Tempted to ask AI or check TikTok for DIY advice? Freya did just that… and ended up with a £1,800 boiler bill

A young homeowner is warning others against attempting to repair their own boilers, after her botched attempt landed her with an £1,800 bill. Freya Constance Page Tavener, 19, from London first realised something was wrong when the hot water in her home went off. Looking at the boiler's display, she saw it showed an unfamiliar fault code.Freya searched the error code online and found TikTok videos and YouTube tutorials claiming there was a quick fix that homeowners could carry out themselves.Wanting to avoid the cost of an engineer call-out, Freya decided to give it a go.'I remember standing in the kitchen staring at the fault code thinking, 'Surely this can't be that complicated,' says Freya. Freya, 19, went to TikTok when her boiler broke and ended up with a much bigger bill'I typed the error code into TikTok and YouTube and there were loads of videos explaining how to fix it.'They all made it look really straightforward and the comments were full of people saying they'd done exactly the same thing. I looked at the cost of getting an engineer out and thought, "I'll have a go first".'Freya had used social media for plenty of DIY projects before, from decorating tips to putting together flat-pack furniture, so she did not think twice about following the online advice.'It wasn't like I thought I was taking on a huge job. I genuinely believed I was following advice that would get the hot water working again without having to pay for an engineer.'The videos diagnosed the problem the diverter valve – the boiler part which directs water from the boiler to either radiators or taps – being stuck.Following their instructions, Freya started by removing the boiler casing and attempted to access and free the diverter valve herself. But while doing so, she damaged the actuator's electrical connector and wiring – parts which are much more expensive to replace.When she switched the boiler back on, the damaged connection caused a fault with the printed circuit board, the part that controls the boiler, leaving her without heating or hot water.Hands tied, she called a Gas Safe engineer. They replaced the diverter valve and actuator, as well as the damaged printed circuit board and wiring.The engineer explained that the original fault with the diverter valve would have been a relatively straightforward repair costing around £250.However, Freya's DIY attempt had caused additional damage and further components needed replacing. Her final bill rose to more than £1,800.'I honestly felt sick,' she says. 'I'd been trying to save a couple of hundred pounds and ended up paying more than seven times as much.'Freya says the experience completely changed the way she views online DIY videos. Get a professional: If you're not sure how to fix your boiler, hiring an expert can help you avoid expensive mistakes'TikTok and YouTube are brilliant for decorating ideas or putting together Ikea furniture, but they can give you a false sense of confidence,' she says.'You watch a one-minute video and think that's all there is to it, but every boiler is different. Just because someone else's fix worked doesn't mean it'll work for yours.''I was trying to avoid paying around £250 and ended up with a £1,800 bill, days without heating or hot water and a lot of regret,' she says.'If I'd just called an engineer in the first place, it would have been cheaper, quicker and a lot less stressful. It really isn't worth the risk.'While it might seem tempting to ask AI or check TikTok for DIY repair advice, Freya's experience shows the importance of going to the experts first.Third of Gen Z attempt DIY boiler fixes New research by boiler company Boxt found 31 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds have attempted DIY boiler or heating repairs, with 25 per cent turning to TikTok for advice and 23 per cent using AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. This was compared to just 8 per cent of over-55s. Its survey also found 8 per cent of Britons had attempted to replace gas pipework themselves, work that experts warn should never be treated as a DIY job.By law, gas work must be carried out by a suitably qualified Gas Safe registered engineer.Adam Knight, lead gas safe engineer at Boxt said: 'TikTok and AI can teach you a lot of things, but fixing a boiler shouldn't be one of them.'Online tutorials can make complex heating work look deceptively simple, when one wrong move can quickly turn an attempt to save a few hundred pounds into a four-figure repair bill and potential health and safety implications for you and your household.'Some jobs simply aren't DIY jobs.' This is Money podcast