North of the river

Boiler Repair in North London

Central, west and north of the river. Every postcode, 24 hours a day.

Answered 24 hours a day by a technical customer service member.

What is the boiler doing?

In a house that kept its cylinder, the symptom usually tells us which of the two appliances failed.

Gas Safe registered engineers
An engineer as soon as we can, booked around you
Cylinder and unvented systems as well as combis
Parts guaranteed for a year, rates agreed before work starts

No heating or hot water right now? Call 0203 868 6134. We will tell you the earliest realistic slot rather than the one you want to hear.

Google Reviews

"He was very professional tidy and polite. Would recommend!"
Anna M.
"Engineer excellent and very time efficient."
Fiona G.
"Very professional and would recommend to anyone!"
Abby M.

Prefer we call you? Request a call back

Two details to start. Add your postcode and whether there is a cylinder in an airing cupboard and we can usually tell you the likely part before we attend.

Central and prime London

Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea. Mansion blocks, stucco terraces and plant in basements.

SW1 W1 · WestminsterBelgravia, Mayfair and KnightsbridgeMansion blocks and plant in basements SW3 SW7 SW10Chelsea and South KensingtonStucco terraces, porters, shared risers W11 W8 · Kensington and ChelseaNotting Hill and Holland ParkStucco terraces with basement plant NW8 W9 · WestminsterSt John's Wood and Maida ValeLarge houses and mansion blocks

Also on the round every week: Marylebone, Fitzrovia, Bloomsbury, Holborn, Clerkenwell, Soho, Covent Garden, Pimlico, Bayswater, Little Venice, Earls Court and the City.

West London

Hammersmith and Fulham, Hounslow and Ealing. Big Victorians on S-plan, and Edwardian family houses with zoned heating.

W6 W12Hammersmith and Shepherd's BushBig Victorians, many now conversions SW6Fulham and Parsons GreenTerraces and mansion flats mixed W4 · HounslowChiswick and Bedford ParkBig Victorians on S-plan systems W5 W13Ealing and NorthfieldsLarge Edwardian houses, zoned heating

Also on the round every week: Barons Court, Brook Green, Acton, Hanwell, Greenford, Northolt, Turnham Green, Gunnersbury and Kew Bridge.

North London

Camden, Islington, Haringey and Barnet. Large period houses, most of which never gave up their cylinder.

NW3 · CamdenHampstead and Belsize ParkLarge Victorians, secondary circulation N1 N5Islington and HighburyGeorgian terraces, tight plant space N6 N8 N10 · HaringeyHighgate, Muswell Hill and Crouch EndEdwardian houses that kept their cylinders NW11 N2 N3 · BarnetHampstead Garden Suburb and FinchleyOften two appliances in one house N20 NW7 · BarnetTotteridge, Whetstone and Mill HillLarge detached, cylinders retained

Also on the round every week: Swiss Cottage, West Hampstead, Primrose Hill, Kentish Town, Camden Town, Archway, Tufnell Park, Golders Green, East Finchley, Kilburn, Willesden and Cricklewood. Every area we have written up is on areas we cover, and the other half of London is on boiler repair in south London.

What happens when you call

Three steps. The first one usually tells us most of it.

Tell us where you are and whether there is a cylinderNorth of the river most houses still have one. That single answer decides which of the two appliances we are diagnosing, before anybody sets off.
You will know what has probably failed, and when we can comeWe tell you the likely part and a realistic slot. If we cannot reach you today we say so on the phone, rather than after you have waited in.
Nothing starts until you have agreed the costThe engineer runs a full diagnostic, then puts the fault, the part and the labour in writing. Nothing proceeds until you have seen it.

Tell us where you are, and whether there is a hot water cylinder in an airing cupboard. With those two answers we can usually name the part before anybody sets off. Call 0203 868 6134.

The call-out that costs you twice

It is the commonest complaint we hear about the visit before ours.

Most of these houses kept their hot water cylinder. That means two appliances, not one. A boiler on the wall, and a tank in the airing cupboard. Between them sit motorised valves, two or three zones, and often a pump that keeps hot water moving so the top floor tap does not run cold. Six things can fail. Only one of them is the boiler. So the hot water goes and the boiler gets blamed. Somebody fits a part to an appliance that was working perfectly. You pay, the problem comes back, and you pay again. It is the commonest wrong call-out we are asked to put right. That is why our engineers work out which half of the system failed before anyone quotes for anything. You will know what it is before we start. The rate is agreed on the phone, the engineer runs a full diagnostic, and you get a written breakdown before a spanner is lifted. If the honest answer is that a repair is not worth doing, we say so and there is nothing to pay.

