Cut your repair costs with a central heating system care scheme
Cut your repair costs with a central heating system care scheme
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 central heating system. No one remembers about the central heating boiler in their house until that day when it breaks down. Its vital role in providing warmth and hot water becomes sorely missed; and fears arise of the costly repair bills to come.
If you rent your home, you won’t have to worry about having some money aside for the boiler repairs; your landlord will cover it. Should anything go wrong when you are the homeowner the situation is different so you might think of putting a little aside to cover this risk.
You might consider investing in a new central heating system model if your previous one is older than ten years, it would cut the cost of your fuel especially if the new one is a high-efficiency model and it would be less prone to breakdown. The type of heating boiler that you should buy would depend upon your existing central heating system type, the size of your family and the amount of space in your home. The most common type is the combi boiler, it is perfect for small homes and for people who want hot water quickly. In a combi heating boiler water is drawn through the mains and heated immediately eliminating the need of storage tanks. 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.
A sealed boiler system can cater to several family members having a hot wash or bath at the same time since it utilises a storage tank housed in a cupboard or loft, thus ensuring a steady supply of pressured hot water. Such a sealed system is convenient to install and also saves on space. Compared to a combi boiler, a storage boiler heats water slowly; after depletion, a fresh tankful can take some time to be replenished.
Older models of boilers are generally of open vent type – requiring a couple of loft mounted water tanks as well as a storage section installed in an airing cupboard. This type of central heating boiler is similar to the sealed system in that it lets hot water to come out of more than one tap at the same time, but it also takes time to warm up and has wavering water pressure.
Finally, a back 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. Typically the chimney breast was used to store the back boilers, however consider switching to a new one only if you are already using an old one as the installation may be a challenge if the house was not designed for this initially. But if your house already had a back heating boiler when you bought it, you can gain a lot of savings by replacing it with the same type; if it requires replacement, it’s much more cost effective to get a new back gas boiler than getting a totally different gas boiler system.
No matter what type of boiler you have, it’s maintenance costs can be high if it has problems. That is why it is important to get heating insurance so you can be confident that any costs will be taken care of if something breaks down, costs which cover labour and spare parts for your gas boiler. A central heating boiler insurance policy including coverage for yearly central heating boiler inspections and emergency servicing for repairs will go a long way in reducing your annual boiler maintenance expenses.