Central Heating Insurance

RedOnRed

If you can afford the cover it's well worth having.

The amount of stories i've read on forums from people who haven't had the cover and then can't get a plumber for a month or so. The only plumbers you can ger at this time of year charge hourly with a call out and probably get free advertising on Watchdog.

ReductionQueen

I am very much in the no insurance camp. Wev'e been in our house for 13 years, and the central heating wasn't new then. At say, £16 pm, that's £2,496!! I recently (2days ago) changed the time clock, as the display went (dead battery) and to be honest I don't think that I could even have got one from the manufacturer (tried 2 plumbers merchants and an electrical supplies specialist). I could have tried Potterton, but it would have taken days if not weeks, if the battery was even still made. So, £37.49 spent in Homebase later the heating is fixed. Why pay for insurance? If you are really worried, save the money and spend it when you need to.

alanobrien

RedOnRed wrote:

If you can afford the cover it's well worth having.

The amount of stories i've read on forums from people who haven't had the cover and then can't get a plumber for a month or so. The only plumbers you can ger at this time of year charge hourly with a call out and probably get free advertising on Watchdog.

Absolutely agree,
My recent experience backs this up, if your lucky you may get one out, even then most dont bother to quote.
At this time of year they can pick and choose work and most will (understandably) choose easy fix jobs that genetate the most income.

While i think self insure is financially the best option, if you have a wife and young kids you need reliable heating and hot water and that is where BG an others work in as much as at least they get someone on site to repair or replace the dodgy system.

And another thing i see often quoted "Your professional will size the system for you" again in my experience not a chance. Most have no clue on how to perform heat loss calcs which is why most conventional boilers are usually oversized and inefficient.

anskills

that will be the old heat loss calcs x 1.4 multiplying factor and taking -5 as the worst winter temperature as a safety margin. the 1.4 also includes margin for system heat up time

RedOnRed

alanobrien wrote:

And another thing i see often quoted "Your professional will size the system for you" again in my experience not a chance. Most have no clue on how to perform heat loss calcs which is why most conventional boilers are usually oversized and inefficient.

Perhaps we should try and encourage Carol Vorderman into becoming a plumber?

alanobrien

RedOnRed wrote:

Perhaps we should try and encourage Carol Vorderman into becoming a plumber?

Then i would happily overpay for her to fit a system
;-)

ellen1974_2

We have found npower to be really good. They have two options,
1) Full cover with no annual service @ £113.88 p.a
2) Full cover with annual service @£163.80 p.a
We chose option 1 as we did not think it necessary to have an annual service. If theres a breakdown, they come and fix it anyway.

JasonW_2

ellen1974 wrote:

We have found npower to be really good. They have two options,
1) Full cover with no annual service @ £113.88 p.a
2) Full cover with annual service @£163.80 p.a
We chose option 1 as we did not think it necessary to have an annual service. If theres a breakdown, they come and fix it anyway.

But they will probably not cover some stuff if the annual service wasnt done, ie you could have prevented the fault by having the service done - you didnt, so insurance void. Sorry but that is how these companies work. If youre gonna pay for something, then read the terms and conditions VERY carefully.

J

amandathepanda

My advice would be not to bother. We have cover with Npower, our boiler developed a fault and needed a new circuit board, the engineer said he had to get authorisation before he could replace the part as it cost £330, Npower refused to pay up as they said the boiler was beyond economical repair!! My boiler is 10 years old, but they know that because it has been covered with them since new. They calculated that my boiler was only worth £220 on a sliding scale. Why don't they tell you before they take the £10.99 per month, that they will only replace the parts that are cheap. Needless to say I told them what to do with their insurance!!

budgetflyer

Direct line do a policy,typicaly a 1 year old Ariston combi boiler +system + locks+house wiring quote was ---> £72 per year <

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Many boiler manufacturers offer EXTENDED WARRANTY deals Thru DOMESTIC AND GENERAL . These can last up to 5 years and work out under £80 per year (varies per manufacturer)

Its a gamble not having cover. Some PCBS can cost £200 + and labour charges are around £70+ per hour.

Some so called plumbing /heating engineers really don't have a scoobie about repairing combi boilers, they are getting more and more complex all the time so I would suggest for peace of mind unless you can be referred to an engineer who s charges are reasonable,is reliable and knows what hes doing then get cover of some sort.

Although British Gas are expensive they do include a yearly check. This includes an EMMISION CHECK which verifies that the appliance is working efficiently and also tells the engineer of any combustion problems that might be caused by a faulty flue or seal or infact controls not calibrated.

Even if you dont take a maintainance plan, you should still get the boiler checked yearly.

If you are a tenant then your landlord has to do this by LAW