NW3

Boiler Repair in Hampstead and Belsize Park

Gas Safe engineers across NW3, 24 hours a day.

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

What is the boiler doing?

Most houses here kept their cylinder, so 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

"Very professional and would recommend to anyone!"
Abby M.
"Took his time to listen to my concerns hence it was a nice job. Thank u so much"
Frank E.
"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

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.

We cover Hampstead, and the whole of London

Tell us the address and you will get an honest answer about timing. View areas we cover

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 cylinderIn NW3 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. Parts are guaranteed for a year.

If a repair is not worth doing, we will say so on the phone. A fifteen year old boiler with a failed main heat exchanger is a replacement conversation, and pretending otherwise helps nobody. Call 0203 868 6134.

We come to every street around here

Almost nobody says they live in NW3. They say Swiss Cottage, or Frognal, or the Vale of Health.

Names we hear on NW3 calls, and the postcodes around it

Grouped by postcode, because that is the one part of an address everybody knows.

NW3Hampstead village, Belsize Park, Swiss Cottage, Frognal, South End Green, Vale of Health and the Heath side roads
NW1Primrose Hill, Chalk Farm, Regent's Park and the Camden Town border
NW6West Hampstead, Brondesbury and Kilburn
NW5Gospel Oak, Dartmouth Park and Kentish Town
NW2Cricklewood and Childs Hill

We work right across London, north and south of the river. If yours is not here, ring and tell us the address.

The houses here change the job

Four and five storeys, and almost all of them kept the cylinder.

NW3 is large Victorian and Edwardian houses, plus the mansion blocks around Belsize Park and Swiss Cottage. Many were divided into flats. Plenty were not. What they nearly all share is that the hot water cylinder stayed when the terraces elsewhere went over to combis. That means two appliances rather than one. A boiler on the wall, a tank in the airing cupboard, motorised valves between them, two or three zones, and often a pump keeping hot water standing ready at the top of the house. Six things can fail. Only one of them is the boiler. There is a second Hampstead problem, and it is the flue. Much of the village, Fitzjohn's Avenue and parts of Belsize sit in conservation areas, so a flue cannot simply be moved to whichever wall is convenient. On a front elevation it often cannot go there at all. That is worth knowing before anybody quotes you for a replacement, because it changes where the appliance can live.

Did you know A house with a cylinder keeps 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 still doing.

Heating fine, hot water gone

The commonest call from NW3, and it is rarely the boiler.

On a stored system, heating that works and hot water that does not points at the cylinder side. There are three usual culprits. The motorised valve that diverts flow to the tank. The cylinder thermostat. The immersion element. Each costs a fraction of a new appliance, and each gets mistaken for one. The other pattern here is the top floor tap running cold while the ground floor is fine. That is the secondary circuit, not the boiler. In a tall house a pump keeps hot water moving so the top does not wait, and when that pump seizes or the circuit furs up, the furthest tap notices first. An unvented cylinder is a pressurised store, so working on one is notifiable and needs a G3 qualification on top of Gas Safe registration. Plenty of firms hold one and not the other, which is why a cylinder call so often becomes two visits. Our engineers hold both, so it is one visit and one charge. See unvented cylinder repair.

Water running from a pipe outside? If it comes from a tundish, the cylinder is discharging and a safety device has failed. Turn the boiler off, isolate the cold feed if you can find the stopcock, and call. That is an emergency, not a booking for next week.

What hard water is doing to your boiler

The one thing a yearly visit genuinely prevents.

London water comes off the Thames and the Lea, both of which run through chalk. It measures roughly 277 milligrams of calcium carbonate per litre, and that figure is much the same across the city. Where it lands is what differs. In a combi it furs the plate heat exchanger and the hot water goes lukewarm. In a Hampstead house that kept its cylinder it lands on the coil inside the tank and in the secondary circuit instead. Same water, different part, and a scaled coil reads as a failing boiler often enough that boilers get condemned for it.

