A busted boiler means much more than a cold night ahead. Depending on what is damaged and the extent of the damage, a boiler can be a threat to the safety of your entire household. This is why it's always important to have a damaged boiler fixed as quickly as possible.
However, this is easier said than done because the boiler may not always show obvious signs of damage. How can you know if there's an issue with your boiler?
Leakages
Any signs of a water leak near the boiler should be a reason to be concerned. Leaks usually occur where there are joints, especially if the installation was done poorly. Any leaking joints should be quickly fixed. However, in other cases, the leak may be coming from the body of the tank itself. If there's a crack in the tank that's releasing water or steam, replacing the boiler might be the best course of action since such cracks are expensive to fix.
Poor Efficiency
If your energy bill is slowly inching upwards, there's a good chance you're dealing with an inefficient boiler. Because of how much power boilers use, even a little inefficiency will impact your energy bill significantly. Unless you've recently added some other appliance that uses a lot of electricity, your bill can tell you a lot about the state of your boiler.
Lower Heating Comfort
Once a boiler has reached its due, it will struggle to provide the desired levels of heating comfort in your home. An aged boiler will likely be inefficient due to scale buildup and mechanical problems. Therefore, it may not be able to heat the water to the desired temperature. This means you will feel a lot colder and less comfortable. However, you'll also need to eliminate the possibility of radiator failures.
Strange Smells
Any strange smell when your boiler is turned on is bad news. On one hand, it could mean that you have a leak of whichever gas you're using to heat the water. On the other hand, it could be that flue gases are not properly escaping from the boiler and leaking into your home. Both scenarios are reason enough to evacuate your house and have a boiler repair technician examine the boiler.
Strange Noises
Boilers, especially modern ones, are designed to run quietly. Any kind of noise means there's an issue. It could be that there's a dislodged buildup of scale or water leak due to overheating.
If you notice any of these problems with your boiler, contact a heating repair service right away.