Boiler service or save money?

Helen28

I've recently had new central heating put in my house, a Worcester combi boiler and 8 radiators.

All is working as it should.

The company who installed it has gone into liquidation and no longer trades.

Should I pay £100 a year to some company to get it serviced or put that £100 a year in the bank and wait until something goes wrong with the boiler then contact Worcester to get it fixed?

There is a dearth of companies where I stay that will service boilers they did not install, except of course British Gas.

It took me long enough to find a company to install the present heating.

elsien

Don't wait for it to go wrong - you may end up as one of the unlucky few who are killed by carbon monoxide poisoning. Plus regular servicing should keep it going for longer anyway.
Have you tried the local independents rather than the national companies?

CashStrapped

An annual service should only cost £50-80 each year.

Rather than pay british gas or any other service contract company £15 per month. Put £15 a month into a savings account via standing order. That saves £150 for the year. £50-£80 of that will go to a service. The rest can be used towards repair of any fault such an issue arises.

If your boiler was installed recently, it should be under warrantee from Worcester. Is it? Do you have any warrantee information? You should go to the Worcester Bosh website and look for local approved installers. To ensure the warrantee is valid you need to ensure the boiler is serviced every year. But, you need to check if your installer actually complied and registered the boiler.

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In addition, a good time to get a service done is around September/October time. This will mean it should be in good working order for the coming winter. It also means that you are not trying to get an appointment in winter when they are all booked up.

Also, if something is spotted that needs repair, it also means you are not left mid-winter without heating.

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MalMonroe

British Gas DO service all boilers, whether they installed them or not. The worst thing you need to consider is the leakage of carbon monoxide, which is deadly. Annual service is essential, at whatever cost. But as others have said, from around £80. Well worth it.

Tom99

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]How long is the manufactures guarantee? You will lose that if you don't service.[/FONT]

matelodave

Most boilers are warranted for five years, some 7 and even others at 10 so make sure you do what the boiler manaufacturer requires, which is usually an annual service.

Repairs on boilers can be very expensive, so it'w well worth making sure you adhere to the terms of the manufacturers warranty to make sure that you can benefit from it in the case of something going wrong.

An annual service should keep it running properly and as others have said ensure that it's safe.

ACCA

I've researched almost all topics on boiler servicing and thought this is the most relevant thread.

Background:
- apartment, block of flats, new built, 11 months since moved in
- no gas - entirely electrified building,
- underfloor heating & hot water
- unvented cylinder "Kingspan Tribune XE Pre-Plumbed Indirect"
- warranty 25 years on inner-vessel and 2 years on spare parts (if serviced)
- thermal units are supplied by E-on and metered inside the flat
- yearly service quoted by supplier "Kingspan" is £219
- market price of a new unvented system is ~1,000 (incl delivery) plus ~£300 for installation

Issue: service yearly or not?

At the moment, I take the side of 'not servicing' and just replace for the new one or repair as I go:

1. Math. A simple math computation provides an option to replace entirely the system in 6 years as opportunity cost [£219 * 6 years = £1,314].
2. Technology progress. Potentially a new technology would be developed by then or at least the prices would go down for the existing models.

At the same time, I may foresee the following risks:
1. Major disruption could cost me a fortune, however hot water cylinders are more robust than the regular boilers.

What are your thoughts? I would be grateful for any pieces of advice. Thanks in advance.