Get instant help with the boiler breakdown
Get instant help with the boiler breakdown
Although you don’t have to worry about heating in the warmer months, everybody needs hot water for washing up, showers and so on, which is why you never want to be caught out with a broken heating boiler. Boilers are one of those things in life that we rarely think think of, until they stop working that is. And then you realise how important, not to mention expensive, it really is.
For those of you who are renting, of course you don’t have to worry about repairs and maintenance as the responsibility lies with your landlord and they probably will have landlords gas boiler cover. But if you’re a homeowner, you may want to think about putting a little aside to cover the costs should anything go wrong.
New high-efficiency boilers can reduce your fuel bills dramatically so if your heating boiler is over ten years old it may be time to think about investing in a newer model. Your choice of a boiler should be determined by the capacity required (based on family needs), the space available for the central heating boiler and the existing heating system. If you have a compact family and need hot water at short notice, a combi boiler is a better choice. This boiler heats up the water through the mains as used and therefore a storage tank is not required. Although it is a great opulence to have on demand hot water at the turn of a tap take care if you’re in the shower when someone runs the hot tap!, the system will have a limited hot water heating capacity.
The other option is to have a sealed system heating boiler which uses a storage tank, which allows bigger families to use different water outlets at the same time without affecting the water pressure or temperature. The system central heating boiler needs not much space and it is quick and easy to install. But if hot water is used too quickly it would run out because the storage tank hot water would be depleted and is replenishment is not instant.
An open vent central heating system is the norm in most older homes, and takes up the most space; two water tanks in the loft and a storage cylinder in the airing cupboard. Like the sealed system, this type of gas boiler can allow multiple outlets to draw hot water a the same time, but can also take a while to heat and doesn’t give the best water pressure.
Finally, a back central heating boiler can allow multiple outlets of hot water at the same time, without loss of pressure; but they can take up a lot of space. Back boilers are usually stored in the chimney breast but if you do not have this type of central heating boiler installed you will find that it is not worth shifting over to this form of heating. It would save you a lot of money on installation of a new heating boiler if a back heating boiler is already installed in your home when you moved in, as it is cheaper to replace an old back boiler rather than install a completely new heating system.
Any malfunctioning central heating system system requires expensive overhauling and repair. So it is important to get a central heating insurance so that your costs are covered even if something goes wrong with your system. Take out a gas boiler maintenance policy that covers annual central heating system inspections as well as call-outs and repairs and you could save yourself an extra amount per year.