Boiler service in Battersea

From around 2000, many new flats were built with the boiler flue running through a ceiling or wall void to the outside. The HSE flues in voids bulletin says most affected homes are flats completed since then. Since 1 January 2013, if an engineer cannot inspect a concealed flue, they will class the boiler as at risk and, with your permission, turn it off until inspection hatches are fitted.

So before you book a service in a riverside block, check whether hatches have been fitted along the flue route. Your managing agent may already have done the whole building. If not, the hatches must be fitted by a competent builder, not cut in yourself, because ceilings in flats often have fire and sound proofing that must not be damaged.

Some of the larger new schemes do not have individual gas boilers at all. They use a heat interface unit, a box that takes heat from a shared building network. That is serviced through the building's heat supplier or managing agent, not by a gas engineer. Check your lease or ask your building manager if you are not sure.

In the Victorian streets, most houses have either a combi, often after a kitchen refit, or a system boiler with a cylinder in larger family homes. Thames Water's hard water means combis need a hot water flow check at the service. System boilers with unvented cylinders need the safety valves checked.

Mansion flats by Battersea Park often have the boiler in a kitchen or utility cupboard with a flue to a lightwell or rear wall. The terminal position matters, because windows of other flats can be close. The engineer checks clearances and that nothing has changed since it was fitted.

Search data for London shows boiler service demand in October running at about four times the level of May and June. Battersea has a lot of busy professionals and lettings, and diaries fill up quickly once the heating goes on. A spring or summer service is easier to fit around work.

Riverside blocks often need a fob or concierge sign in, and some have rules on contractor parking and loading bays. Tell us when you book so the engineer can be added to the visitor list. In the Victorian streets, Wandsworth runs controlled parking zones. A note on permits or a free bay helps keep the visit to time.