Maintenance

No heating and no hot water the first time you switch the boiler on.

Late October is when British Gas says most households switch the heating on. If the hot water stays off as well, and the lights in the house are on, that is a Gas Safe call once any smell of gas has gone to the emergency line. One cold radiator is a different note.

Checked 22 October 2026. The emergency number below is split between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The landlord route is the England page on GOV.UK. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland set their own repair duties. The Malta directory does not use these emergency lines or Gas Safe.

This note does not start the boiler, and it does not give a pressure figure or a reset sequence. You still choose a business and phone it yourself. Local Trades UK does not pass the job on.

Why both staying off matters this week

On 16 October 2026, Centrica said British Gas engineers were preparing for call-outs to spike, with around 34,000 households needing help with heating and hot water. The same notice says that each year most households turn the heating on in late October, or after four days in a row when the minimum stays below 9°C. The 34,000 figure is British Gas's estimate of those calls. It is not a count from this site, and it is not a price for a repair.

A dark street in this week's wind is a different fault. If the lights in the house are out with the street, the boiler has no electricity to fire. That call is the lights go out in the wind. In England, Scotland and Wales the free number is 105. This page starts when those lights are on, you have asked for heat, and both the heating and the hot water stay off. A programmer that runs an hour late after the clocks change sits in a radiator that stays cold when the heating comes on.

Smell of gas, or a carbon monoxide alarm, comes first

Leave the boiler switched off and call the gas emergency service before you open a list on this site. National Gas gives 0800 111 999 for England, Scotland and Wales. The call is free and open 24 hours, and the same page uses it for a carbon monoxide emergency. Open doors and windows. Do not smoke or light a match. Do not turn electrical switches on or off. Turn the meter off at the control handle unless the meter is in the cellar, and do not go into a cellar to reach it.

If a carbon monoxide alarm has sounded, National Gas says to switch the fuel-burning appliances off, leave, and get medical help. Standing in fresh air does not, on its own, treat exposure. The same page lists nausea, light-headedness, headaches, shortness of breath, dizziness and sleepiness as symptoms. Those symptoms, with a boiler that will not run as it should, are a reason to use the emergency line and to see a doctor.

Northern Ireland uses another number. nidirect says that if you smell gas, turn the supply off at the meter, open windows and doors, do not switch electrical equipment on or off, and phone 0800 002 001. nidirect also says concerns about unsafe gas equipment go to a Gas Safe registered engineer.

Either emergency call is to the gas network, not to a business on this directory. Who may work on the appliance afterwards is on who is allowed to work on gas in a home.

A control left off is a setting

Look at the programmer and the room thermostat before you book anyone. If the heating is set to off, or the thermostat sits below the temperature of the room, the boiler is waiting for a demand. Set it to call for heat and give the pipes time. This page does not describe the buttons. They differ by model, and the manual is the place for that sequence.

Once heat has been asked for, read which half of the system has answered:

HSE says it is illegal to use a gas appliance you suspect is unsafe. Turn it off and do not touch it until a Gas Safe registered engineer has checked it. A lockout that returns, soot around the case, a weak yellow or orange flame, or a pilot that will not stay lit are in that group. National Gas lists soot, a yellow or orange flame where a blue one should be, and a pilot that blows out easily, as signs of a faulty boiler. Leave the cover on. Do not keep resetting it.

If you own the home, phone a Gas Safe engineer

Phone a Gas Safe registered engineer who is qualified for boilers when the heating and the hot water both stay off after the controls have asked for heat. HSE says anyone employed to work on gas appliances in domestic premises must be on the register and competent for that work. The categories are on the back of the engineer's Gas Safe ID card. If you are unsure, HSE says you can call Gas Safe Register on 0800 408 5500. Ask to see the card when they arrive.

Centrica's notice of 16 October 2026 also says British Gas aims to send an engineer the same day to people who contact before 11am, and that the caller need not already be a British Gas customer. That is one company's offer on that date. This site does not book it, and it is not a price. A number on the list below is a separate call, which you make yourself.

Open the plumbing and heating list, including London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Bristol. Gas Safe on a card is shown only when that record already has it. Get contact details opens the list. It does not confirm the registration and it does not pass the job on.

If you rent in England, tell the landlord

GOV.UK's private renting repairs page says the landlord is responsible for heating and hot water, and for gas appliances, pipes, flues and ventilation. Tell them as soon as both have stopped. How to rent a safe home says to put that in writing, including by text or email, and to keep a copy. The same guide uses a boiler failure as its example of a serious fault: it might be reasonable to expect the landlord to arrange a technician within 24 hours for an initial inspection. That sentence describes a reasonable period. It is not a deadline this site can enforce, and you carry on paying the rent while you wait.

The person who then works on the boiler still has to be Gas Safe registered. GOV.UK says the landlord must have gas equipment they supply installed and maintained by a Gas Safe registered engineer, with an annual safety check, and must give you a copy of the record before you move in or within 28 days of the check. You should only do repairs the tenancy agreement allows. You cannot be required to carry out the landlord's repairs.

Those three pages are the England guides. The repairs page sends private tenants in Scotland to the Private Rented Housing Panel. Wales and Northern Ireland set their own duties. This note does not translate them into one rule.

If the engineer says the boiler should be replaced

A replacement price, and what should be written on the quote, is what sits inside a price for a replacement boiler. A heat pump grant in England and Wales is a different scheme: whether the Boiler Upgrade Scheme is still open. Neither page is a quote from this site. You still phone.

Sources

Questions on this fault

The heating and the hot water are both off, and I can smell gas. What comes first?

The gas emergency line, before any heating engineer. In England, Scotland and Wales that is the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999, free and open 24 hours, including a carbon monoxide emergency. Open doors and windows, avoid flames and electrical switches, and turn the meter off at the control handle unless the meter is in the cellar. In Northern Ireland, nidirect gives 0800 002 001.

I rent in England and both the heating and the hot water have stopped. Who do I tell?

Tell the landlord straight away, in writing, and keep a copy. GOV.UK says a private landlord in England is responsible for heating and hot water, and for gas appliances they supply. How to rent a safe home gives a boiler failure as an example of a serious fault, where it might be reasonable to expect a technician within 24 hours for an initial inspection. The person who works on the boiler still has to be Gas Safe registered. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland set their own repair duties.

The hot water works and one radiator stays cold. Is that this fault?

Use the note on a radiator that stays cold. This page is for the first switch-on where the heating and the hot water both stay off. A gauge that falls again after a top-up is the note on a boiler that keeps losing pressure.