Alloa Boiler and Heating Services by Scott Murphy

Usually it can, but it takes longer than a standard cavity wall and the core drilling has to be planned rather than improvised. Masonry in the old brewing and milling buildings can be several times the depth of modern blockwork, so we measure the wall and agree the flue route with you before anything is drilled.

Cold air drains off the Ochils and settles over the flat ground north of the Forth, so rooms facing the hills lose heat faster than the rest of the house. That is normally a radiator sizing and balancing problem rather than a boiler fault, and those particular radiators are worth measuring before anyone blames the appliance.

It can. On low ground near the river we would rather not put a boiler, its electrics or its condensate termination at the very lowest point of a property when there is a workable alternative. We look at the levels and the drainage when we survey the job.

Radiators fitted when those estates were built were sized for a different standard of insulation and often a higher flow temperature. Changing the boiler alone will not fix an undersized radiator, so we work out the heat loss room by room and tell you which ones actually need to change.

Yes, and it is a bigger piece of work than a straight swap. The appliance comes out of the fireplace, the old flue arrangement has to be dealt with, and the new boiler goes somewhere else entirely, normally a kitchen or utility wall. We will show you the realistic positions before you commit to anything.

It does. Heat loss follows the volume you are actually heating, so a room with a ceiling twice the usual height loses far more than its floor area suggests. Radiators picked off a standard chart will underperform in that room, which is why we calculate rather than copy whatever was there before.

By looking at the actual appliance, the actual pipework and the actual access, then putting a price to you before starting. We do not put a figure on the phone for a property nobody has seen, because on Alloa's older buildings that figure would be wrong more often than it was right.

If the radiators are cold across the bottom, the system is noisy, or the water from a radiator bleed comes out black, there is debris in there. Putting a new appliance onto a dirty system shortens its life, so cleaning first is normally money well spent.

We work on domestic gas boilers and central heating, which includes flats inside converted mill and industrial buildings. Larger commercial plant sits under a different registration, so describe the appliance when you call and you will get a straight answer about whether it is one for us.

Check the pressure gauge, check nothing has tripped at the consumer unit, and look for an error code on the display. Then ring 07449 567506 with that code and your postcode. If you can smell gas, shut the supply off at the meter, open windows, get everyone out and call the National Gas Emergency line.