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How Much Is A Gas Safety Certificate?

If you’re a landlord in the UK, then you’d know a gas safety certificate is a legal requirement. If yes, then you’d probably like to know how much it’ll cost to get a gas safety certificate so you can make plans on obtaining one for your property. In this article, you’ll find all you need to know about the amount you’re expected to pay for a gas safety certificate in the UK.

First and foremost, let’s look into the use of the certificate. Basically, a gas safety certificate is the legal inspection of your property’s gas appliances which would be done on an annual basis. Only an approved Gas Safe engineer is allowed to carry out this statutory check. Ultimately, if you own rental properties in the country, this is a requirement you can’t afford to overlook to ensure the safety of your tenants.

Furthermore, included in this inspection are each and every gas appliances, chimneys, pipework as well as flues in the property. In recent times, several individuals make use of fewer gas appliances which ultimately implies that they may only need the servicing of their gas fire. Once you’ve passed the inspection, you’ll be given your CP12 certificate which must be kept for a minimum of two years. A copy should also be provided to your tenants within 28 days of issue. So how much will it cost to get a gas safety certificate?

Depending on your location in the UK as well as the number of gas appliances incorporated, the average cost of a gas certificate will range between £60 to £90. The Gas Safe engineer will carry out the task as a fixed and statutory job.

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.

What Is The Best Oil Boiler On The Market?

With a plethora of sizes and models available in the market today, it can be a hassle choosing the best oil boiler. There are 3 main types of oil boilers which includes an oil combi boiler, a regular oil boiler and a system oil boiler. Within these three types, we have a wide range of models and sizes with varying heating and hot water demands.

With tonnes of oil boiler brands out there, the problem is the over crowding on the market with oil boilers that are not only over priced, but also of mediocre quality. From our research, we’ve been able to identify three major bands that are simply outstanding - Warmflow, Grant and Worcester Bosch. However, out of the lots, Warmflow is simply the most efficient and also comes with several qualities such as :

lUK & Ireland’s only AA rated combi boiler

lMarket leading innovation

lEasy and simple to install

l45plus years heating homes

l5 and 7 year warranty available

The oil boiler comes with an outrageous 5 year warranty on their Titanium which when compared to some similar Worcester Bosch Oil boilers is a whooping 3 years difference. Furthermore, the brand also offers a special “out-of-the-box 5-year warranty which enables the warranty to be valid as long as the installation is done by a qualified oil boiler technician. This may, however, seem normal until you realize other brands like Grant, will only honour their 5-year warranty when the boiler is installed only by their accredited technicians.

Warmflow offers an oil boiler to suit every property that is situated off the grid. These includes the modern and stylish U-Series, outdoor-compatible K-Series as well as the quietly efficient B-series which is designed for indoor installation.

During the cold months ( winter), there’s a high chance for a more frequent occurrence of faults and breakdowns of your boiler as this is the time in which more strain is being placed on the device. Unfortunately, this is exactly the time in which you’d wish to derive maximum benefits from your boiler to keep you warm all through the winter. As a result, home owners are given no other option than to pay the mega boiler repair bills to keep themselves warm and cosy all winter long. There is, however, an option which can greatly soften the blow and that’s having a boiler breakdown cover.

Boiler breakdown cover provides coverage for cost of hiring an engineer to get your boiler back to a top condition while also paying for the parts as well as labour needed to resolve the boiler’s fault. To select a boiler breakdown cover, you should take into account factors like whether or not the policy provides coverage for limited or unlimited call-outs within the coverage period. You should also ensure to go through the terms and conditions of the cover if you can stake a claim if your boiler were to be damaged by a different thing in your central heating configuration or a persistent fault.

There are an array of boiler breakdown package types with little differences which relates to one or more of the following:

• The package monthly cost

• The call outs excess to be paid

• The nature of the helpline. It may be a 24/7 service or just a few selected hours of the day.

Therefore, to answer the question of which boiler breakdown cover, you’d have to compare the different packages to determine the most suitable one for both your needs as well as pocket.

How Long Does A Boiler Service Take?

