Gas fire repairs can be tricky and dangerous – and if you don’t have the previous experience you should always look to hiring a professional.
A gas fire is a warm and cosy addition to any family home, providing all the beauty and authenticity of a raw flame while safely keeping everyone warm and content during the UK’s increasingly colder winters. But despite its obvious benefits, gas fires are liable to breaking down every now and then – and gas fire repairs can be extremely difficult to tackle. While some homeowners are willing to try and fix things themselves, most prefer to gas fireplace installation contractor to handle all kinds of fireplace repairs – but how do you go about hiring the right professional ?
Well to start with, there are several things a qualified gas fireplace installer should know before deciding on an appropriate course of action. A professional gas fire repair contractor, for instance, should be able to…
- Carefully assess the temperature monitor and repair or replace a broken thermocouple without tripping a fuse or affecting the electrics in your home.
- Repair a faulty or broken pilot light, inserting just the right amount of gas to your fire so neither you nor your family are at risk when turning on the gas burner again.
- Fix and/or replace a noisy fan to reduce sound pollution and keep your gas fire running smoothly and efficiently.
- Assess whether or not your fire is suffering from a gas leak; and if so, take the appropriate course of action, including formulating a potential evacuation plan and providing you and your family with options for alternative accommodation.
- Inspect your property’s generator to make sure the electricity connection isn’t compromising your gas fire’s ability to work properly.
- Inspect and repair any model of gas boiler, whether you have a system designed by a local retailer or any of the major brands, including Baxi, Crystal, Firecraft, Kinder, Focal and Valor.
You should also check that your chosen fireplace repair contractor is…
- A fully qualified, Gas Safe registered electrical engineer.
- Able to offer anything from a two to twenty year guarantee on all repair jobs.
- Willing to include in any contract some kind of annual service and/or maintenance deal.
- Willing to negotiate an affordable price-plan depending on your personal financial circumstances.
If you are intent on attempting to try out a gas fireplace repair job yourself, you should always take extra safety precautions, especially if you haven’t worked with gas or electrics in a while and/or have family in the house to think about too.
Take the time to carry out a proper risk assessment, and make sure you have all the correct equipment and safety gear to carry out an inspection and repair properly and as safely and securely as possible. If you only want to carry out a basic inspection before hiring a professional, then there are two major components of your gas fire that you can check are working properly first.
- Is the main gas supply on? This can be accidentally turned off, either by other householders or even by pets or extreme weather if the switch is located outside.
- Are you lighting the gas fire correctly? Different gas fire models work in different ways, so make sure you’re attempting to light it properly before you start taking the fireplace itself apart. If necessary, refer to any instruction manuals that came with the fireplace on your initial purchase for the correct procedure, or else reset the control panel on your boiler to see if the problem isn’t located further from the fireplace.
How to hire a reliable gas fireplace repair professional
If you are still unsure of what to do – or if your gas fire continues playing up – then it’s probably best to accept that you should get in touch with a gas fire repair professional as soon as possible. To get the most reliable employee available, make sure you search local directories for a number of different contractors; if necessary you could even ask your energy provider to put you in touch with a national company that can get someone to your home as quick as possible.
Otherwise you can check local papers or even ask friends or family members if they can recommend anyone who will carry out a high-quality repair job. A gas fire problem is often dangerous if left untreated, so however you get your fireplace repaired make sure you get in touch with someone as soon as possible.