Winter is the time of year when boilers sale adverts are everywhere. There’s no real mystery to the trend – it’s when most boilers fail, develop faults or are otherwise deemed to be inefficient and unreliable. There are actually only a few things that can go wrong with a boiler, as the basic idea isn’t very complicated at all. There are only a few parts involved, and generally any faults are related to how complex these are. Newer boilers, with cutting edge technology, can be less reliable than older ones using established technology, at least until fitters, engineers and manufacturers understand how they are used in the real world.

We’ve put together a brief guide that covers some of the things that can go wrong with a boiler, and what you can expect to pay to fix them. Remember that the prices given are rough averages though, and you may be quoted more or less depending on your location and the type of boiler you have.

• Circuit board failure is fairly common, and can leave you without heating or hot water as total failure can completely shut down your boiler. Depending on how old your system is and whether replacements circuit boards are easily available, you can expect to pay anything from about £180 to £300 to have a replacement fitted.

• Pumps are an essential part of the system, and they often fail after they’ve been unused during the summertime. A partial failure may still allow your boiler to produce hot water but there won’t be a way to push it through the system effectively, and you’ll have a very inefficient system. In a typical system you’ll be looking at replacement costs of between £180 and £250.

• Flue fans can be a source of failure, and your boiler will shut down if there is a problem with the fan as it is dangerous if the exhaust gasses can’t be vented to the outside. Fortunately, they aren’t usually very difficult to replace and there’s nothing very advanced about them, so the cost of replacement will be about £150.

• Leaks in the pipework can be difficult to trace and fix, and you might not even notice until the boiler shuts down completely. Keep an eye on the water pressure in the boiler if you have a gauge fitted, or take note if you here the tank filling up more often than usual. The costs can be difficult to estimate until you’ve actually traced and fixed the leak, so it can be anything from a few pounds to a hundred or more.

If you do end up having to buy new parts, or even replace the boiler completely, then the best time to do it is during the summer when many manufacturers have boilers sale, often with big discounts. Obviously, it will help if you know when your boiler is going to need repairs or replacement, so book your service for the summer too and your service engineer will be able to advise you, giving you plenty of time to get repairs done when parts and labour are cheap.

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