Central Heating cover, worth it?

ismangil

Are those £15/month central heating cover any good? The exclusions seems scary, like they won't cover installation cost of replacing it if it packs up etc.

NigeWick

It may depend on how new your property is. If new, then saving the £15 per month until required to pay a bill would be my preferred option. If over say ten years old, I may consider insurance. What you have to remember is, that "they" are in business to make a profit. Therefore the law of averages says that saving the money and paying bills when required should work out a better deal in the long run.

You must decide whether you want the peace of mind of having insurance cover, or, the peace of mind knowing that your savings will cover bills if necessary and make some interest while being put by for that possible rainy day.

I choose to save my money. However, we all have different priorities and you must decide what will work best for you.

Nigel.

gingerdad

ismangil wrote:

Are those £15/month central heating cover any good? The exclusions seems scary, like they won't cover installation cost of replacing it if it packs up etc.

We have a 6 year old boiler and it first went wrong at 13 months old, we have cover and found it to be very worth while, have called out the engineer a few times. An they also do an annual inspection, i was wondering how many companies offer it we are with British Gas but would love to move to some one else

eilz

I have a very old boiler and most covers I have seem do not insure for boiler of large age. Although its old and I know I should change it, it works fine, so no reason, but I am pretty sure it wont last for ever, and ideas on a cover for such an old item.

[Deleted User]

My new boiler in my previous house, worcester, went badly wrong at 14 months. We had cover with BG. I was very very glad we were covered over the 9 years as we called them out several times

New house now and a baxi combi condensing boiler. I have signed up to baxi insurance at £96 a year and I am also prepared to pay £90 a year for a service.The annual inspection covered in the £16 pm BG cost is only a safety check. I wouldn`t be without the insurance and I feel that it is up to me to ensure that my boiler is working well and safely via an annual service

espresso

NigeWick wrote:

It may depend on how new your property is. If new, then saving the £15 per month until required to pay a bill would be my preferred option. If over say ten years old, I may consider insurance. Nigel.

I would say the opposite is true! Older boilers are much more reliable and well made compared to the new fangled ones which don't seem to operate for more than 18-24 months without requiring some expensive control board etc. to be replaced. I have had one pump and one valve replaced in over 20 years of daily use and paying £15 x 12 x 20 = £3600 would pay for a complete new system, however I would rather not have one of the new short life boilers and their associated unreliability even if they are a bit more efficient!

As with most insurance schemes, the choice is yours but £15 per month is expensive for so called 'peace of mind' cover. Read the small print and check out exactly what is actually covered and what is not!

Cardew

kittie wrote:

My new boiler in my previous house, worcester, went badly wrong at 14 months. We had cover with BG. I was very very glad we were covered over the 9 years as we called them out several times

The annual inspection covered in the £16 pm BG cost is only a safety check. I wouldn`t be without the insurance and I feel that it is up to me to ensure that my boiler is working well and safely via an annual service

There have been several threads about this and someone went to the trouble of getting a response from BG on what their service entails and it is not only a safety check.

Why would BG skimp on the correct maintenance when, if that causes problems, BG have to put it right? I have 2 boilers and on both I get a full report of all the checks carried out by BG. Flue gasses/efficiency etc.

Anyway there is a lot of emphasis on the boiler but there is a lot of other areas that can give problems on a CH system. pump, radiators, tank etc.

As said before IF you can find a good reliable honest plumber, that is probably the best option. A big 'if' for most of us.

botmission

In reality, the BG annual visit consists of a quick analsis of the flue gasses and a wipe of the outer case with a damp rag. At least it was when I did it....

Your average room sealed boiler these days needs very little maintenance despite what the companies tell you. A annual safety check is more than sufficient in most cases.

I think the £15 or so you pay each month can be extremely good value if you need to use it often enough. Overcharging for parts and labour is commonplace.

We seem to be heading into a period where new boilers could prove to be a problem. They are definately not as well made as before, there are hundreds of varieties now, and there are fewer corgi engineers too.

terrierlady

our Worcester Boiler is 3year's old and went wrong at 18 months and again it went wrong at 2year's and again at 3year's old, problem was the system wasn't flushed when the boiler was fitted by independent firm. British gas did power flush and now all OK. have chosen to use their insurance as previously we had cover with them for 10 years, thought new boiler would give us a couple of years respite but it didn't.