We have, in a fit of arriving in the UK and buying a house, enthusiasm and wishing to be belt & braces in the matter of utility cover, taken out a British Gas maintenance & repair cover for the relatively new (around 4 yrs. old, we are told) condensing combi boiler which supplies hot water & heating.
This costs us £17 per month and includes an annual service and no call-out fee plus no excess on repairs, if needed. The alternative offer is £10 per month, but with a fairly hefty excess, I think around £60 or £70.
Now we have left BG I am wondering if there are other, possible cheaper, products out there, of which forum members have personal experience.
£17 per month is £204 per year, a not inconsiderable sum out of our income.
Would it be better to save this amount as a hedge against breakdown. I have no idea of repair or replacement costs of combi boilers as this is the first we have had.
Advice from fellow penny-pinchers welcomed!
Last edited by: Roger on Fri 23 Sep 11 at 12:06
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Our boiler is 27 years old, the total repair costs since it was installed in 1984 are less than £300, although to be fair my uncle replaced the pump and I replaced the timer programmer unit. But even if we had to pay labour on both those things it would still be less than £400 for both of them.
Of course combi boilers are not so reliable, but personally I would just save the £17 a month.
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My impression is modern condensing combis do not have a good reliability record, and are not cheap to fix.
The tenner a month insurance sounds a good compromise.
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Do you have the use of a decent plumber who will be available when needed and doesn't charge the earth?
We do so we self insure, the Vaillant combni is around 22 years old now and we assumed it would have gone pop by now, but whilst it soldiers on we'll let it.
Having been overcharged by BG for many years for gas and electricity i wouldn't give them another penny of my money if they were once again the only supplier, their sales fellow quoting around £4.5K (before trying the double glazing sales tricks) for a new super nukem combi boiler put the top hat on the servicing contract too, goodbye and good riddance.
We did search around and there was another cheaper alternative breakdown cover, but blowed if i can remember the name of them.
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having long ago run away from the rapacious pricing of BG, may I suggest a trawl round local heating plumbers and get the name of someone recommended by others...
Of course, if your boiler goes bang at 10pm when it's -18C outside, then you NEED a contract.
Given the shoddy design and installation of most condensing boilers.. you are gambling by having no contract.
I speak as someone with a 30 years old boiler - Sorry I exaggerate. 29 years old...
Last edited by: madf on Fri 23 Sep 11 at 12:21
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"Of course, if your boiler goes bang at 10pm when it's -18C outside, then you NEED a contract."
No you need a couple of fan heaters and an immersion heater.
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And of course there are lots of stories of big companies taking weeks to fix boilers in the cold weather.
We have plenty of electric heaters, but if the boiler did blow we have no hot water. There is an immersion heater in the water tank, which I think is supposed to kick in for instant hot water, but it has never worked I really can't work out what it is doing there.
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>> No you need a couple of fan heaters and an immersion heater.
>>
Power cut, no heating of any description?
A bottled gas heater is well worth keeping around if you have the space, instant heat and it needs nothing other than some gas, we use ours a lot during the winter months.
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An open fireplace is unlikely to break down.
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>> >> No you need a couple of fan heaters and an immersion heater.
>> >>
>>
>> Power cut, no heating of any description?
>>
>> A bottled gas heater is well worth keeping around if you have the space, instant
>> heat and it needs nothing other than some gas, we use ours a lot during
>> the winter months.
>>
A Bottle of gas and a gin work well...
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>>A Bottle of gas and a gin work well...
Together with a blanket and somebody else...
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British Bass. Words fail me...
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What make & model is your combi Roger?
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Ideal ISAR HE24 with Honeywell remote control thermostat sending unit.
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It appears that any problems with your boiler Roger, are likely to be in the electronics/pcb area (www.diynot.com/forums/)
I have never had a service con-tract with anybody for my gas or oil boilers, but I have a mechanical aptitude so can 'fiddle about' if need be.
