Annual Gas boiler service - money for old rope?

zaax

What is actual done in a Gas boiler service? Mine is a new boiler put in two years ago. Last year is was serviced, and he look at it taking 5 minutes. He said all they did was check the seals. They charged me £120 for the job.

A friend who gets her boiler serviced annually had it break down last winter she was without hot water / heating for three days. Luckly the worst of the winter was just over and she had a back up gas heater. But is it worth pay £100 odd for a service and then another £100 when it breaks down?

Canucklehead

zaax wrote: »

What is actual done in a Gas boiler service? Mine is a new boiler put in two years ago. Last year is was serviced, and he look at it taking 5 minutes. He said all they did was check the seals. They charged me £120 for the job.

A friend who gets her boiler serviced annually had it break down last winter she was without hot water / heating for three days. Luckly the worst of the winter was just over and she had a back up gas heater. But is it worth pay £100 odd for a service and then another £100 when it breaks down?

Good afternoon: see here or consult your boiler manual.;)

Canucklehead

Premier_2

zaax wrote: »

...Last year is was serviced, and he look at it taking 5 minutes. He said all they did was check the seals. They charged me £120 for the job. ...

Was that British Gas? Although I think they charge £185.

Whoever it was, it doesn't sound like they''ve done a very good job.
Ask around for a competent local gas safe engineer. He'll probably charge you about £45-£75 for a boiler service which will take 30-60 mins.

They don't do an awful lot - it's more visual inspection usually although there are some safety devices they should be checking and often they will clean away any carbon deposits (but as your boiler is only 2 years old, there probably wasn't much cleaning to be done).

A service doesn't safeguard you against a breakdown.
Similar to a car service, it gives them an opportunity to spot any existing or developing problems (which they'll probably quote extra for to repair), but it could still break down the next day if the fault suddenly develops and/or wasn't immediately identifiable during the service.