Thermal Store (Boilermate 2000) and Boiler Cover

trickytree1984

Hi,

I have just moved into a 2005 build property. Our hot water and central heating is fed from a Boilermate 2000 thermal store which is fed by a small boiler.

I am looking to get insurance, specifically BG HomeCare. Does anyone know if this system will be fully covered by the HomeCare 100 product? Or will i need HomeCare 200 which covers the central heating as well?

I have google a lot and there are conflicting views on this. Below is a transcript from an online chat i had with a BG advisor...

tommy: Hi,

I am interested in boiler cover. My boiler heats a thermal store (boliermate 2000) which then takes care of the hot water and central heating. Is this covered under he homecare 100 plan?

Shreeya: Hi Tommy. I am Shreeya and shall be helping with your enquiry

Shreeya: The HomeCare 100 will cover the boiler and controls, it will not cover the central heating system and radiators

tommy: ok, its not the central heating, because it does the hot water as well? Is it covered?

tommy: The boiler is controlled by the thermal store

Shreeya: If the boiler broke down and you have no hot water you will be covered

tommy: ok, well if the thermal store breaks down and the boiler still worked then i would have not hot water.

tommy: The thermal store controls the boiler. Without the thermal store the boiler is useless.

tommy: Is the thermal store covered?

Shreeya: May I ask Tommy is the thermal store the timer switch

tommy: it does have the time switch on it yes, but it also stores all of the heat produced by the boiler

Shreeya: I am just going to have a look for you

Shreeya: The boiler and controls will be covered but not the thermal store

tommy: OK, will it be covered if i get homecare 200?

Shreeya: We will not cover the thermal store at all

tommy: Right. Thanks for this.

Shreeya: Thanks for chatting with me today Tommy . To end our conversation, please click the exit button.
You’ll receive a short survey which I'd be grateful if you take a moment to complete. Enjoy the rest of your day!

tommy: Looks like i will be getting my insurance from someone else!

Shreeya: Sorry

Shreeya has exited the session.
You are the only user left in the session.

keystone

LoL. Shreeya doesn't know what a Thermal Store is or does and has taken the path of least resistance when answering your questions.

Your [STRIKE]sludgebucket[/STRIKE] Boilermate would not be covered under 100 but should be covered under 200 IMO.

Having said that is such an insurance policy worth it? I say no but others will disagree and there are a fair proportion here who will agree.

Cheers

Johnandabby

How many people do know how it works properly! We moved into our house 2 years ago, with a Boilermate II and a Halstead (yuck!) boiler. It had been insured and 'maintained' with BG - 'maintained' in the BG sense that the boiler had multiple holes in the heat exchanger and the casing had filled with water, and the Boilermate was struggling to deliver any hot water.

Best decision we made was to rip out both boiler and Boilermate and install a proper system with a hot water cylinder.

keystone

Johnandabby wrote: »

How many people do know how it works properly!

trickytree1984

keystone wrote: »

LoL. Shreeya doesn't know what a Thermal Store is or does and has taken the path of least resistance when answering your questions.

Your [STRIKE]sludgebucket[/STRIKE] Boilermate would not be covered under 100 but should be covered under 200 IMO.

Having said that is such an insurance policy worth it? I say no but others will disagree and there are a fair proportion here who will agree.

Cheers

Thanks for the responses. So BG should cover this. I am worried because having moved in i don't think either the boiler or boilermate have been serviced since 2008.

Why do you call it a sludgebucket? Is there anything i can do myself to check its running ok?

I have already replaced the thermostat for a wireless timed one as the timer on the boilermate was bust!

southcoastrgi

:wave::wave:

keystone

As you will know a thermal store (or heat bank) works in the reverse way to your standard DHW cylinder with mains cold fed through the coil to be heated by the system water in the store. Because the system water passes through the store it is therefore a nice large reservoir for the system sludge to collect in the bottom. I'm biased by the way

Cheers

budgetdiyer

My advice for these systems it to start saving for a conventional replacement.

These are installed on a large housing estate near us and i've lost count of the number of times we've had multiple failures on the same properties. Build quality seems to be iffy at best, alot of engineers point blank refuse to touch them!