There is a reliable spike in heating call-outs on the first genuinely cold night of the autumn. The reason is simple: nothing has been asked to work since spring, and a fault that developed quietly over the summer only announces itself under load.
Switch on early, deliberately
Turn the heating on for an hour on a mild day, well before you need it. If something has failed you find out while it is still an inconvenience rather than an emergency, and while an electrician can come at a normal hour.
What to look and listen for
- A storage heater that stays cold overnight, or never seems to give its heat out during the day.
- A burning smell on first use. A little dust burning off is normal for a few minutes; anything sharp or persistent is not.
- A breaker that trips when the heating circuit comes on.
- An immersion that takes far longer than it used to, or trips its thermostat.
- Buzzing or clicking from a heater, a timer or the consumer unit.
Check the timing, not just the heat
Storage heaters and immersions on Economy 7 depend on charging during the off-peak window. If the clock has drifted, or the meter changed over the summer, you can end up heating at the expensive rate without anything appearing to be wrong. Worth confirming before the bills make the point for you.
Some properties have two boards
Where there is an off-peak supply there is often a second consumer unit for those circuits, separate from the main one. It is easy to forget it exists, and easy for it to go years without being looked at. If a heating circuit is dead and the main board looks fine, that second board is the next place to check.
If you are unsure, it is always cheaper to ask than to guess. Give us a call and we will tell you straight.