We repair hot water cylinders across Birmingham: unvented cylinders such as the Megaflo, older vented copper cylinders, and the valves, vessels, thermostats and immersion heaters around them. If you have no hot water, water dripping from the tundish or the pipe outside, hot water that runs out too soon or a leak in the cylinder cupboard, call us. In office hours (Monday to Friday, 8am to 5.30pm) a diagnosis visit is £99, and we give you a price for the repair before we do it. An unvented cylinder must be worked on by a G3 qualified engineer, and our lead engineer holds that qualification.
Four details and we will get back to you to arrange a time. Prefer to talk? Call 07413 385767.
Unvented cylinder repairs £99 for the first hour in office hours, parts quoted first. Immersion heater and vented cylinder repairs are quoted after a £99 diagnosis. Unvented cylinder annual service £120 (£90 with a boiler service).
No travel charge within 10 miles of B20 2JS. Further out, £2 per mile may apply — always agreed before anything is booked. Full price list
Smell gas now? Do not use this form or wait for a reply. Call the National Gas Emergency Service free on 0800 111 999 (24 hours). If you are using a mobile, make the call from outside. Open doors and windows, do not switch electrics on or off, do not smoke or use naked flames, and turn the gas off at the meter if it is safe to do so, unless the meter is in a cellar or basement. Once the supply has been made safe, we can trace and repair the fault.
It helps to know before you call, because the faults and the rules are different.
Either kind of cylinder can be heated by a boiler through a coil inside it, by immersion heaters, or by both. Not sure which you have? Send us a photo on WhatsApp and we will tell you.
These are the calls we get most. A cause can only be confirmed by testing on site, so read this as a guide to what an engineer will check, not as a diagnosis.
If a boiler heats the cylinder, the fault is often not in the cylinder at all: it can be the boiler, the motorised valve that sends heat to the cylinder, the cylinder thermostat or the programmer. If the cylinder is heated electrically, the usual causes are a failed immersion element or its thermostat, a tripped overheat cut-out, or the supply to it: the wall switch, a fuse or the timer. We test each in turn instead of guessing at parts.
A safety valve is letting water go, which means something is not controlling pressure or temperature as it should. Most often the expansion vessel has lost its air charge, so the water has nowhere to expand into as it heats. A worn pressure reducing valve, a relief valve that no longer seats, or a failed thermostat can do the same. It should be looked at promptly. Never cap or block that pipe.
On an electrically heated cylinder this is often the lower immersion element: the top one still heats a small amount of water, so you get one short shower. Other causes are a thermostat set too low or failing, a scaled coil, or a mixing valve that has stuck. Sometimes the cylinder is simply too small for the household, and we will say so.
On an unvented cylinder the pressure reducing valve or its strainer is the usual suspect. On a vented cylinder we look at what feeds it. In an Oldbury flat we traced a year of poor hot water pressure to a gate valve that had snapped inside: the handle turned, but the valve stayed nearly shut.
Many leaks come from something that can be replaced: a valve, a fitting, an immersion heater seal or the expansion vessel. A leak from the body of the cylinder is different. The cylinder is a pressure vessel, and once the shell has failed it has to be replaced, not patched.
Usually the expansion vessel has lost its air charge. Re-charging or replacing it is a routine repair.
Turn the immersion heater off at its wall switch, turn the hot water off at the boiler controls, leave the safety valves alone and call us. A thermostat has probably failed and the safety devices are doing their job.
We tell you the price of a part before we fit it.
Outside office hours the price is quoted by phone before we set off. There is no travel charge within 10 miles of B20 2JS.
Most cylinder faults are repairs. Valves, vessels, thermostats and immersion elements are parts that wear out and can be changed, and the cylinder carries on. Replacement is the right answer when the body of the cylinder is leaking or has corroded inside, or when an old cylinder needs several costly parts at once.
Two of our own jobs show the difference. In Wolverhampton a third-floor unvented cylinder had leaked through the ceiling below, and that one was replaced. In Birmingham city centre a Megaflo with no hot water needed two immersion elements, not a new cylinder.
If replacement is the sensible route, we survey and give you a written quote: see unvented cylinder installation and servicing.
Synergy Gas & Plumbing is a family-run Birmingham business, trading since 2017 and led by Saeed Iqbal, an engineer with more than 20 years' experience, including ten years with British Gas (2006 to 2016). The company is Gas Safe registered, number 594385, and Saeed holds the G3 qualification for unvented hot water systems.
Those are two separate things. Gas Safe registration covers gas work. It does not qualify anyone to work on an unvented cylinder, and it is not an electrical qualification. Whoever you use for an unvented cylinder, ask to see their G3 card.
Real jobs, each written up with the photos we took on the day.
