If you own your house, do you service your boiler annually?

[TarnishedMoonstone]

Reading all the “shall I put the heating on?” posts, I’m surprised by how many people apparently have their boiler serviced regularly (appreciate this is mandatory if it’s a rented place, so I’m talking about homeowners who are meant to sort this stuff ourselves). How many of you are on the ball about this, please?

No, I don’t. Aside from anything else, a gas boiler engineer once told me that it isn’t necessary. Our current boiler is 12-years-old. It’s never been serviced and works brilliantly!

No

I’ve had home insurance with lots of different companies for over 45 years and I’ve never had a policy that required this!

Yes of course. Boilers are expensive.servicing them means they keep running for longer and there's less chance of an unexpected winter breakdown.

British Gas always check my meter, and yes I open box once in a while more so now as on smart meter now.

Yes

Our boiler broke down this week and as it was due a service it was also serviced. The engineer checked the meter box for leaks. I believe this is standard procedure.

Yes
@AnnieSnap i find that shocking your engineer told you not to bother 😮
Do you service your car?

My home insurance says that if I don't keep the property in a good state of repair then it's not valid. To me, that includes getting the boiler serviced. In the same way I would not ignore a leaking pipe from the sink.

Wow, how shit at his job was he 😂

You are putting your family at risk by not getting it regularly serviced. Whoever told you that you don’t need it serviced is an idiot.

I agree. I really think it should be a legal requirement, the same as getting an MOT or having insurance for your car.

My car has moving parts

You’re wrong. A carbon monoxide monitor is all that is required.

To you, it may do, but it doesn’t to your insurance company.

It's not a requirement of home insurance, although if you have a home plumbing add on it might be.

But: (a) it's gas. I hate gas. I'd happily do away with it and have the new version of storage heaters. But as that would be far too expensive I pay £90 a year to service the boiler.

(b) the boiler is 3 years old and we have a 10 year warranty that requires annual servicing.

I know people who don't service their car, they just get an MOT and maybe an oil and filter change. But again, my car has a warranty that gets renewed if I get it serviced, so I do it.

I do think having annual gas boiler services should be a legal requirement, at least if you are in a terrace, semi or flat as if they blow up, you can blow up next door's home as well.

Dh is an oil boiler engineer. New installs specify an annual service to validate the guarantee.
Oil boilers can get messy if left with no service & rapidly decrease in efficiency. Annual servicing can pick up wear & tear and prevent major failings.
If it is correctly set up then fewer problems occur.
We send out annual reminders to our customers.

It'll be in the small print for the vast majority of home insurance in the UK. The same as having your chimney swept if used for fires/wood burners.

I'm not saying most people stick to it but if they had to claim against their boiler or fireplace then the insurance company would look for ways to avoid pay out - such as not complying with maintaining it.

I have a hamster in a cage not far from my boiler. It's a pretty cheap carbon monoxide detector.

Unless and until anything happens to Mr Hammy, I'll continue to save myself £200/year on an unnecessary service.

Boiler dates from 1995 and runs like a dream. I'm pretty confident as soon as a tradesman touches it, that will all end.

Good to see the "your insurance will be invalid" myth busted! Heating "engineers" (workies) must have seen you all coming!

How was the myth busted? It's not compulsory to have it done but any claim on your insurance related to your boiler would likely be chucked out.

Have you got pet insurance for the hamster? If so it will need a colonic irrigation monthly to ensure the pet insurance is valid.

Every insurance I’ve ever had stipulated that the boiler must be serviced annually.
If your house was demolished because your boiler blew up, and it was due to something that could have been prevented had the boiler been service by a Gas safe heating engineer, there’s no way the insurance company would pay out. Even if your policy doesn’t stipulate it, why would you take the risk?
In any case, it’s common sense to pay a relatively small amount for peace of mind!

I checked my insurance last night and there is nothing specific about boilers, it only says that I must keep the home and it's stuff in good working order.
That's a strong argument for having the boiler serviced.

When the water tank in the loft leaked we didn't get any sort of payout for the tank but we got the payout for all the damage it caused.

I would call them to check for sure, but I am still dealing with a car insurance claim and I don't think I'm emotionally strong enough to deal with more than one insurance company at a time.

Yes very definitely. We had to do it to preserve the guarantee.

But also as I've twice been in a house where we have had carbon monoxide detected.

I won't take any chances now

A car has moving parts

No, I always read small print