What to do when there is no power to the boiler?

There are many parts of the world where winter brings along unbearably cold weather. With a cold wind blowing non-stop and several feet of snowfall every other day, life in such parts of the world often comes to a screeching halt. Outdoor activities are reduced to the most essential ones and most of life moves indoors. Thankfully, the indoors are not as bad as outdoors owing to the availability of boilers.

Boilers are one of the key appliances that help us fight cold in winter. Boilers are key to generating energy that keeps residential and commercial buildings at temperatures that are suitable for living and working. The way a boiler works are that it produces heat energy by boiling water. The boiled water later generates steam that is used to warm buildings, mostly through radiators.

Along with boilers, radiators play a key role in a building’s heating system. A radiator is made up of a series of metal tubes or fins that obtain hot water from the boiler and use the heated water’s energy to transfer heat into the room.

How boilers work

A boiler is essentially a water tank that has the ability to heat water. The water in the boiler is usually heated using one of the various kinds of fuels including gas, oil, and wood. Alternatively, boilers can also be powered by electricity and even solar energy. Once the water is brought to temperature it is routed around the house for use in daily activities like washing, bathing, and cleaning during the winter season and to warm rooms through radiators. Boilers come in several sizes and specifications that can suit a building’s hot water and heating needs. One of the most common types of boilers is the gas boiler.

These boilers are powered by natural gas and are generally considered one of the most efficient types of boilers available in the market. Other types of boilers include oil boilers that burn oil to generate heat, electric boilers, and solar-powered boilers.

Boilers typically heat water in one of two ways. The first type is a fire-tube boiler, wherein hot steam and gasses produced by the heating move through conducting tubes placed in the boiler’s water tank. The movement of gasses heats the water in the tank that is subsequently passed through the heating system. 

The other type of boiler is the water tube boiler. Instead of gasses moving through tubes, water in the tank moves through tubes heated by hot gasses produced by the burning of fuel in a heating chamber.

Boiler without power 

You may often find your boiler without any power, leaving your heating system cold and out of service. The development may or may not require serious intervention, and it is best to seek the services of a professional boiler repair and maintenance expert.

However, you could run a few tests on your own as well. You can usually begin by checking the power supply to the boiler. An unresponsive boiler could be the result of something as trivial as a faulty electrical outlet or a tripped circuit breaker.

There could also be something wrong with the electronic control unit inside the boiler and you could always use a professional scanner to read the system for any errors or warning sounds and lights. Consulting the manual could also be a great idea to scan for errors.

In gas-powered boilers, the gas tip that initiates the spark often gets clogged by rust and carbon deposits that block the gas supply and keep the pilot from igniting. This tip might be in need of some thorough cleaning to get your boiler going.

You might be able to discover the problem on your own through your own investigation, but there is really no substitute for a professional boiler maintenance service. A qualified technician would help you save time and effort by quickly identifying the fault and getting your boiler back in service.