A central heating boiler protection policy can assist a great amount by relieving your labour costs
A central heating boiler protection policy can assist a great amount by relieving your labour costs
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. Boilers are one of those things in life that we rarely think think of, until they stop working that is. Suddenly it becomes a very important and rather expensive piece of essential equipment.
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 central heating boiler cover. But if you live in your own house, it will be wise to have a special savings pot or central heating insurance in case something goes wrong with your gas boiler.
It is advisable to buy a new model rather than getting your ten year old gas boiler repaired, this will cut down the fuel costs too in future years. Depending on the amount of space in your home, the size of your family and the existing central heating boiler, you would have a choice as to the type of heating boiler to go for. If you have a compact family and need hot water at short notice, a combi central heating boiler is a better choice. A combi central heating boiler draws water and heats it through the mains, doing away with the need for a storage tank. Hot water is instant and on demand; but if someone runs a hot tap while you’re having a nice hot shower, be prepared to jump out quickly!.
A sealed system central heating system uses a single storage tank, usually in an airing cupboard, and enables a large family to have several taps or showers on the go at once, without compromising hot water or water pressure. This central heating system can easily be installed within hours and doesn’t require excess space. 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.
However the boiler which is most commonly used in older homes is the open vent heating boiler, it occupies huge space and consists of a storage cylinder and two water tanks. Like the sealed system, this type of 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.
The fifth type is a back boiler which is bulkier, but can deliver hot water to several outlets under good pressure. The space inside a chimney breast is often used to accommodate a back central heating boiler; but installing a new back heating boiler system to replace another type of central heating boiler is not cost effective. However, if you do already have a back heating boiler system installed in your home and it needs replacing, rather than getting a completely new system, it would be more sensible to get a new back boiler installed.
It is costly to repair a gas boiler which ever type your home has. So it is important to get a central heating insurance so that your costs are covered even if something goes wrong with your system. As a final thought remember that you can save yourself an extra amount per year if you take out a boiler breakdown policy that covers annual gas boiler inspections as well as call-outs and repairs.