Boilers and Plumbing in Horley (RH6)
Much of Horley is newer housing — Langshott, The Acres and the estates spreading out towards Gatwick. Houses of that age were generally built with a sealed system and a combi rather than tanks in the loft, so the questions here are different ones: not whether to modernise, but what has actually worn out.
Why a sealed system keeps losing pressure
A gauge that drops and a filling loop that gets used every fortnight is a fault on a sealed system, not a routine.
Topping it up is not a fix, it is a symptom, and it has three usual causes. The expansion vessel has lost its charge, so the pressure swings up when the system heats and falls back too far as it cools. The pressure relief valve is passing, which you can often confirm by finding water at its outside discharge pipe. Or there is a genuine leak, frequently at a push-fit joint or on a plastic run under a floor. Those are three different jobs at three different prices, and the point of diagnosing it properly is that you pay for the right one instead of refilling the system for another year.
Pressure and flow are not the same thing
People often expect a new boiler to cure a weak shower, and it usually will not. A combi can only heat the water your incoming main delivers, so if the flow rate is the limiting factor then a bigger or newer boiler heats the same modest flow to the same temperature. What can change it is the size of the incoming supply, the pipework inside the house, the shower valve itself, or moving to stored hot water if bathrooms have been added over the years. We measure the flow before quoting rather than afterwards, because the honest answer is sometimes that a replacement boiler will make the house cheaper to run and leave the shower exactly as it was.
When the layout changes too
Where the layout is changing — a kitchen moved, a utility formed, a garage brought into the house — that is the moment to relocate the boiler, re-site radiators off the walls you want back, and take a supply and waste up for a new bathroom while the floors and studs are open. It is also the moment to deal with a boiler sitting in an unheated garage, where the condensate and any exposed pipework need protecting properly against a hard frost. Doing it then keeps the studwork, the floors, the boxing in and the finishing inside one programme instead of a second round of disruption once the room is decorated.
More in Horley
Everything we do in Horley is on the Horley area sheet, and the full detail of how we approach this trade is on the heating & plumbing page.
Common questions
Q.01My boiler pressure keeps dropping. What is it?
Usually a tired expansion vessel, a passing pressure relief valve or a leak on the system. They need telling apart before anything is replaced, because they are three quite different repairs.
Q.02Will a new boiler give me a better shower?
Only if the boiler is what is limiting it. If the incoming flow rate is the limit, a new combi will not improve it, and we would rather say that at the survey than after the invoice.
Q.03Can the boiler be moved when we redo the kitchen?
Yes, and that is the sensible time to do it. There has to be somewhere workable for the flue to terminate, a run for the condensate to reach a drain, and gas pipe sized for the appliance, all of which we check before the kitchen is ordered. The gas and heating side is carried out by engineers we bring in and manage, while the studwork, floors, boxing in and finishing are our own team, priced and programmed together so you are not holding the ring between two firms.
Q.04Do you cover the estates out towards Gatwick?
Yes, along with the older streets nearer the centre. We are at 27 High Street, Godstone, a short drive north of Horley.
Thinking about heating & plumbing in Horley?
Tell us what you are planning. We come out, look at the job properly and give you a price for it.