warm, even when we tend to take it for granted it’s always there give us the heat we need whenever we need it. So in the event whereby the inevitable happens and your boiler breakdown, which professional is the most suitable to call for help? When the pressure is on to stop a boiler leak or bring back warmth to your home, knowing who to call can make all the difference.

When you need a professional to fix your boiler, the right professional to call is a heating engineer. Heating engineers work mainly on heating I both homes and businesses, so you’d be right to call them specialists in all heating matters. As a result of this, you may want to give them a call when experiencing some issues with your boiler as they’d be in the best position than any other professional to give you a proper solution.

Generally, heating engineers are experts when it comes to fixing boilers and can help with various tasks such as installing a new boiler, boiler repairs, installing new gas pipes, repairing gas leaks, changing radiators, fixing leaks, installing heating controls and many more. What’s more? A boiler repair has to do with working with gas and before you can do that you must be a Gas Safe registered engineer as required by the legislations in the UK. In other words, any gas boiler related issue must be tackled by a Gas Safe registered engineer as this is a very dangerous fuel in which the services must be provided to highest standards of safety. Only heating engineers can be a Gas Safe registered engineer to work on gas boilers.