The first properly cold week of the year tests everything at once — the boiler, the radiators, the pipework, and whichever small problem you have been meaning to deal with since spring.
Here is a short list, in the order worth doing it.
Run the heating before you need it
Turn it on for half an hour on a mild day and walk around the house. You are checking that every radiator heats fully and evenly, that the boiler fires without complaint, and that there are no new noises. Finding a cold radiator in September is a job. Finding it in December is an emergency.
Check the boiler pressure
Look at the gauge and note where it sits. Not because the number alone tells you much, but because knowing where it normally sits is what lets you notice later that it has dropped.
Look at anything outside
Pipework running along an outside wall is the part of your system most exposed to a cold snap, and the condensate pipe in particular is a common winter casualty. If it is exposed, it is worth having it looked at before the weather turns rather than during.
Clear the gutters and check the chimney cap
Not glamorous, but water going where it should not is the source of an enormous number of winter problems. Ten minutes with a ladder in September saves a much worse conversation in January.
Book anything you already know needs doing
This is the one people skip. If you already know the boiler is due a service, or that one radiator has never worked properly, the diaries are open now and they will not be in six weeks.
The honest summary
None of this is complicated. It is all easier, cheaper and less stressful done in advance than done urgently.
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