Servicing of your boiler is a very crucial activity which does not only help in keeping your heating system in a top condition, but also assists in ensuring the safety of both you and your loved ones. If you carry out a regular boiler service you’ll be able to identify any possible fault your boiler may have on time before it leads to a more serious issue or even a boiler breakdown. As a result, you’ll be able to save yourself some time and money, but more importantly will save you from any dangerous risk that may result from gas leak in a boiler. The best time for a boiler service is in the summer when you’d probably would not really need the system, so you can take advantage of that as well as the possible lower boiler servicing cost during this period.

Before we look into the amount of time a boiler service should take, let’s first consider what should be done during a boiler service.

✓ Visual inspection. This is a check carried out by the heating engineer to ensure your boiler still meet the existing standards and requirements while also looking for any faults.

✓ Removal of boiler casing. There’s the need to ensure everything is working just fine and also to clean the boiler’s interior. These inspections should include the burner, heat exchanger, main injector and spark probe.

✓ Flue check. This involves making sure that there’s no form of obstructions in the flue terminals as also to ensure that the flue is well installed.

✓ Gas pressure check. This involves making sure that the boiler working with the appropriate pressure.

✓ Boiler fired up. This involves checking for any operating issues.

Generally, a boiler service should be completed within 30 minutes, however this time may vary largely depending on the brand and model.

Biomass boilers will work with existing central heating systems, presuming this is not decades old, whether they use radiators or under floor heating. A surveyor will check the existing system you have in place before quoting for or recommending a biomass boiler to you.

How Does Electric Central Heating Work?

An electric central heating works to provide a number of benefits for you. These benefits include the following:

lSpace Heating

• The storage heaters work during the night to store electricity which would be used to heat up the heat retaining bricks. This, in turn, will release this energy throughout the day to warm up the room.

• There are also electric radiators which works to deliver on-demand heat and as a result, economy tariffs are totally avoided. It will generate heat by itself rather than storing it and with the controls, you can easily determine the amount of heat to be released when you require it.

• There is the wet electric system options as well which comes with water filled radiators. This operates in a similar way to normal radiators, however, it makes use of electricity to heat up the water.

lWater Heating

• An electric boiler operates in a very similar manner to other boiler types, just that it makes use of electricity as its fuel. Here, the water is warmed by a heating element and the water is later moved to several radiator throughout the house by a pump. These electric boiler types earns you tariff savings as you’ll be able to heat water at night.

• Heat pumps geothermal or air source, redistributes heat instead of creating it. Heat pumps are powered by electricity and it works by absorbing heat either from the air or ground which it then channels it through a pump. This can then be incorporated in heating either water or a room.

• A dedicated immersion heater is another water heating option. Here, the heating element is positioned inside a hot water cylinder. In a similar fashion to a kettle, the element heats the nearby water. Immersion heater can act either as a backup or your main heating element.

How Much Do Electric Radiators Cost?

If there’s an age-long question that doesn’t seem to go away any time soon it’s how much do electric radiators cost? Although it would be perfect to offer an exact figure you can actually work with as the cost of running your heating system, but unfortunately you’ll have to consult a clairvoyant individual to get that. The question is almost synonymous with asking to know what your utility bill will be this month or the next. This is an answer that’s specific to each household, so it would be impossible to provide an answer that applies to all households in the UK. This is because there are several influencing factors that affects what the final cost of your household’s electricity bill will be. Let’s take a look at these factors!

• The size of the room you want to heat. As you would have guessed, the larger the room, the higher the amount of energy that’ll be incorporated, which means a greater electricity bill.

• The age of your house. There’s a high possibility your household ( if it’s an old one) lacks sufficient insulation which makes it less energy efficient, except you’ve already made some necessary changes.

• Your individual needs. Depending on your personal requirements, you electricity bill may be greatly influenced to be higher or lower. And the more people you have in your home, the more the energy you’re likely to consume.

• Time of the year. During the winter months, you’re likely to use a lot more electricity and heating because the weather tends to be colder.

• Your property’s exposure to natural elements. For instance a terraced home with houses on either side will be able to retain heat much longer and there less electricity and heating than a fully detached home.