A central heating care plan can help a great amount by easing your repair costs
A central heating care plan can help a great amount by easing your repair costs
Heating your home isn’t that much of a problem in the summer, but unless you’re in the strange habit of only taking cold showers and boiling the kettle every time you wash up, you could be left high and dry if your central heating system breaks down. Boilers are one of those things in life that we rarely think think of, until they stop working that is. Right away it comes to the front of the agenda with a recognition of its importance and the costly nature of its maintenance.
If you live in a rented house, your landlord will take care of all the finances related to central heating system servicing. However, for homeowners it is always a good idea to make sure you have a little money saved to pay for any unforeseen malfunctions.
If your heating boiler is over ten years old, it might be worth investing in a new model; this can cut your fuel costs down considerably, especially if you get a high-efficiency model. The type of gas boiler that you should buy would depend upon your existing gas boiler type, the size of your family and the amount of space in your home. A combi central heating boiler is the most widely known, and is good for small homes with few people, or people who don’t want to wait for their hot water. In a combi boiler water is drawn through the mains and heated immediately eliminating the need of storage tanks. With such a combi heating boiler, a hot shower is instantly available; however if another hot outlet is opened, your share of warm water will quickly run out and you shower could be a cold one.
A sealed central heating boiler system can cater to several family members having a hot wash or bath at the same time since it utilises a storage tank housed in a cupboard or loft, thus ensuring a steady supply of pressured hot water. The system gas boiler needs not much space and it is quick and easy to install. But if hot water is used too quickly it would run out because the storage tank hot water would be depleted and is replenishment is not instant.
If you live in an older home chances are that you have an open vent gas boiler system, which takes up more space with two water tanks which are in the loft and a storage cylinder which is usually in the airing cupboard. This has similar advantages and disadvantages to the sealed systems as it enables several taps to be used at once, but you will have to wait for the water to heat and pressure is sometimes an issue.
Finally, a back gas boiler can allow multiple outlets of hot water at the same time, without loss of pressure; but they can take up a lot of space. Traditionally back boilers are stored in a chimney breast, but unless you already have one, it’s probably not worth switching to one. It is great if your new home has a back heating boiler already as this type of central heating boile costs less to install, if you need to replace your back gas boiler it is better to replace the old one with the same type rather than getting a new type of boiler installed.
No matter what type of heating boiler you have, it’s maintenance costs can be high if it has problems. A central heating boiler insurance policy can help a great deal by easing your repair costs in case your heating system fails at some point. Buy an insurance plan that includes an annual breakdown contract and emergency house calls and repairs when needed; you will save some extra money and mean you never have to shiver in your shower again.