As the colder weather arrives, the last thing you need is your boiler breaking down. Regular boiler care throughout the year can save you hassle, cold nights waiting for a repair, and a lot of money.

According to Checkatrade.com*, the average cost of an emergency boiler repair is £450. And a new boiler can cost between £1,500 to £10,000, plus installation costs, depending on the type you go for. Proper boiler care can help you to avoid these kinds of expenses.

So, make sure your heating system’s in tip-top condition when you need it most. And check your home insurance meets your needs in case anything goes wrong.

Regular boiler care is essential. For long-lasting performance, and, most importantly, safety.

Your boiler should be serviced regularly, just like your car, to make sure it’s safe and running efficiently. If it’s a gas boiler (most in the UK are), get it serviced by a Gas Safe registered engineer. They’ll check, test and clean it, and give you a service report showing everything that’s been done.

Keep the area around your boiler clean and clear of obstructions, to help it run efficiently. When you get your boiler serviced by an engineer, they’ll check and clean the inside.

If a radiator’s cold at the top and hotter at the bottom, try ‘bleeding’ it - using a radiator key or flat-head screwdriver - to release any trapped air inside.

Radiators can fill up with sludge over time, making them inefficient and costly to run. If your radiators are cold at the bottom and hotter at the top, it probably means you’ve got a build-up of sludge.

Power washing, also known as power flushing, is job for the experts. They’ll flush out the entire system, cleaning the inside of the radiators and refilling them with clean, fresh water.

If you have a problem with your heating, or you’ve got no hot water, the first thing to do is check the pressure of your boiler. You might need to repressurise the system. It’s a common problem, and easy to fix on most modern boilers - the instruction manual will tell you how to do it.

Make sure your home insurance is up to date, and check you’re covered if your boiler breaks down.

If you have Tesco Home Insurance, it might be worth thinking about Home Emergency Cover. It can give you extra protection for an additional cost and comes with:

So, you can sort out urgent problems without any fuss.

Monetary limits, excesses and exclusions apply.

For more ways to prepare for the colder weather, see our guides:

*Source: Checkatrade - Boiler repair costs in 2025 and How much does a new boiler cost in 2025?

Tesco Home Insurance is arranged and administered by Tesco Insurance and is underwritten by Tesco Underwriting Ltd.

Home Emergency cover is underwritten by Inter Partner Assistance S.A UK Branch

You'll find complete details of the cover, monetary limits, exclusions, excesses and terms in our policy documents.