Did you know A house with a cylinder usually still has hot water for a while after the boiler has stopped, because the tank holds what it already heated. It is why people ring a day later than they should. If the heating has gone, the boiler has already failed, whatever the taps are doing.

Hard water goes for the cylinder here

It is the same water as the rest of London. A different part gives out first.

London water comes off the Thames and the Lea, both of which run through chalk, and it measures roughly 277 milligrams of calcium carbonate per litre. That figure is the same on both sides of the river and across every postcode on this page. What changes is where the scale ends up. In a combi it lands on the plate heat exchanger, and the hot water goes lukewarm. In a house that kept its cylinder it lands somewhere else. On the coil inside the tank, and in the secondary circuit that keeps hot water standing ready upstairs. That is most of Hampstead, Highgate and Hampstead Garden Suburb. The symptom is different too. The top floor tap goes cold first and the ground floor stays fine. The secondary pump is pushing through a circuit that has been closing up for years. That matters because the two get confused. A scaled cylinder coil reads as a failing boiler, and a boiler gets condemned for it. The first check on a stored system is the coil and the pump, not the appliance.

Two parts stop it, and they do different jobs. A scale reducer on the mains protects the hot water side. A magnetic filter on the return catches the magnetite that blocks exchangers and seizes pumps. Both go in during a yearly service, at which point the boiler stands a real chance of outliving its guarantee.

Where the boiler actually is

Half the job is reaching it. That is not a complaint.

Rarely somewhere convenient. The Georgian terraces around Islington and Highbury were never built with anywhere to put one. So it ends up in a cupboard on a half landing, in a basement kitchen, or behind expensive joinery. Across Highgate, Muswell Hill and Crouch End the loft conversion is the usual culprit. The cylinder stayed. The room around it did not. The pipe run now takes a route nobody planned. In Hampstead Garden Suburb and Finchley the houses are often large enough for two appliances, and half the diagnosis is working out which one failed. Central and prime London brings a different problem. Mansion blocks and stucco terraces put the plant in a basement and share risers between flats. There is a porter to book in with and a managing agent who wants paperwork first. The fault is sometimes in the riser, not in your flat at all, so we check that before taking a working appliance apart.

None of that is a reason to reschedule. Access notes on the call save an hour on the day, so tell us about the porter, the parking or the joinery when you ring.

Google Reviews

"Took his time to listen to my concerns hence it was a nice job. Thank u so much"
Frank E.
"Efficient and amiable service all round. Even managed to save me money by fixing a thermostat that we thought was broken."
Graziano B.
"Steve was very helpful and responsive"
Richard E.

Found your area?

Tell us where you are, what the boiler is doing, and whether there is a cylinder in an airing cupboard. Those three answers usually tell us what has failed before anybody sets off.

Call 0203 868 6134

No heat tonight?

The line is answered through the night by somebody technical. Call 0203 868 6134

More than boiler repairs

All at the same rate, in every area on this page.

Emergency boiler repairNo heat or hot water tonight. We tell you on the phone whether somebody can reach you today, before you rearrange your evening.
Boiler repairA full diagnostic, the rate agreed first, and a written breakdown of the fault, the part and the labour before anything starts.
Unvented cylinder repairMost firms will not touch it. Ours are G3 qualified as well as Gas Safe, so the boiler and the cylinder are one visit and one charge.
Boiler servicingThe visit that stops next winter's breakdown. A scale reducer and a magnetic filter go in while we are there, which in London water is worth more than the service.
Power flushingFor radiators cold at the bottom and a boiler that bangs. It fixes the cause rather than replacing the part the sludge broke.
Boiler replacementOnly when the arithmetic says so. We will tell you a boiler is worth keeping, which is not what everybody quoting you will say.
Landlord gas safety, CP12Certificate and any repair on the same visit where the appliance passes, so a let property is not off the market twice.
Electric boiler repairNo gas supply, which is a lot of London flats. Same engineers, same rate, same year on the parts.

