Find a Heating Engineer you can trust in Sandown.

If you’re looking for a reliable or reputable source for your new gas boiler, you definitely won’t find much better than British Gas. Using a big firm like British Gas comes with a plethora of benefits , but of course there are also some drawbacks, with the boiler prices being the main one and biggest turn off for most homeowners. However, just before we delve straight in to the price, let’s look at a thing or two about the big company.

The company, “British Gas are not a boiler manufacturer as you probably would have first imagined. They’re actually a company that specializes in the installation of boilers. As a result, they’re able to install just about any type of boiler you can imagine from any manufacturer. Be it a Worcester Bosch Greenstar 8000 Style or a Baxi 600, they’re able to provide you with the cost of having these boilers installed in your home or property.

Combi boilers are perfect boilers for space-saving and this makes them very popular on the market. They’re also very efficient when it comes to heating water instantly and warm your in few minutes. The price of a new British Gas combi boiler varies on a number of factors. Generally, the installation prices of combi boilers start from £1,800. Therefore, if British Gas are to be competitive with their pricing it should also be around this price.

However, if you have a large house with several rooms with a higher demand for hot water, British Gas will most likely recommend boilers such as Worcester Bosch 440CDi and the likes. Judging from other firms in the market, the price to have these types installed should be in excess of £3,000.

Breakdowns of boilers are quite common during the winter months and are usually very expensive to repair when this occurs. According to the research carried out recently by uSwitch, repairing a boiler can cost an average of about £314 with a figure over 20 percent of homes experiencing various heating system issues last year.

To answer the question of whether or not your existing home insurance will be enough to cover the boiler breakdown, the answer is probably not. This is due to the fact that heating system faults or breakdowns is a very common occurrence and as a result of poor maintenance practices as well as a high repair cost, several insurance companies often remove it from their home insurance policies.

Generally, you’d be given an option of what is termed as “emergency home cover which is an add on or extra to your home insurance policy. Luckily, this add on is quite inexpensive and may be as little as £4 or £5 per month. Depending on your need or budget, you can also purchase the add on as a “stand alone from your current insurer or another company. However, the standalone option is usually more expensive.

The emergency home cover normally provides coverage for the boiler repair cost and few times, the rest of the central heating system as well. Being fully aware how important a boiler can be, insurance companies usually deliver a rapid response service as suggested in the name, “emergency home cover. However, the maximum pay-out for call out charges is capped at a particular amount which usually ranges from £500 and £1,000. Apart from the call out fees, the emergency cover also includes a limit on the pay-out amount for future required repairs of heating systems which includes both parts labour.

To ensure your boiler is functioning efficiently and to keep your home warm, it’s important to see that your boiler is serviced on a regular basis by a licensed boiler engineer. Failure to do this can result in sudden boiler breakdown which can be a hard hitting blow to one’s financial power especially when there’s no boiler cover to cushion the blow or totally avoid it all together.

When your boiler is covered, it implies that you’re protected in the event whereby your boiler or it’s controls malfunctions or break. Several boiler cover will include the servicing cost, while some may not so it’s advisable to always go through the details, no matter how small, before entering into a boiler cover agreement. Typically, a boiler cover will cost between £60 to £100 per year and the payment is made on a monthly basis. Various boiler insurance companies have varying cover cost, however, here are the common boiler cover policies:

• Homeserve charges from £13 per month

• EDF Energy costs from £13.29 per month

• British Gas from £12 per month

• Scottish Power from £13.13 every month

• CETRI UK charges from £13.50 every month

• 24/7 home rescue costs from £9.60 every month

• Gorgi Home Plan costs from £6 per month plus 3 months free

• Your repair charges from £9.60 per month

• NPower Boiler Cover costs from £10.92 every month

• SSE Boiler Breakdown Cover charges from £4.95 every month

It’s important to note that sometimes you have the option of adding your boiler cover to your existing home insurance, if you do not want a standalone policy for your boiler cover. In many scenarios, this is referred to as an extra or add on service referred to as “Home Emergency Cover. When compared to the standalone boiler policies, this is usually a lot cheaper as it comes in around £5 per month.

Who Fixes Boilers?

With boiler running for several hours in a day and working hard to ensure that our home stays warm, even when we tend to take it for granted it’s always there give us the heat we need whenever we need it. So in the event whereby the inevitable happens and your boiler breakdown, which professional is the most suitable to call for help? When the pressure is on to stop a boiler leak or bring back warmth to your home, knowing who to call can make all the difference.

When you need a professional to fix your boiler, the right professional to call is a heating engineer. Heating engineers work mainly on heating I both homes and businesses, so you’d be right to call them specialists in all heating matters. As a result of this, you may want to give them a call when experiencing some issues with your boiler as they’d be in the best position than any other professional to give you a proper solution.

Generally, heating engineers are experts when it comes to fixing boilers and can help with various tasks such as installing a new boiler, boiler repairs, installing new gas pipes, repairing gas leaks, changing radiators, fixing leaks, installing heating controls and many more. What’s more? A boiler repair has to do with working with gas and before you can do that you must be a Gas Safe registered engineer as required by the legislations in the UK. In other words, any gas boiler related issue must be tackled by a Gas Safe registered engineer as this is a very dangerous fuel in which the services must be provided to highest standards of safety. Only heating engineers can be a Gas Safe registered engineer to work on gas boilers.

If your boiler is leaking, there are some checks that you can do yourself. However, you should never attempt to repair your boiler yourself – only a Gas Safe-registered engineer should conduct repairs.

