Boiler repair in Tuxford

Tuxford is thirty-five minutes east of us on the A1, which means a boiler repair here starts with a conversation rather than a van. We confirm the property is on mains natural gas — we do not work on oil or LPG, and some of the outlying property around Egmanton and Weston is on both — then ask for the make, the model and what it is doing, so the engineer arrives with the likely part. The village's boilers follow its housing. The Georgian and Victorian property around the Market Place and Eldon Street has long flue runs, exposed condensate pipes and the lockouts that come with them in winter. The post-war housing along Newark Road and Lincoln Road is mostly sealed combis of the usual makes, with the usual combi faults. The older brick and pantile cottages on the lanes are a mix, often with a regular boiler and cylinder that has been running for twenty years on the original controls. We carry parts for all three and price the repair before the case comes off.

What goes wrong with Tuxford boilers

• Establishing mains gas before anything else

  Not every property around Tuxford is on the gas network, and we work on mains gas and water only. So the first question when you call is whether there is a gas meter. If the boiler is oil or LPG we say so straight away and point you to someone who does that work, rather than charging a visit to tell you.

• Winter lockouts in the historic centre

  The solid-wall houses around the Market Place and Eldon Street have condensate pipes routed outside because there was nowhere else to put them, and flues that run some distance to reach a rear or side wall. Both cause lockouts in a cold snap. Thawing a condensate is quick; re-routing it, or checking a long flue run for joints and fall, is the repair that stops it recurring.

• Regular boilers and cylinders on the lanes

  A good share of the older cottages off the centre still run a regular boiler with a cylinder and loft tank, and the faults are in the controls — motorised valves, cylinder stats, pumps, tank ball valves — more often than in the appliance. We carry the common control parts so an Egmanton Road or Ollerton Road repair does not need a second trip.

• Doing the repair on the first visit

  Thirty-five minutes each way is the reason we ask so many questions on the phone. With the make, model and symptom we can usually load the right part, and the engineer diagnoses and repairs in one visit at a price agreed on site before starting. Where a part has to be ordered we say so and book the return before we leave.

Repairs we do most often in Tuxford

• Market Place — condensate thawed and re-routed

  Lockout on the first hard frost in a Victorian house on the Market Place, condensate run down an exposed rear wall. Thawed and restarted the same day, then re-routed internally to a kitchen waste so it was done for good.

• Newark Road — diverter valve on a combi

  Heating working, no hot water, in a post-war semi with a ten-year-old Ideal combi. Diverter valve loaded on the strength of the phone call, replaced on the first visit at a fixed price.

• Lincoln Road — expansion vessel and PRV

  Pressure dropping to zero every night and the relief pipe dripping outside. Expansion vessel recharged and the pressure relief valve replaced, system re-pressurised and checked, one visit.

• Ollerton Road — pump on a regular boiler

  Boiler firing but radiators cold in a cottage on an open-vented system. Pump seized and replaced with a modern equivalent; the motorised valve checked and the inhibitor topped up while the system was drained.

For how we approach boiler repair generally — what is included, how we price it and what happens on the day — see our boiler repair page. For everything else we do in the area, seeour work in Tuxford.