Boiler repair across the South West

Signs you need a boiler repair, and when it is an emergency

Some faults are obvious, like a cold house on a winter morning. Others creep up. If you notice any of these, get a Gas Safe registered engineer to take a look before a small fault becomes a full breakdown.

Some faults are urgent repairs: no heat with a baby or an elderly relative at home, water leaking from the boiler, or a boiler you think is unsafe. Our emergency boiler repair page explains what to do while you wait. A burst pipe is emergency plumbing, so turn the water off at the stopcock first. A smell of gas is a call to the National Gas line, not to a heating engineer.

• No heating, no hot water, or hot water but cold radiators
• The boiler locks out and shows an error code, or will not fire after a reset
• Pressure on the gauge keeps dropping (most sealed systems want around 1 to 1.5 bar when cold) and you are topping it up regularly
• Banging, gurgling or kettling noises that are new or getting louder
• Water dripping from the boiler, the pipes underneath or a radiator valve
• Soot marks, a lazy yellow flame or a smell of gas: turn the boiler off and call 0800 111 999

Common boiler faults we repair

Whatever type of boiler you have, combi, system or regular, a faulty boiler usually comes down to one worn part rather than the whole appliance. Our engineers carry common parts for the major makes, so they can often get your boiler up and running on the first visit, or order the part if it is less common.

When you get in touch, tell us the error code, the make and model, and roughly when the boiler was installed. If you have the service record, keep it handy too: a missed service, or the same fault coming back after each service, tells the engineer a lot before they open the case.

• Diverter valve: hot water works but the heating does not, or the other way round
• Pump: the boiler fires but heat does not reach the radiators
• Fan or ignition fault: the boiler tries to light, then locks out
• Pressure sensor or relief valve: pressure readings that make no sense, or water dripping from the pipe outside
• Frozen condensate pipe: a common cause of lockouts in a cold snap on condensing boilers; pouring warm (not boiling) water over the outside pipe often frees it
• Printed circuit board: the boiler's control board, which can fail after a power surge or water leak

Boiler repair costs and call out charges

It depends on the part needing replacement, the labour time and whether any attached components have worn as well. That is why we do not publish a price list: the fault decides the job. Our engineer diagnoses the problem and gives you a clear price before any repair goes ahead.

As a guide to what you might expect to pay, Which?'s June 2025 survey found the average price of a repair needed after a service was £156. Larger repairs, such as a heat exchanger, can cost far more, and on an old boiler that is often the point where a complete boiler replacement makes better sense. We will give you both prices side by side.

Wherever you book, ask whether there is a call out charge and how labour is billed before anyone visits, and get the repair price in writing. For a big job, always get several quotes from boiler repair services and compare costs before committing. A good engineer will not mind.

Where a fault traces back to a poor installation, such as a condensate pipe run outside with no insulation that freezes every winter, we fix the cause as well as the symptom. That costs a little more on the day and saves the same call-out next year.

Gas engineer or plumber: who can fix your boiler?

Anyone who works on a gas boiler must be on the Gas Safe Register. A plumber who is not registered can fix a leaking radiator valve or a dripping pipe, but must not open the boiler. Plenty of plumbers are also gas engineers; plenty are not, so it is worth asking. Oil boilers are a separate skill again and need an OFTEC registered technician.

For a leak somewhere else in the house, one of your local plumbers is often the right call, and a general plumbing and heating firm may cover both. For anything inside the boiler casing, the gas pipe feeding it, a gas fire or a gas cooker, you need a Gas Safe engineer. If you are not sure which you need and just want to get it fixed, describe the problem when you contact us and we will tell you honestly, even if the answer is that you need a plumber rather than us.

Before anyone starts, make sure the engineer shows you their Gas Safe ID card. The back lists the appliances they are qualified to work on, and you can check the registration number on the Gas Safe Register website. Every Wisp engineer working on gas is Gas Safe registered.

If your boiler is still under its manufacturer warranty, check the terms before booking anyone. Many manufacturers send their own engineers for warranty repairs, and a repair by someone else can affect the cover. Give us the make, model and installation date and we will tell you if that applies, along with whether your service history keeps the warranty valid.

Boiler service, repair and our other heating services

The cheapest boiler repair is the one you avoid. Regular servicing catches worn seals, blocked condensate traps and failing parts before they stop the heating. If you service your boiler every year it also keeps the manufacturer warranty valid, so a covered fault should not cost you for the part. You can book a boiler service with the same engineers who handle repairs.

On an annual service the engineer cleans and checks the parts most likely to fail. If issues are found, you get a price to put them right, so boiler repair and servicing often happen on one visit and you only need to take time off once.

A boiler with a full service history is also quicker to diagnose, because the engineer can compare today's readings with last year's. If yours has missed a service or two, we can carry out a full service once the repair is done, which puts the warranty and the paperwork back on track. Sometimes a repeat fault goes back to the original installation, and a service is often when that comes to light.

Repairs are one part of our heating services. The same team carries out new boiler installations, central heating upgrades, power flushing and gas safety checks, so the engineer fixing your boiler can also tell you whether the wider system is holding it back.

A magnetic filter and a clean central heating system keep things running smoothly and take a lot of strain off the pump and heat exchanger. If your boiler is breaking down every winter, we will tell you honestly whether to keep repairing it or look at boiler installation instead. Like all our boiler installations, a replacement comes with a survey first, so you know exactly what you are getting before you decide. Off-grid homes get the same help with oil boiler service and repair from our OFTEC registered technicians.