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It’s important to have your boiler serviced for a wide range of reasons.
Not only is this sometimes needed for legal reasons (more on this shortly) but boiler servicing is essential for your safety and the longevity of your boiler.
However, whether or not you’re aware of the specific reasons for boiler servicing, you might be wondering how often it should be serviced.
In the following guide, we’ll answer this question and look at other related topics like who should service a boiler and how much it generally costs.
First, though, let’s get right to the point and discuss how often it should be serviced…
How Often is Boiler Servicing Needed?
Oil boilers and gas boilers alike should be serviced every year. To be a little more specific, an oil or gas boiler should be serviced within twelve months of the previous servicing, so once every calendar year might not suffice.
In other words, if your boiler was serviced in March 2021 then waiting until September 2022 is, at best, not ideal since this is an 18-month gap.
It’s best to have your boiler serviced by a qualified heating engineer annually. As part of the service, they can inspect the appliance and ensure that it’s running as it should be. This is a way of providing you with reassurance that your boiler is working efficiently and safely.
You may be surprised to know that homeowners are not legally required to have an annual boiler service.
However, you really should and either way, homeowners do have a duty of care to make sure their gas appliances are safe and that there is no risk to the home’s occupants or others.
Annual boiler servicing is a great way of achieving this ensuring peace of mind and keeping your boiler’s warranty valid.
On the topic of the law, however, if you are a landlord, having the flue system and boiler serviced every twelve months in your rented property is a legal requirement.
You should be aware, though, whether you’re a homeowner or a landlord that electric boilers won’t need the same amount of service as their oil and gas counterparts.
That said, it’s good to have them serviced when you can. Usually, though, it’s fine to only have them looked at and dealt with by a professional when something has broken and needs fixing.
When Should a Boiler Be Serviced?
As mentioned, a boiler needs to be serviced every 12 months. But what time of year should you book in for?
The best time of year to service a boiler is in the summertime. This is because it’s ideal to have your boiler inspected and in tip-top shape before the winter.
If you intend to wait until December to have your boiler serviced, issues could arise in November, for instance, and that’s obviously a bad time of year for a boiler to start acting up.
Getting it serviced in say May, June or July is a great way to be prepared for the colder times of the year.
Not only that but boiler professionals tend to be more available in the summer and usually offer lower rates. This is because the demand for boiler servicing generally goes up in the winter months.
Who is Needed for a Boiler Service?
Of course, not anyone can service a boiler. If you have a gas boiler, then the only qualified person for the job would be a Gas Safe Registered engineer.
If you own an oil boiler, it needs to be serviced by an OFTEC-registered engineer. It’s always advisable to ask a registered engineer for ID before they begin their inspection. A boiler service generally takes at least half an hour.
Having your boiler serviced every twelve months and well maintained is a great way to ensure durability.
However, how long exactly should a boiler last?
Check out our Boiler Lifespan Guide to find out the answer to this question and more.
What is Boiler Servicing?
We’ll now take a closer look at what a boiler service involves…
As mentioned earlier, a boiler service usually takes no less than thirty minutes.
The exact process will vary depending on the boiler in question, among other factors. However, we’ll look at the steps approximately involved in an average annual boiler service.
The process generally starts with the engineer inspecting the appliance for evidence of leakage and corrosion. They’ll also probably look at the boiler flame.
Then, the qualified engineer should remove the casing from the front of the boiler to inspect its internal components. They’ll also clean the inside of the boiler where it’s deemed necessary.
Beyond that, the engineer will generally inspect the flue terminals to check for blockage and ensure the gas pressure is right. As the job nears an end, they’ll fire up the boiler to ensure that it is operating as it should be.
Again, the process described above is not set in stone for every boiler servicing and what your engineer does may differ in one way or another. Also, the length of the job could be quite a bit longer than expected if they discover a fault that needs to be fixed.
Benefits of Boiler Servicing
Getting your boiler serviced every twelve months comes with a range of advantages. Aside from the fact it is legally required in some cases, let’s look at why you should get your boiler serviced annually.
The most important advantage of a boiler service is health and safety. Gas leaks are not common but having your boiler inspected and maintained/repaired as necessary can bring peace of mind that you’ve done all you can to protect against dangerous gas leaks.
One other danger associated with boilers is carbon monoxide poisoning.
In the UK, about fifty people die from carbon monoxide poisoning each year with as many as 4,000 medical visits being reported according to the Department of Health and Social Care.
You should also be aware that gas boilers and oil burners can potentially produce carbon monoxide.
Another advantage of having your boiler serviced is energy efficiency. With your boiler being inspected each year, issues can be detected and fixed quickly.
In the long run, this will benefit your boiler’s performance including its energy efficiency levels. The more efficient your boiler is, the lower your energy bills should be in the long term.
Obviously having your boiler serviced each year is a good way to catch issues early. This could keep your costs down as it would generally be cheaper to have an issue fixed early on than to let it worsen over time into a deeper and more extensive problem.
Boiler servicing can also save you money and reduce hassle by prolonging the lifespan of your appliance.
The longer it lasts, the longer you’ll need to wait before spending money on a new installation. Of course, a warranty may apply to keep your expenses down for a replacement boiler but at least it would save you the hassle either way.
As discussed earlier, boiler servicing may be needed to keep your warranty valid. It’s a common condition of boiler warranties that the boiler must be serviced every twelve months. Failure to do so could render your boiler guarantee null and void.
Some warranties are not too strict, though. For instance, if you’ve just missed the deadline for having your boiler serviced within twelve months of the last servicing, you may still be given time to have it serviced shortly and therefore keep your warranty valid. If in doubt, get in touch with those who cover your insurance policy to discuss the matter.
All in all, there are many benefits to having a boiler serviced every twelve months for your safety and wallet alike.
If you need help determining who offers the best combi boilers on the market, we have an ultimate guide on this, or you can simply use our quick calculator to find out which boiler is best for your home.
Cost of a Boiler Service
The price of having your boiler serviced can vary based on a range of factors but on average, it should cost around £50 to £100.
We’ll now break down the costs a little more based on fuel type. The cost of a gas boiler service generally lands between £60 and £100 with average costs being approximately £50 to £200 for an oil boiler or £60 to £90 if you have an electric boiler to service.
One key factor in determining the price is where you live. This is because labour prices vary from region to region.
For example, heating engineers charge more in London (about 30-40% more than the UK average to be specific).
Labour rates also tend to be higher in the southeast of England in general. On the other hand, a boiler service is likely to be below the UK average in northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
But what else determines the cost?...
Cost Factors of a Boiler Service Include:
Type of boiler (i.e., combi, system or heat-only).
Brand and boiler model.
Where exactly the boiler has been fitted in your home.
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