British Gas warns customers who have a boiler in their house face losing £350

British Gas warns customers who have a boiler in their house face losing £350
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


British Gas has issued a £350 warning to customers who have a boiler in their house. British Gas warned that neglecting to run your boiler could lead to expensive problems, with repair costs reaching as much as £350 amid the Cost of Living crisis.

"Even though you (hopefully) won’t need your heating during the autumn months, it’s wise to turn on your boiler for 10-15 minutes every few weeks," they explained. It’s not an obvious cleaning job, but keeping your boiler dust-free pays dividends in the long run. You’ll prevent its tubes and pipes from getting clogged up, hampering its performance, and causing higher heating bills.

To prevent dust settling on your boiler, give its outer housing a once-over whenever you clean the house. You should never try to clean the interior of your boiler yourself, but that will be done during servicing – another reason to have your boiler serviced regularly by a Gas Safe engineer.

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British Gas said turning your boiler on will help cut bills, saying: "This helps prevent the pump and other components from seizing up due to inactivity." It says: "Prevention is better than cure, so pipe lagging is essential. The best time to fit your pipe insulation is before winter sets in. If you’ve got visions of being on your knees with yards of material, don’t worry.

"Two common questions are: ‘Is it ok to turn off the boiler in summer?’ and ‘Do you leave a combi-boiler on all the time?’ Once the weather has warmed up, you can turn your boiler off. If you have a combi-boiler, you simply need to switch it to hot water only.

"But to prevent problems when winter returns, it’s a good idea to switch your boiler on once a month for 15 minutes during the summer. Boilers don’t run properly when the pressure is too low. The right boiler pressure is between 1 and 1.5 bar."