Do you get your boiler serviced annually?

[Yorshiregass32]

Just that really. If you own your home do you get an annual service?

We didn't last year, just wondering if it's one of those things people never miss like a car service or if people don't bother.

Yes.
Maintains the guarantee
I don’t want to risk CO poisoning or an explosion
As a regular service customer of a family co they will not let me down when there is a problem in deepest January.

Rather safe than sorry, so yes.

We get the gas boiler serviced every year as part of our home care insurance. It is basic gas safety to get it done.

This thread is the first time I’ve ever heard of a boiler being serviced and I’ve been a homeowner several times over for a couple of decades. I’ve had two boilers replaced in that time in different houses. What is a service for? Do you get services on any other white goods type appliance I’ve been missing too?

No moving parts in a gas boiler? A fan moves- it's the defining feature of a fan. The pump? If it's not moving it's a fault. The diverter valve that switches between hot water and heating? Only one would work without moving. Those are basic- there are many moving elements of a gas boiler. When an engineer does nothing but clean the parts and empty the condensate trap it's because it's working well. They've tested it with the flue analysis. If the flue analysis exposes issues (that it's not burning at 10-15% oxygen, that the parts per million co2 is over the 0.008 that's allowed , if the ltrs of hot water per minute are off, and many other issues) they do more. If not, they maintain. That posters talk about husbands not gas safe trained changing parts in a boiler illegally, is why there are so many accidents and incidents.

A boiler isn't a white goods appliance. You can't buy them in currys. They can't be fitted by your husband. Bit just plugged in and good to go. They need specialist installation, and are subject to intense scrutiny by gas safe regulations. There's a reason for all that regulation, training and why the warranty is invalid if you fail to have it serviced by a gas safe engineer.

*not just plugged in

An equivalent machine is your car. You SHOULD get it serviced annually. If you don't , it's not likely to blow. Many dont and it never does. But you SHOULD and it will mean longer life, better safety for user and the continued warranty of the "appliance"

Totally...i have watched them 'service' a boiler...it involved mostly hoovering around and looking busy for 20 mins..wiping a raga round...poking with a torch etc...he did about 10 boilers, in these flats i was working at, in an hour and just stretched the whole lot out for a few hours.....a total con....same as japanese knotweed removal etc...just a non job to make easy money...!!!

To add...i have sensors and an alarm next to mine....just in case of any issues.

I don’t have a husband so worry not. The only person touching it (illegally?) is me.

its white and installed in my kitchen next to my other large white box shaped items that do various jobs involving gas, electricity and water.

I’m not denying it its elevated status. I mean it’s definitely higher up than the others. But like the others if it has broken, I’ve had a suitable professional to fix it, and felt that was my duty fulfilled. I’m always interested to know when I’ve got something wrong and why.

Yes. I'm risk averse and want to stay safe. Also, it runs more efficiently with regular servicing.

Just to add- a carbon monoxide sensor should never be next to your boiler- or should be 150mm a pice any door or window, 300mm away from a wall or ceiling and 1-3m away from the source of potential risk (the gas burning appliance)

@Isleoftights you get it serviced so you don’t gas yourself to death!! How are you an adult and don’t know this?

• Just to add- a carbon monoxide sensor should never be next to your boiler- it should be 150mm above any door or window, 300mm away from a wall or ceiling and 1-3m away from the source of potential risk (the gas burning appliance)

Yes, on the whole, although missed a year during Covid. We had our boiler installed when we bought our house and it's now 13 yrs old, has had one expensive part replaced (the fan) during that time. Usually have an annual service that costs £50, really it's peace of mind, I don't think it's a con but an essential check that all is working OK, and to check emissions.

I live in a HA home so it gets serviced every 10 months.

Horribleherstory- I wasn't directly referencing you - re husband. I have quoted many of the responses, for many reasons. I didn't mean to offend at all. I'm just passionate about the subject and find many responses alarming. If you're taking the cover off and replacing parts (thermistors/ divertors/ etc) then it is illegal (for good reason) but of course, touching it is not illegal.

Yes I do now because I moved in last summer and it required £300 plus of work. It's about 8 years old and as the place was rented it supposedly had been serviced annually but the new guy said they had done a crap job. I went on a payment plan and he's already been called out on it.

You clearly know your stuff! It’s impressive. I know a lot about a lot but a little about a little, so I’m genuinely interested to learn about boilers this evening. And services. I’m now off to google about ‘servicing’ as I’ve never taken a car for a service either but would like to know about that.

i do have carbon monoxide alarms which are suitably situated and I can think of many, many ways in which people can become adults and not know these things LilacPoppy. I didn’t have much if any parental input in these matters and didn’t know much about anything, so when find these things out I am sure I am annoying for a week or so as I ask every friend I encounter if they knew about these things and if they do, how and when they found out.

a lot of what I know about running a house comes from reading a Mrs Beeston book published in the 1950s which didn’t have much about the subject, lots of oil and coal if I remember correctly.

Yes

Beeton

That's really reasonable ,it's been £90 here for as long as I can remember so definitely going to go up along with everything else.

No we do about every 2 or 3 years.

Not impressive at all. It happens to be a subject I was taught. I am sure there are many subjects you were taught and which I have no knowledge (almost definitely) . Both cars and boilers should be serviced. Both can and will function without, but not to their best. Both attract some questionable and nefarious lazy persons who take advantage, but that doesn't negate the need

Side note- the civility of this whole exchange is beautiful.

Out of interest does everyone get their electrics fully checked every 10 years (EICR) like you are supposed to, I'm guilty of not as I didn't know and only had mine checked because I had a new consumer unit, I think the electrician was quite shocked that mine hadn't been looked at for about 30 years when it was last rewired.