No Heating or Hot Water — UK-Wide, Qualified & Priced Up Front
A cold house at 6am tells you exactly one thing: something in the chain from gas meter to radiator has failed. Our your area emergency line is answered around the clock, and while an engineer travels we'll talk you through the safe checks that occasionally fix it before they arrive.
Safe checks while help is on the way
Work the outside-the-case list: thermostat turned above room temperature and programmer calling for heat; credit on a prepayment meter; other gas appliances working (a dead hob suggests a supply issue, not a boiler fault); pressure gauge at 1–1.5 bar, topped up via the filling loop if low; and in freezing weather, the condensate pipe — a frozen section thawed with warm water, then reset pressed, revives more winter boilers than any other single action. If the boiler still won't run, stop: everything further requires a Gas Safe engineer.
Five checks, none requiring tools: the room stat and timer are actually asking for heat; the gas supply is live (test the hob); the meter isn't out of credit or showing an error; the boiler pressure sits in the green zone — top up via the filling loop if it's dropped below 1 bar; and the external condensate pipe isn't frozen solid, which a jug of warm water cures. Press reset once after any fix. Repeated resetting against an unknown fault isn't a repair, it's a delay — that's the point to hand over.
Heating but no hot water — or the reverse
One working and one not is diagnostically useful. On a combi, hot radiators but cold taps points hard at the diverter valve or a scaled plate heat exchanger — Local water hardness affects how quickly scale builds in heat exchangers, cylinders and hot water components. On a system with a cylinder, no hot water often means a motorised valve, cylinder stat or timing fault rather than the boiler itself. Either way it narrows the fault before the engineer knocks.
Split symptoms shorten diagnosis. Combi owners in your area with heating but no hot water are usually looking at a stuck diverter or scale-blocked plate exchanger; hot water but no heating flips the same suspects. Cylinder systems add their own suspects — zone valves, pumps, cylinder thermostats. Tell us which half works and the engineer arrives with the right parts shortlist.
Why boilers fail in cold snaps
Three reasons stack up. Demand: a boiler coasting through summer suddenly runs hard for hours, and marginal components fail under load. Freezing: condensate pipes ice up and trigger lockouts — the classic first-frost fault across your area. Dormancy: pumps and valves that sat still since April stick exactly when asked to move. It's why the same week each autumn fills every heating engineer's diary in your region.
Cold weather is a stress test. Marginal pumps, tired expansion vessels and hesitant igniters all pass it in September and fail it in December. Add the condensate-freeze lockouts that arrive with the first hard frost — particularly on pipes run externally without lagging, common across your neighbourhood and the surrounding area — and the seasonal spike explains itself. A pre-winter service catches most of it early; the emergency line catches the rest.
Emergency pricing, straight
Emergency attendance in your area runs from £99 covering call-out and the first hour, quoted on the phone before dispatch. Parts are priced before fitting. If your situation can safely wait for a next-day standard slot at a lower rate — heating down but hot water working in mild weather, say — we'll tell you that instead of dispatching an emergency you don't need.
The rate is stated before anyone travels: from £99 for emergency attendance and the first hour in your area, parts itemised and approved before they go in. Vulnerable households are prioritised without a premium — triage by need is how a decent emergency rota works, and it's a condition of being on ours.
| Item | Guide |
|---|---|
| Typical price band | £99–£280 |
| Pricing basis | emergency attendance plus first hour; parts quoted before fitting |
| Typical timescale | same day |
| Funnel | Attendance and diagnosis |
| Credentials | Gas Safe registered |
Carbon monoxide is odourless and colourless. Our CO safety guide covers the symptoms, where alarms belong and the emergency response.
Frequently asked questions
How fast can you get to me in your area?
No-heat emergencies are routed to the nearest available Gas Safe engineer, typically same-day and prioritised for vulnerable households. The honest answer varies by season and hour — you'll be given a real arrival window when you call, not a fiction.
I can smell gas — what do I do?
Don't use the form and don't wait for us: open windows, don't operate electrical switches, get everyone out, and call the National Gas Emergency line free on 0800 111 999 immediately. Once the property is made safe, we can arrange the follow-up repair.
My boiler pressure is at zero — is that the fault?
Very likely part of it. Below about 0.5 bar most boilers lock out. Top up to 1–1.5 bar via the filling loop and press reset. If pressure falls again within hours or days there's a leak or a failed component, and that needs an engineer — repeated topping-up is a symptom, not a fix.
Is a frozen condensate pipe really that common?
In the first hard frost, it's the single most common cause of boiler lockout in the UK. The white plastic pipe running outside freezes, the boiler senses the blockage and shuts down. Warm — not boiling — water over the frozen section, then reset, restores most of them. Lagging the pipe stops the repeat.
Do you prioritise households with children or elderly residents?
Yes. Tell us when you call — no-heat triage runs on severity and vulnerability, and households with young children, elderly or medically vulnerable residents move up the rota at no premium.
Will you charge me a call-out just to press reset?
We try hard to prevent exactly that: the phone triage walks you through pressure, condensate, thermostat and reset checks first, free. If an engineer attends and finds a genuine fault, normal rates apply; the checks exist so you don't pay for a visit a jug of warm water would have solved.
No hot water but the heating works — same emergency?
It's urgent but usually less so, and often cheaper to fix than a full breakdown — commonly a diverter valve or plate heat exchanger on a combi. In mild weather it can typically wait for a standard next-day slot; with a baby in the house, say so and we'll treat it accordingly.
What information should I have ready when I call?
The boiler make and model if visible, any error code on the display, whether you have gas at other appliances, the pressure-gauge reading, and your postcode. Thirty seconds of facts routes the right engineer with the right parts far better than five minutes of description.
Do electric or oil systems get the same emergency cover in your area?
Yes — the network includes OFTEC-registered engineers for oil-fired systems and engineers for LPG, common in rural your region. Say which fuel when you call, because it changes both the routing and what needs to be on the van.