In your case I would suggest getting to know a local www.gassaferegister.co.uk/ engineer, by recommendation ideally,
I have recently bought 2 of these to take the chill off this cottage, before I fire up my Saturn V Rocket of a boiler (Grant Vortex)
www.dealec.co.uk/acatalog/dimplex_cadiz_range.html
But - the way the price of heating oil keeps going up, I may just try to rely solely on my 60 bags of Taybrite, and the electric oil-free rads.
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I have a contract on ours - its only 6 years old now, but the first breakdown required a 250 quid PCB. Our boiler is carp so I think we have averaged about 1 call out a year, plus the service each year.
Ita a glow worm condesing one - I gather thet are not particularly well built or reliable
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>>Ita a glow worm condesing one - I gather thet are not particularly well built or reliable<<
That's a shame because the old type inefficient glow worm boilers like I had in Truro were top notch for reliability.
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As ever the answer depend on your financial position. British gas aren't running a charity and in the long run and on average you will pay more for a service contract than if you arrange your own repairs. However if a £500 bill, however unlikely, would be devastating then take out the contract.
Personally I never take out these sort of deals. I keep a separate account for unforeseen household expenditure and pay an amount into each month
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Usually I agree, but to me there is also a value in being able to just ring them up and have a visit on the same day. We have young children so I would rather be up and running quickly, plus I think the repairs / visits / services have probably come in around what I have paid
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>> Usually I agree, but to me there is also a value in being able to
>> just ring them up and have a visit on the same day.
The contract will get lower labour and parts rates than 'rack' customers with a cold boiler. These feed into the premiums.
My washer and dishwasher have both been repaired and subsequently replaced on service contracts. Might have been cheaper self funded but at £500 in premiums over 6/8 years no feeling of being ripped off
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No power/gas? Then you can either sit in your car, pitch a tent in your living room or go to an all night club :D
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>> No power/gas? Then you can either sit in your car, pitch a tent in your living room or go to an all night club :D
Power and gas both off? If you're that unlucky best to go to bed. Things come in threes and walking home pi$$ed is a high risk activity.
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After nursing an old boiler with a design fault in its main circuit board through ten winters with help of British Gas techs, I'm happy to endorse the service as value for money. We replaced that boiler with a new one and made do with the warranty, but then moved to a house with another old system and we're back with British Gas.
Our experience is that an old system will generate at least a call a year. Ours here has had a control valve and, separately, a programmer. All part of the service and all done within 24 hours of our call.
In other words, if you're confident of your system, you have the discipline to self-insure, and you don't mind waiting for a tradesman to be available, you don't need a service plan. We're pleased with ours.
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Having both read the wisdom of C4P folk and looked at the forums on Martin's Moneysaving site I am convinced that we DO need a proper service contract. The reputation if Ideal boilers is not good and of course with a combi. there is no hot water tank available to be heated by electricity.
The B.G. one includes replacing the boiler if it is absolutely kaput, so I'll stick with them: in fact I may well upgrade to the deal which includes plumbing & drains.
We also have an extension to our SAGA Home Insurance which covers home emergencies, including boilers, so I could probably cease that to fund the extra cost with B.G. The total will be about the same, so I will carry out a detailed comparison at renewal time.
SAGA contract their repair service to the AA, and whilst we have used it once - to rectify a leaking main water stopcock in the kitchen - it took them seven hours and several 'phone calls to get an engineer on site and he had to come from Oldham to North Nottinghamshire as they had a staff shortage in our area!
Last edited by: Roger on Fri 23 Sep 11 at 22:23
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Our previous boiler was the glow worm non condensing.Run for 25 years.
We have the same boiler as you Roger the condensing type.Had it fitted free two years ago.Something to do with my wife disability.I didn't refuse the offer.
We have a contract with a local gas merchant £15 per month.Once a year service and radiator ,toilet plumbing included.
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Gas service contract. - RattleandSmoke
