Get your heating winter-ready: a 20-minute checklist

3 min read · By LJ Plumbing & Heating

Most winter breakdowns announce themselves in autumn — to anyone who looks. This checklist takes about twenty minutes one weekend in September or October, and it's the difference between finding a fault on a mild Saturday and finding it on the coldest Monday of the year.

The checklist

Run the heating for an hour now, before you need it — don't let the first cold day be the first test.
Feel every radiator: cold tops need bleeding, cold bottoms need a proper look (see our radiator guide).
Check the boiler pressure — top up to around 1.2 bar if it's dropped over summer.
Look at the condensate pipe outside: if it's bare plastic, lag it with waterproof foam insulation before the frosts.
Lag any exposed water pipes in the loft, garage or outbuildings while you're at it.
Test your stop tap turns — a seized stop tap is worst discovered during a burst.
Book the annual boiler service if it's due — autumn slots beat January queues.
Check your carbon monoxide alarm's test button and expiry date.

Going away over winter?

Leave the heating on low (12–15°C) rather than off — it's cheaper than a burst pipe. Modern thermostats and TRVs with a frost setting handle this automatically.