Moving house is a really exciting process. It can, however, be quite stressful too! There are a few things you can check immediately to reduce further stress.
Arrange one more viewing to check heating and hot water
Firstly, before you complete on your new home, make sure you contact the seller or estate agents to arrange viewing the property once more to check the heating and hot water are working properly. This will help prevent the likelihood that you move in and run into immediate problems. Please don’t rely purely on the surveyor to check your central heating, it’s important you are comfortable and accepting of its working order yourself.
If you’re moving into an empty property, you may find it is damp and cold, so familiarising yourself with the system before you move in is essential. Try and build a good relationship with the seller from the start. This will allow you to ask all the questions you need to, and they are more likely to hand the house over in a good working condition.
Establish what type of heating system your new home will have
Please establish what type of heating system you have – combination (also known as a combi boiler) or conventional. If you have a combi boiler then as soon as you turn the hot water on the boiler should fire up. If you have a conventional boiler then you need to look for the hot water cylinder. It is most likely in an airing cupboard or any other storage area. Once you’ve located the boiler, turn it on by operating the room stat and selecting a higher temperature than is currently in the house.
If you’re struggling to get heating and hot water, don’t worry, there are a few things you can do. If you have a combi boiler then check that the pressure is above 1.5bar. If the boiler pressure is too low, it may simply need to repressurise. If it is a conventional boiler then try and listen to see if the central heating pump is running. Also check the gas, water, and electrical supply, sometimes in vacant houses they turn off the electrics at the switch board and water at the stopcock.
Locate the Stopcock
On that note, another important thing to locate is the stopcock for the water. This means that at least if you run into a problem, you can turn the water supply off. Because the last thing you need at this time is a flooded house!
It’s also worth noting that boilers can go into lock out mode if they have not been used for a while due to inactive pumps, motorised valves or just initial failure. Don’t give up, but if you’re really struggling, please give us a call, we will be happy to help you!