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, and a power flush deals with what is already in there.

Google Reviews

"Steve was very helpful and responsive"
Richard E.
"He was very professional tidy and polite. Would recommend!"
Anna M.
"These guys provide an excellent service. A pleasure to deal with and professional"
Day Walker

Repair or replace

Age does not decide it. The failed part does.

A pump, a diverter valve, a thermostat or a fan is a repair on almost any appliance, whatever its age. A failed main heat exchanger on a boiler well past ten years is the point where the arithmetic stops working, and we will tell you that rather than sell you the repair. What we will not do is use age on its own as the argument. Plenty of boilers in NW3 are older than the people quoting to replace them suggest is acceptable, and are running perfectly. Our boiler replacement page sets out what a replacement actually involves, including what changes when a stored system is converted, and the costs guide explains what moves the figure.

That answer costs nothing. It is the one most people ring us for. Call 0203 868 6134.

Nearby areas

Next door to here we cover Islington and Highbury and Hampstead Garden Suburb and Finchley. Everything else is on boiler repair in north London and areas we cover.

Ealing and NorthfieldsLarge Edwardian houses, zoned heatingView services Crystal PalaceHigh ground, mains pressure mattersView services Hampstead Garden Suburb and FinchleyOften two appliances in one houseView services Highgate, Muswell Hill and Crouch EndEdwardian houses that kept their cylindersView services Sutton and CheamChalk belt, scale is the first checkView 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.

No heating, or no hot water?

Tell us whether there is a cylinder in an airing cupboard, and how many floors the hot water has to reach. Those two answers usually tell us what has failed before anybody sets off.

Call 0203 868 6134

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

Do you cover my street in Hampstead?

Yes. The names listed above are the ones we hear most, not a boundary, and they are nowhere near a complete list. We work right across London, north and south of the river. Ring and tell us the address and you will get a straight answer about timing.

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 that points at the cylinder side: the motorised valve that diverts to the tank, the cylinder thermostat, or the immersion element. All three cost a fraction of an appliance. Our unvented cylinder repair page explains what is involved.

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 pump fails or the circuit scales up, the furthest tap is the one that notices first. It is a repair, and 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 while the pipework is the original house system, older and dirtier than any manufacturer assumes. It is why a new part sometimes fixes nothing and a power flush does. 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 drives the figure.

Do you repair Worcester Bosch and Vaillant boilers in Hampstead?

Yes, and every other major make. Those two are the ones we see most in NW3, usually system boilers feeding a cylinder rather than combis. Ideal, Baxi, Glow-worm and Potterton are common in the flats and conversions. If your boiler is showing a fault code, the brand pages explain what that code means for your make before you ring.

I am a landlord with a flat in NW3. Can you do the certificate too?

Yes, and on the same visit where the appliance passes, so a let property is not off the market twice. See landlord gas safety certificates. If the flat has no gas supply we cover electric boilers as well.

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.

The makes we see most in NW3

Every major make, and the fault code pages often name the part before you ring.

The split here follows the housing. The larger period houses that kept a cylinder run system boilers, and in Hampstead that is mostly Worcester Bosch and Vaillant. The mansion blocks and conversions around Belsize Park and Swiss Cottage run combis, where Ideal, Baxi, Glow-worm and Potterton all turn up and the plate heat exchanger is the first thing we check. If your boiler is showing a code, the make decides what it means. A Vaillant F75 and a Worcester Bosch EA are different faults with different fixes, and neither of them on its own means a new boiler. Each brand page lists the codes for that make and what actually causes them.

The full list is on our boiler brands page, and general repairs are on boiler repair in London.

Google Reviews

"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.
"Engineer excellent and very time efficient."
Fiona G.
"Efficient and amiable service all round. Even managed to save me money by fixing a thermostat that we thought was broken."
Graziano B.

Book an engineer in Hampstead

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.