How to Choose the Best Boiler Service Provider?

It’s very important to keep your gas boiler running effectively and efficiently in order to keep your home warm. This can easily be achieved with a regular boiler service by a licensed, registered boiler engineer. The question now is how much will a boiler service cost you? Where can you get boiler cover? And what to look out for when an engineer is servicing your boiler.

Many basic boiler emergency cover plans don’t include an annual boiler service, so a lot of homeowners have the responsibility of booking their own boiler service on a yearly basis. This usually results in a frantic search to find the cheapest boiler service provider however; the cheapest provider doesn’t always make them the best in terms of their performance. Here are some things to look out for when looking for the perfect boiler service provider.

Getting your boiler regularly serviced will let you know of any possible fault your boiler may have before it gets to the point of a breakdown. This helps you save money in repairs and, more importantly, save you from any health risks that could arise from a gas leak in a faulty boiler. According to government statistics, each year in the UK, around 4,000 people go to A&E with carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning due to leaking boilers, 200 people are hospitalised and on average, 50 adults and children die. This stresses the importance of making sure A Gas Safe qualified boiler engineer checks for and fix any leaks or weak points during a service.

A qualified Gas Safe registered engineer must, by law, check gas appliances and flues annually to ensure everything is safe and sound in a landlord’s property before a tenant moves in. The required checks include boilers, but they also cover other gas appliances such as stoves and fireplaces. If you’re a tenant it’s worth noting that landlords are not responsible for safety checks on gas appliances owned by you, or any flues that solely connect to your own gas appliances.

It could be easy to put off getting your boiler serviced in the hope of saving yourself a bit of money, but in the long run, a boiler service will help keep your energy bills down and also spot a potential fault before it happens, saving you from a boiler breakdown and a hefty repair bill.

it’s important to ensure that the engineer is qualified to carry out the work. If you have a gas boiler then the engineer must by authorised and regulated by the Gas Safe register. Here you can have some peace of mind knowing that all engineers employed by Home Response 360 are Gas Safety Registered.

Here are some of the practices your engineer may carry out during their visit:

• Visual inspection – your engineer will check that the boiler still meets current standards and requirements and look for any corrosion or leaks. They will also visually check the flame in your boiler.
• Removal of the boiler casing – they will then check the components to ensure everything is working correctly and then clean the inside of the boiler. These checks should include the heat exchanger, burner, main injector and spark probe.
• Flue check – the engineer will ensure there are no obstructions in the flue terminals and that the flue is safely fitted.
• Gas pressure check – this will ensure your boiler is working at the correct pressure.
• Boiler fired up – this allows the engineer to check for any working faults.

A boiler service should last at least 30 minutes, but the time will vary depending on the brand and model. For more information on what a boiler service should consist of make sure to check out our previous article on 5 reasons you should get your boiler serviced.

The most important element of a boiler service is quite obviously the engineer, meaning without a credible engineer, your boiler service may be a worse decision than not having one at all.

The Gas Safe Register is the only official gas registration body of gas businesses and engineers in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Guernsey. By law all gas businesses must be on the Gas Safe Register. A gas engineer can only be aligned to a registered business and be issued with a license to undertake gas work on behalf of a registered business if they hold a valid and current qualification.

This evidence of competence relates only to matters of gas safety and is obtained by every engineer through a recognised route of training and assessment (much as the DVLA issues driving licences to those who have demonstrated their competence by passing a driving test). Registration is only given based on the business having at least one gas safety qualified engineer.

A good idea while searching for your perfect boiler service provider would be to look through their terms and conditions in the case of extra charges being applied in certain situations (such as a different make of boiler). Rest assured knowing that here at Home Response, we offer a fixed price for our boiler services as long as we’re able to provide for your boiler. We also offer a CP12 (gas safety certificate) at a fixed price.

Through this article we hope we were able to help you choose the perfect boiler service provider using our helpful tips. Here at Home response 360 we pride ourselves on the efficiency of our Gas Safe registered engineers and the prices we offer. Not only do we offer boiler services, but we also provide a CP12 for an additional price, much lower than the average price (see our article on boiler service prices for more info), this coupled with our friendly team of customer service staff, Home response 360 is the perfect boiler service provider for anyone.