A tenant called with no hot water and asked for both immersion elements to be replaced. We drained the cylinder down, took out two scaled and corroded elements, fitted new ones and tested them. Hot water back the same visit.
Read the case studyThe vessel was hanging off its pipework because the backboard had only been nailed to plasterboard with no stud behind it. We fitted plywood across a wider area with heavy-duty fixings and remounted it.
Read the case studySeveral engineers and a shower pump had not fixed it. The gate valve on the vented cylinder had snapped inside, turning freely but barely open. A full-bore lever valve in its place, and the tenants had proper hot water pressure for the first time in over a year.
Read the case studyThe old cylinder was leaking through the ceiling below. We quoted a replacement, the customer accepted, and a new 150-litre stainless unvented cylinder went in to current standards with the pipework insulated. G3 work, done by G3 engineers.
Read the case studyPlease do not go further than that. Do not operate, tighten or cap the safety valves or the discharge pipe, and do not take the cover off an immersion heater. An unvented cylinder holds very hot water at mains pressure.
| Job | Price |
|---|---|
| Diagnosis visit, Mon–Fri 8am–5.30pm | £99 |
| Unvented cylinder repair | The £99 includes the first hour; parts quoted |
| Immersion heater or vented cylinder repair | Quoted after diagnosis |
| Outside office hours | Quoted by phone before we set off |
| Unvented cylinder annual service | £120 |
| Unvented cylinder service, bundled with a boiler service | £90 |
| New unvented cylinder installation | Quoted after survey |
The £99 covers attendance and diagnosis in office hours (Mon–Fri 8am–5.30pm); on an unvented cylinder it also covers the first hour of the repair. It is not the price of every job: immersion heater and vented cylinder repairs, parts and further work are quoted and agreed before we carry on, out-of-hours work is quoted by phone before we set off, and installations are priced in writing after a free survey. No travel charge within 10 miles of B20 2JS; further out, £2 per mile may apply, agreed before booking. How our prices work.
Diagnosis £99
Diagnosis visit £99 in office hours. On an unvented cylinder that includes the first hour of the repair; immersion heater and vented cylinder repairs are quoted. Unvented cylinder annual service £120 (£90 with a boiler service).
No travel charge within 10 miles of B20 2JS. Further out, £2 per mile may apply — always agreed before anything is booked.
If a boiler heats it, the cause is often outside the cylinder: the boiler, the motorised valve, the cylinder thermostat or the programmer. If it is heated electrically, the usual causes are a failed immersion element or thermostat, a tripped overheat cut-out, or the supply to it: the wall switch, a fuse or the timer. Check the switch and the timer, then call an engineer who holds the G3 qualification. It cannot be diagnosed properly without testing.
A safety valve is releasing water because pressure or temperature is not being controlled. Most often the expansion vessel has lost its air charge. A worn pressure reducing valve, a relief valve that no longer seats or a failed thermostat are the other usual causes. Do not cap or block the pipe, and have it looked at promptly.
Repair, in most cases. Valves, expansion vessels, thermostats and immersion elements can all be replaced and the cylinder carries on. Replacement makes sense when the body of the cylinder is leaking or corroded, because a failed pressure vessel cannot be patched, or when an old cylinder needs several costly parts at once. We tell you which it is after testing, and a replacement is quoted in writing after a survey.
In office hours (Monday to Friday, 8am to 5.30pm) a diagnosis visit is £99. Once we know what has failed, we give you a price for the repair, with its parts, before doing it, so the total depends on the fault. On an unvented cylinder the £99 includes the first hour of the repair. Replacing an immersion heater is always quoted. Outside office hours the price is quoted by phone before we set off.
Yes. A Megaflo is an unvented cylinder, and our lead engineer holds the G3 qualification needed to work on one. A recent Megaflo repair in Birmingham city centre was a flat with no hot water, where we drained the cylinder and replaced both immersion elements.
Yes: immersion heaters, thermostats, valves, leaks at the fittings and poor flow from the hot taps. If the copper itself has split, the cylinder is replaced.
No. It holds very hot water at mains pressure and relies on its safety valves. Work on one should only be done by an engineer with the G3 qualification. What you can do safely is check the immersion switch, the timer and whether a fuse has tripped.
It depends on the day. Call and we will tell you honestly the earliest visit we can offer. The line is answered 24 hours a day, and out-of-hours work is quoted by phone before we set off.
We cover Birmingham and the surrounding towns. Pick your area for local detail.
£99 diagnosis in office hours; repair quoted
£120 annual service
£99 in office hours: diagnosis + first hour
£99 in office hours: diagnosis + first hour
£99 in office hours: diagnosis + first hour
£99 (Mon–Fri 8am–5.30pm)
We will tell you honestly when we can get to you, and agree the price before any work goes ahead.
