No Hot Water? 5 Checks Before You Ring a Plumber in Sligo
No Hot Water? 5 Checks Before You Ring a Plumber in Sligo
No hot water on a winter morning is one of the most common emergency calls we get across Sligo. About half the time it’s something you can sort yourself in two minutes. Run through these five checks first. If none of them fix it, ring us on 085 708 8979 and we’ll be out — day, night or weekend.
1. Is the boiler actually on?
Sounds obvious, but timers get knocked, clocks reset after a power cut, and a boiler set to “heating only” won’t give you hot water. Check the boiler’s display or timer and make sure hot water is switched on and inside its programmed hours.
2. Check the boiler pressure
On a sealed system, the pressure gauge on the front of the boiler should sit between 1 and 1.5 bar when cold. If it’s dropped below 0.5, most boilers lock out and won’t fire. You can top it up using the filling loop — a small braided hose with a valve, usually underneath the boiler. Open the valve slowly, watch the gauge climb to about 1.2, close it. If the pressure keeps dropping, you have a leak somewhere and that’s a job for us.
3. Is it showing an error code?
Modern boilers display a fault code when they lock out. Note the code, try a reset (usually a button on the front), and if it comes straight back, that code tells us exactly what’s wrong before we arrive. Common ones: ignition failure, low pressure, overheat, fan fault.
4. Try the immersion
If you have a hot press cylinder with an immersion heater, switch it on. If the immersion heats the water and the boiler doesn’t, the problem is with the boiler, not the cylinder. If neither heats the water, it may be the cylinder, the thermostat or a wiring issue. Our immersion heater page covers the usual faults.
5. Oil boiler? Check the tank
It happens more than you’d think — the oil ran out. Look in the tank. If there’s oil but the boiler won’t fire, it may need bleeding after a run-dry, which is a quick job for us.
When it’s time to ring
- Pressure keeps dropping after you top it up
- The same error code returns after a reset
- The boiler fires then cuts out
- There’s a smell of gas or oil — turn it off, open windows, ring immediately
- The cylinder is leaking or the immersion trips the electrics
SOS Property Service repairs and services oil and gas boilers, immersions and cylinders across Sligo, 24/7. We’ll tell you straight whether a repair makes sense or the boiler is at the end of its life — see our boiler breakdowns and repairs and no hot water pages.
No hot water in Sligo town, Ballymote, Tubbercurry or anywhere in the county? Call 085 708 8979.