There are 3 main reasons why your boiler might be leaking: there’s a pressure valve fault, a temperature valve leak or corrosion in the system. An engineer will be able to spot the problem quickly, but in the meantime there are a few things you can do:

Check the pipe fittings

If your boiler is leaking water around the pipe fittings, it could be an installation fault and you should get in touch with the engineer that fitted it. You can check the pipe fittings by drying the area then waiting to see if the water appears again. If it does, you may be able to do a ¼ turn of the pipe to stop it. However, you should still call the engineer that installed it to ask them to check the PTFE tape on the inside.

Inspect the seals

Over time, the rubber seals on a boiler can start to perish, so if you have an old boiler this could be the source of your leak. If you have a new boiler, it could be caused by your boiler running over pressure.

Heat exchanger corrosion

Unfortunately, if a boiler engineer discovers that the boiler is leaking water from the heat exchanger, this is the end of the road for your system. The heat exchanger is the most expensive part of your boiler, so it makes more financial sense to replace your boiler with a newer, more efficient model rather than try to replace it.

How To Install An Oil Boiler Heating System

Just like several other skills, the installation of an oil boiler heating system can be a challenge. It requires enough persistence to actually get right, so if you’re the type with little patience, we’d recommend you hire the services of a professional oil boiler heating system fitter who can guarantee the best results and save you time and extra money due to potential damages.

To install your boiler system yourself, it’s always advisable to start by getting the information on the best installation processes from the supplying company which will go a long way to save you from future headaches. However, we’ve put together this guide to give you a basic knowledge on how its done. Let’s have a look!

lRead Instruction Manual

• Carefully read and digest the instruction manual thoroughly.

• Make sure you understand the installation diagrams

• Spread out the materials and get familiar with them.

lFigure Out What Goes Where

• Take your time to determine where everything goes in relation to the others.

• Identify the new radiator’s position.

• Get sufficient sealants to prevent possible leakages inside the walls.

lIdentify The Pipe Routes

• Determine the pipe routes while fitting the new radiators

lInstall The Boiler

• Turn off water and all electrics

• Fit the boiler into the wall

• Make sure the fittings are secured.

lInstall The Radiator

• The effectiveness of your home’s heating system is as good as the radiators you incorporate and how good they’re installed.

• You may have to utilize extra radiators in large open plan kitchens and living rooms (for effective heating).

lOffer Ventilation

• Once you’ve successfully installed the new radiator, a small dose of air ventilation would be needed.

• Turn the key of each valve located at the bottom, do not stop until a little amount of water spills over the top of the unit.

Installing your Nest thermostat may not be as easy as screwing a light bulb, but we can also assure you that it isn’t very difficult either. However, if you lack the needed training or experience to pull it off, we’d recommend you hire the services of a professional in order to save yourself some time and money. This guide will give you some quick and easy steps to follow and ensure you make no errors during the installation process.

Once installed removing the Nest Thermostat can be done. To get started, you’ll need just a Philips head screwdriver which Nest has thoughtfully provided with the device.

• Turn off the Nest Thermostat by switching the circuit breaker to the off position.

• Label or mark your old thermostat’s wires. However, if you notice your thermostat is tagged 120v or 240v, or possesses thick wires, do not connect the wires to the Nest as you have a high voltage system.

• Uninstall the old thermostat by locating detaching the wires coming out from the wall into the thermostat. Once done, simply unscrew the device from the wall

• Mark the spot of your thermostat. Do this by threading wires through the Nest base plate’s centre incorporate the tiny bubble level. Once done, you can then use a pencil to mark te two screw holes.

• Attach the trim plate. If you wish to cover the screw holes, simply install the trim plate in the Nest box’s bottom to the base plate.

• Using the screws and screwdriver, attach the Nest base to the wall.

• Connect the wires to the Nest by putting the labelled wires in the Nest’s corresponding ports.

• Put the Nest display by lining up the connector on the display’s back.

• Turn on the power by switching the circuit breaker to the on position

• Connect your Nest thermostat to the WiFi network.

• Follow the on-screen guide and set the temperature.

• Use your smartphone or tablet to download the Nest thermostat’s mobile app to monitor and control your device remotely.

If you’re looking to acquire smart thermostats in your home, but wondering about its money saving qualities, then this is for you! Not only do smart thermostats add new impressive features to your home, but it can also save you both energy and money. According to many reports using a programmable thermostat can save you between the range of £130 to £150 on an annual basis. Now think about using a smart thermostat that makes it a lot more easier for you.

Wondering how smart thermostat save money? Simply set your smart thermostat one or two degrees lower or higher than the usual number. Once done, you’re likely to notice 1% to 3% reduction in your energy bills. And if you want even more, you simply increase the percentage to about 10 degrees to 15 degrees to cover the period you spend at work and watch as you save up to 10 percent of your energy bills.

Generally, a smart thermostats will save you money in two major ways. These includes:

• They Do All The Thinking For You

The smart thermostat watches your behaviour and study the time you’re at home and when you’re not as well as your preferred temperature at particular times in a day, and that’s why they are termed as “smart. they’ll automatically adjust the settings to ensure you get home to a perfect temperature.

• They Keep Tabs On Your Usage

You can always count on a two way communicating smart thermostat to watch your usage while also collecting the data and sharing it with you. It informs you of your energy usage rate as well as the estimated amount. Once you’ve been notified, you can manual adjustment or leave it to the thermostat to help manage your energy.