With the freezing cold weekend just around the corner, the heating in many homes is on longer. Central heating boilers therefore have to endure a lot. The heating technicians also notice this. Due to the increase in malfunctions and the staff shortages that many installation companies are struggling with, they are working hard. And beware for homeowners who do not have a maintenance contract: there is a big risk that you will be out in the cold for a long time this winter in the event of boiler failures.
“In the event of malfunctions, we first help our regular customers. The others then end up at the bottom of the list,” says Jolande Kruijssen of De Groot Service in Tilburg. “We are already very busy. We are no longer taking on new customers.”
The Tilburg company is no exception. Installation company Feenstra from Roosendaal says that they are bound hand and foot. “We are experiencing a shortage of personnel. Unfortunately, we cannot help people who do not have a maintenance contract. That will undoubtedly lead to problems.”
“We’re already very busy.”
That is also the expectation of Sankomij in Veldhoven. The company works in the Den Bosch, Venlo and Weert region. “We have two technicians for our breakdown service as standard. If things get out of hand, we can deploy two extra technicians. That in itself should be enough to solve all problems.” At this company, too, customers with a maintenance contract come first.
“It can be compared to ANWB membership. If you are stuck along the road with a breakdown and you are a member, you will receive help immediately. In the other case, you will have double bad luck and you must first become a member,” explains Jolande Kruijssen of De Groot. Service out. “We are already very busy. Moreover, we promise the people with a contract that we will solve the malfunction within 24 hours. We have to comply with that.”
“We hope people don’t start experimenting on their own.”
The company has fifteen service technicians on the road in the Eindhoven, Tilburg and Breda regions. “Of course I feel sorry for people whom we unfortunately cannot help. We do hope that people do not experiment with the central heating boiler themselves. At the most, refill or reset it and stay away from everything else.”
Harm de Haas of De Haas in Waalwijk would like to help everyone. But his agenda is also full of appointments. “I can make it as busy as I want. We work with three people in total. We also have contracts with our customers. They can count on being the first to act. Others get the short end of the stick.”
Fortunately, you can also limit malfunctions as much as possible. According to the experts, this is how you prevent problems with the central heating boiler:
- Top up the central heating system regularly
- Vent the heating plates regularly
- Check the thermostat battery regularly
- Check whether your boiler is receiving power
- Use the reset button in the event of a malfunction
- Write down any error code and call your central heating engineer