Home Oil boiler servicing Swindon
Oil boiler servicing in Swindon
Oil heating is uncommon in Swindon but turns up in its outlying villages. Each oil-fired boiler should be serviced once a year by an OFTEC registered technician.
The 2021 Census counted 545 Swindon households, 0.6% of the borough, heating with oil alone. Most are in villages and farmsteads at the edges of the borough where the gas network does not reach.
Swindon at a glance
- How homes are heated
- 78.6% of Swindon households heat with mains gas only and 9.4% with electricity only. 545 homes (0.6%) use oil alone and 541 (0.6%) tank or bottled gas. Source
What's in an oil service
The technician cleans the burner and combustion chamber, fits a new nozzle and filter, sets the burner using a flue gas analyser and checks the controls and fire valve. They should leave a written record of the readings.
A Gas Safe engineer cannot do this unless they are also OFTEC registered, so ask for the OFTEC number when booking.
The tank and supply line
Ask the technician to inspect the tank, its base and the pipe to the boiler. Plastic tanks can crack and steel tanks rust. A leaking tank is expensive to clean up and may not be covered by home insurance unless the tank was maintained.
Order oil before the cold sets in. Our heating oil prices guide helps you time it.
Check that the tank is labelled with its capacity and fuel type and that nothing is stored against it. Shrubs growing over a tank make leaks harder to spot and inspections slower.
Thinking about a heat pump
Off-gas homes often have the outdoor space that a heat pump needs. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme pays £7,500 towards one, plus an extra £1,500 until March 2027 for homes on oil or LPG with no gas main.
Areas covered
Engineers who cover Swindon work across areas including Old Town, Wroughton, Highworth, Stratton St Margaret, Haydon Wick, Royal Wootton Bassett, Wichelstowe, Penhill, Freshbrook and Covingham.
Questions people in Swindon ask
How often should it be serviced?
Every year, preferably before winter. Oil burners need regular nozzle and filter changes to burn cleanly.
Can I get a technician to a village outside Swindon?
Yes. Send us the postcode and we contact OFTEC registered technicians who travel there.
Is LPG serviced the same way as oil?
No. An LPG boiler burns gas, so it falls under Gas Safe rules and needs an engineer with LPG on their registration. Census 2021 found 541 Swindon homes using tank or bottled gas only.
Sources
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