We would rather repair than replace. Age does not decide it, the failed part does. If a repair is not worth doing we will say so, and that answer costs nothing.

Two more worth a look. What a repair or a replacement costs is driven by the part, not the postcode, and our costs guide explains what moves the figure. Every make we work on is listed on boiler brands.

Notting Hill and Holland ParkStucco terraces, plant in the basementView services Crystal PalaceHigh ground, mains pressure mattersView services Epsom and EwellLarge family houses into SurreyView services Hampstead and Belsize ParkLarge Victorians, stored hot waterView services Chiswick and Bedford ParkBig Victorians on S-plan systemsView services All areasEvery area we have written upView all

These are where we work most, not a boundary. An engineer attends anywhere in north London and south London. Tell us where you are and we will say plainly when we can get to you.

Safety

If you smell gas: do not touch any switches. Open the windows, leave the property, then call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999. That line is free and open 24 hours. Call them before you call us. If a carbon monoxide alarm is sounding: get everyone out immediately, then call 999 if anyone feels unwell. Do not go back in until the property has been ventilated and checked. If the boiler locks out repeatedly: try one reset. If it locks out again straight away, stop. Repeated resets hide a fault that is still there, and on a gas appliance that is not a risk worth taking. Under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, only a Gas Safe registered engineer may work on gas appliances. Never open the boiler casing yourself.

Common questions

Which areas do you work in north of the river?

All of them. The areas listed above have a page of their own because the housing there has a pattern worth writing about, but an engineer attends every postcode north of the river. If yours is not among them that is not a no, it is just somewhere we have not written up yet. The full list is on areas we cover.

My radiators are hot but there is no hot water. Do I need a new boiler?

Almost certainly not. In a house with a cylinder, heating working and hot water gone points at the cylinder side: the thermostat, the motorised valve that diverts to the tank, or the immersion element. All three cost a fraction of an appliance. Our unvented cylinder repair page explains what is involved, or ring and we will tell you which it is likely to be.

The top floor tap runs cold but downstairs is fine. What is that?

Usually the secondary circuit rather than the boiler. In a tall house a pump keeps hot water standing ready at the top, and when that circuit scales up or the pump fails, the furthest tap is the one that notices first. It is a repair, not a replacement, and it is worth a service afterwards to stop it recurring.

My flat is in a converted house. Does that change anything?

It can. The boiler may be modern but the pipework is often the original house system, which is older and dirtier than a manufacturer assumes. It is why a magnetic filter earns its place in a conversion, and why a proper power flush often fixes what a new part would not. In a mansion block the fault is sometimes in the shared riser rather than in your flat at all.

Will I know the cost before you start?

Yes. The rate is agreed on the phone before anybody sets off, and the engineer gives you a written breakdown of the fault, the part and the labour before any repair begins. Nothing goes ahead until you have seen it. Our costs guide sets out what actually drives the figure.

Do you charge more for one area than another?

No. The rate is the rate and it is agreed before we set off. What varies between one call and the next is availability, never price, and we will tell you which it is when you ring.

What if the boiler is not worth repairing?

We tell you, and there is nothing to pay for being told. Age alone does not decide it, the failed part does. If replacement genuinely is the better spend we will say so, and our boiler replacement page sets out what that involves.

Are you available at night and at weekends?

The line is answered 24 hours a day by a technical customer service member, not a call centre reading from a script. In the middle of the night we will tell you honestly whether it is a tonight job or a first thing in the morning job, which is what an emergency call-out should get you.

Boiler brands we repair

Every major make. The fault code pages will often tell you what has failed before you even call.

Google Reviews

"These guys provide an excellent service. A pleasure to deal with and professional"
Day Walker
"Very polite and respectable engineer...had two other heating company that struggle to find the issue with my boiler but ASAP repaired it on the same day thanks absolute life saver"
JA Morris
"Very happy with this company very and professionally service. Fixed my leaking TRV and after draining my system and the refilled and vented the air . Thank you I have heating now"
Jamie K.

Book an engineer north of the river

Tell us where you are and whether there is a cylinder in an airing cupboard. With those two answers we can usually name the likely part, give you the rate, and book somebody in, all on the one call.

Call 0203 868 6134 Book an engineer online

Gas Safe registered. Unvented cylinder qualified. Parts guaranteed for a year. Covering London, north and south of the river, 24 hours a day.