Central Heating breakdown cover, good or bad idea?

[JoeNW]

I wondered what the professional opinion is of the central heating breakdown policies offered by British Gas (£15 a month) and Powergen (£13 a month).

Are they cost effective, will you get your boiler fixed any quicker, are you guaranteed an exceptional service?

I was thinking for peace of mind to have the boiler serviced every year, it is what the manufacturer recommends. That being the case are these policies a good way to get your annual service and breakdown cover. The British Gas policy simply says it includes an inspection, doesn't mention a service and the price of £15 a month is a first year introductory offer.

Or is it better to contact a local independent professional and agree an annual service and hope he will respond promptly if you had a breakdown? Are there any guidelines for spotting a good plumber, e.g. corgi certified, member of a trade body, listed in a particular trade publication or website. Tried the site here as I was impressed with the people posting replies here but none listed for my location on the West coast of Cumbria.

 

[Bas]

Go for a local corgi/oftec reg plumber. Try to get recommendations from people you know. Put the £15 a month in an interest bearing account and pay him from that account. Retire a year early!!

 

[namsag]

All depends what sort of system you have, and how long you can put up with no heat if it breaks in the middle winter while trying to find someone to come and fix it. Over a ten year peroid you will be paying roughly£2000 to insure your system . Even the most unreliable combi should not cost that to maintain and service over that period. Standard fully pumped system should only need a couple of valve motors and pumps in that period. Gravity system prob only couple of pumps.And a good reliable combi while need a divertor sevice kit and poss a control board and couple of sensors. And all of those system types may need a couple of new rads in that period. So if you can find somoneone local who is good and reliable you should be quids in.

 

[JoeNW]

Thanks for the replies, the breakdown cover did seem rather overpriced and doesn't even guarantee a response within a set time as far as I can see. Simply that you can contact a call centre 24hrs a day who maintain a list of salaried staff or more likely in these times a list of subcontractors.

The site www.yell.com, when you search for a plumber asks if you want a list of plumbers registered with the Institute of Plumbing(IoP)? Is choosing a plumber from this list the best way of guaranteeing a high level of service and professionalism or do most professionals shun this as an expensive and unnecessary overhead on their business? I'm afraid word of mouth doesn't necessarily work. I used this method once and it took three visits over 8 days to get a simple diaphragm replaced.

Does anyone know roughly what range of price I would expect to pay for a boiler service? The boiler being a two year old baxi 105e combination boiler with natural gas as the fuel. I'm located in a Cumbrian town with ten local plumbers listed (corgi status unknown) for the town and six IoP plumbers servicing the area.

 

[ollski]

The BG 3 star contract is central heating insurance and the same as any other insurance is a gamble some win some lose. The appliances are serviced annually ,though some need more servicing than others, the safety checks are obviously carried out as a minimum. The BG advantage is next day callout on a breakdown (or same day) and unlimited parts and callouts until the problem is fixed. Your independent engineer will charge you parts and labour for every callout regardless of wheather he has got to the root cause of the problem and that's if he has time!

The Iphe (IOP as was) is a good organization and your best bet along with the corgi site http://www.corgi-gas-safety.com/.

 

[namsag]

Your boiler baxi 105e is one of the most reliable and simple to repair combi`s around. After 4/5 years the hot water will stop working which is only a £10 diaphragm that will need changing.Occasionally the other diaphragm(controls heating) in the flow switch needs replacing which although smaller is dearer as it comes in a kit with a load of other little bits at approx£50. Very, very rarely the main board will go and also the occasional £15 sensor.All in all a good performing boiler that IF it breaks down is usually straight forward and cheap to fix

 

[ChrisR]

The benefit is that you will get somebody quicker at busy/holiday times.

Corgi registation is mandatory. Membership of anything else doesn't mean much when it comes to a boiler breakdown. Okay if he's a cowboy and you're ripped off you might get some redress if you made a real fuss - but how likely is that? (90% I hear someone cry?!)

Watch your cover too - £15 is one of BG's cheaper options I think. In some cases eg a leaking radiator, all some do is turn the rad off and drain it, and leave it there. And when your boiler's a few years old you're likely to be told you need a new one.
Probably the best option id to find someone you trust but that can be a problem, so the next best would be the manufacturer's service people. "Next best" because they're likely to be more expensive.