Boiler Servicing in Lynton

I service all the major brands you'll find in Lynton's homes and holiday properties:

Worcester Bosch. The Greenstar range is the premium brand I work on most across North Devon. In Lynton it's a mix — modern Greenstar 8000 Life and Greenstar 4000 in the updated properties, older Greenstar CDi models where the upgrade happened a decade or more ago. Worcester's extended warranties only hold if it's serviced annually by a Gas Safe engineer.

Vaillant. EcoTEC plus and ecoTEC pro in the updated properties. F22 (low water pressure) and F75 (pump or pressure sensor fault) are the codes I see most on unserviced Vaillants, and a thorough annual service often heads both off.

Baxi — the 800 series and older Duo-tec models come up regularly. E133 (ignition fault) is common on Baxis that have gone a year or more without anyone looking at them.

Ideal. Logic Plus and Logic Max in the updated properties, with the odd older Ideal Mexico or Concord still in Lynton's Victorian stock. On the older Ideals I'll always be straight about parts availability.

Glow-worm. Betacom 4 and Flexicom models in older housing and rentals. Reliable enough when they're properly looked after.

Potterton. Performa and Profile in the older properties. Parts for the oldest Pottertons are genuinely scarce, and I'll give you an honest assessment before I take any work on.

I cover Lynton itself, Lynmouth below it, and the surrounding EX35 area, including properties out on the Valley of the Rocks road and Exmoor properties within sensible reach. The Cliff Railway joining the two is the town's best-known feature, but for my purposes the practical point is simpler: Lynton and Lynmouth are two separate levels with two different sorts of property.

The higher town is mostly Victorian and Edwardian — former guesthouses, terraces and larger private houses from the spa-town years. That's where the older boilers live. Lynmouth at the valley bottom has older cottages and a number of more recently done-up holiday lets.

Being willing to come out here is, honestly, part of why people ring me. Customers in Lynton have told me how hard it's been to find anyone who'll make the trip. I will, and you'll get exactly the same standard of work you'd get in Barnstaple or Braunton.

In Lynton's older properties — Victorian terraces, former guesthouses, buildings with original or much-altered flue arrangements — carbon monoxide deserves extra thought. Old flue systems are often in worse shape than their owners imagine, and a partly blocked or crumbling flue that nobody's inspected for years is a real risk, not a hypothetical one.

Annual servicing, and particularly the flue inspection and flue gas analysis I do every visit, is your main protection. Where the flue is non-standard or back-flued I take extra time over the whole accessible run. I'd also fit CO alarms on each floor; BS EN 50291 is the standard to look for. In an old building with a complicated flue, they earn their keep more than most places.

BS 7593 requires all central heating systems to be treated with a corrosion inhibitor. In Lynton's older housing, where a lot of systems have never been properly flushed or treated, I regularly find inhibitor levels low or nothing at all. A system running without it builds magnetite sludge that blocks radiators, clogs heat exchangers and shortens the pump's life considerably.

A water quality check is part of the service: inhibitor level, pH and any signs of corrosion in the system water. Topping up or replacing the inhibitor is not included, so if the system needs it I show you what I found and quote before doing anything. I'll also check for a magnetic filter (Magnaclean, Adey MagnaClean Pro) on the boiler return, since they catch debris before it reaches the heat exchanger. On an older Lynton system that almost certainly has some sludge in it already, fitting one is about the most practical thing you can do to protect the boiler.

A standard annual boiler service in Lynton is £105. That covers the full combustion analysis, all the component checks, the inhibitor test and a signed service record. If I find something that needs more attention, I'll explain it clearly and agree the cost with you before I go any further.

For landlords adding a CP12 to the visit, the standard gas boiler service and CP12 is £145 including VAT, all confirmed up front. The Full Boiler Service and CP12 package is £185 including VAT.

You'll get an answer. Ring or message during the working day and you'll hear back the same day; evenings and weekends, it'll be the next working day. And if it isn't a job for me, I'll tell you that and point you at someone who can help, rather than going quiet on you.

When you book, I'll confirm it and give you a two-hour window rather than a whole day sat at home waiting. On the morning you get a text with a tracking link, so you can see where I've got to instead of wondering. Traffic and the job before yours are real, so it's a window rather than a promise to the minute, but if it slips you'll hear it from me first.

Call 01271 444410 or email info@tarkaboilersbarnstaple.co.uk. I cover Lynton and Lynmouth EX35 and the Exmoor country around them — one of the few Gas Safe engineers who comes to this corner of North Devon regularly.