Plumbing, Heating & Home Services in St Albans

Boiler servicing in St Albans

A service is not a look and a tick. The casing comes off, the burner and heat exchanger are inspected and cleaned, the seals and the flue are checked, and the gas rate and combustion are measured against what the manufacturer specifies. If the numbers are out, we say so and show you the reading.

Two things make servicing matter more here than the national averages suggest. Water in St Albans runs at around 338 mg/l, which is hard, and scale on a heat exchanger costs efficiency long before it causes a breakdown. And most boilers fail in the first properly cold week of the year, which is exactly when every engineer in the county is already booked.

Book in September or October and you get an appointment at sensible notice. Leave it until the heating will not fire in December and you are joining a queue. Landlords: we carry out the gas safety check and the service in the same visit, which is what we would normally suggest since the casing is already off.

Emergency plumbing in St Albans

An emergency is anything you cannot turn off, cannot live without, or cannot leave until Monday. A burst pipe, a cylinder overflowing into a ceiling, no heating in February with a baby in the house, a gas smell. Those get answered at any hour, and a person picks up rather than an answering service that calls you back in the morning.

The first thing we do on the phone is work out whether you should be turning something off before we arrive, and where your stopcock is likely to be. That two minute conversation has saved more St Albans ceilings than anything we do afterwards. Then we tell you a realistic arrival time rather than a comforting one.

Vans carry the parts that fix the common failures on the first visit, so an isolation valve, a ballofix, a pump, a fan or a PCB does not become a second appointment. There is no call out fee in hours, and you are told what the work will cost before anyone starts. Out-of-hours attendance carries a £50 + VAT call-out, quoted on the phone before anyone sets off.

What it costs in St Albans

You get a fixed price before the work, not an hourly rate that runs. No call out fee in hours either, so a second opinion in hours costs you nothing but the time.

Boiler installations start from £2,850 for a straight combi swap, including commissioning and registration. Repairs, drainage and bathroom work are quoted once an engineer has seen the job, which is the only honest way to price something that varies as much as this does.

If the quote changes because the job is not what was described, you hear about it before we continue. Labour is guaranteed for 12 months.

More questions about St Albans

How quickly can you get to St Albans?

We run emergency cover 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and for a genuine emergency in St Albans you get a realistic arrival time on the call rather than a vague promise. Planned work is usually booked within a few days, sooner if we have a cancellation.

How often should a boiler be serviced?

Once a year, and the manufacturer will normally require it to keep the warranty valid. Book it in autumn rather than waiting for the first cold week, when every engineer in the county is already committed.

Is it worth repairing my boiler or should I replace it?

It depends on the age, the part and whether the same fault keeps returning. We give you the cost of the repair against the cost of replacement and let you decide, and we will tell you when a repair is not worth doing rather than fitting an expensive part into an appliance that is finished.

Is the water in St Albans hard?

Yes. It runs at around 338 mg/l of calcium carbonate, which is at the hard end of the scale. In practice that means scale on heat exchangers, tap seats wearing sooner and isolation valves seizing. It is why we fit better brassware than the minimum and why we will mention a scale reducer if you keep replacing the same part.

Are you Gas Safe registered?

Yes, registration 956889. You are entitled to ask any engineer for their card before they touch a gas appliance, and you should.

Do you cover AL1 and AL3?

Yes, in full, along with the surrounding villages. If you are on the edge of the area, call and ask rather than guessing, because we cover further than most people expect.

A local firm rather than a national one

The national brands subcontract. You book with one company and a self employed engineer you have never heard of arrives, paid per job, with no reason to come back if something needs adjusting.

We employ our engineers and they work the same patch every week. If a job needs revisiting, it is the same firm and usually the same person, and that is the whole difference.

Where we cover around St Albans

Every town below has its own page, because the housing stock and the water are not the same from one to the next.

• Harpenden
• London Colney
• Radlett
• Hatfield
• Wheathampstead
• Potters Bar
• Hemel Hempstead