Probably a stupid question about heating.

[Tohaveandtohold]

This would sound stupid but do all houses in the UK have a boiler?
We don’t have central heating in my house but we have an electric storage heater (Elson electric hot water tank) and some radiators (dimplex). We only have electricity and no gas. Since yesterday, one of the radiators has stopped working.
When we moved in, we took our a boiler and radiator care with our energy provider. I called them to request a service engineer to visit but they kept saying that they need the name of the boiler to be able to send out an engineer. Apart from the electric storage heater and the radiators, I can’t find anything else that looks like a boiler. Is it possible that we have hot water, heating, etc and no boiler.

Sounds like you have electric storage heaters and some other type of electric radiators, And an immersion heater in your water tank and no boiler.

Picture of the electric storage heater and radiator

Not all houses have a boiler or central heating.

Check if you took out the right cover as the boiler and radiator cover may not cover electric radiators like yours.

I hope you can get it sorted.

Sounds like the wrong type of cover. Wonder if they think you have a gas boiler rather than being all electric with storage heaters and immersion tank

If you don’t have gas, then you don’t have a boiler (unless you’re on oil, but I think you would have said!)

The radiator looks like what I used to have when I had electric storage heaters

The wall mounted heaters are known as electric storage heaters or night storage heaters. They aren’t called radiators. I think you have taken out a boiler and radiator cover policy when you don’t have a boiler or radiators. But it’s weird that didn’t emerge when you took out the cover, I would have thought you’d have to fill in some details about what you had. But I think if you call them radiators you’re going to confuse the issue when you’re trying to get someone out.

Thank you all for your replies. I guess we probably took out the wrong cover then.

You say the radiator stopped working. It looks to me like an electric storage heater. Did anybody put things (e.g. damp washing) on top of it?

This causes the overheat li k to melt. An electrician can replace it but will need the make and model to bring the right part.

Otherwise, it's probably some other electrical problem, so you need a qualified electrician. They are listed on the various Competent Person Registration sites such as www.niceic.com/householder/find-a-contractor and several others

Obviously you need to get the current issue sorted but I would also take up with your utility company why they sold you radiator and Boiler cover when you don’t have gas! (Which presumably they would know?)

Here's another

www.napit.org.uk/member-search.aspx

We don’t dry any washing in the house.
I think I understand what you mean about it been an electric storage heater because we put them on overnight and it stores up heating which it uses throughout the day.
When we moved in, the energy provider just sold us every policy that the old owner has.

They know we don’t have gas because I just called to let them know that we are the new owners and changed the electricity into our name. They then asked if we’ll like to continue with the boiler and radiator cover and I just said yes.

That’s all very odd. Ah well if you call back the cover and make it clear it’s a problem with an electric storage heater, maybe they will come out. If not then you will have to get an electrician but should be due a refund on the cover!

There's not much to go wrong in a storage heater. Check the switches/knobs and look at your consumer unit (fusebox) to see if one has tripped. It will probably be marked 16A or coloured blue.

Update

The wall outlet looks like it has a switch and a 13A fuseholder (this is not normally correct for a storage heater) so change that, unless you have a fuse tester and can confirm it's OK.

Sounds like you got mis-sold the insurance, you probably have a good argument to get that paid back. Doesn't help you immediately - call in an electrician I guess, if John's suggestion doesn't help

Thank you all.
I’ve called the energy provider back and they said I’m not covered as it’s not a boiler. They will also be refunding what i’ve paid after I argued that it was mis-sold as well. It’s not a lot considering it’ll cost more now to get an engineer out.

Thanks for your suggestions @pigletjohn. We would get an engineer to come and look as we don’t know what to look out for when it comes to fuses and all. The thing is when we put the fuse on in the night, the red turns on so I think the fuse is working. It’s just the heater itself is as cold as death.

That fuse holder John spotted - just turn it off, open it up, swap in a fresh 13A fuse (borrowed from another working device like a kettle's plug if you don't have a spare), close it all up, see if it helps. You can also try the maybe-bad fuse in the kettle, at least confirm/rule that being bad out.

"the red turns on so I think the fuse is working"

yes

btw you shouldn't need to switch it on, if you have an economy-7 type of tariff (they vary) there is usually a timeswitch in or beside the meter.

If you post some pics of the meter (s) and consumer unit(s) with the flap open I might spot something. Also of the controls on the heater.

Have you had a recent power cut?

Some pictures for you John.

We’ve not had a power outage but some days ago, the lights blinked. But it was just for some seconds. Could this have led to a fault?

can I see the route of the thick wires coming out of the meter please. Stand back and take a wide pic.

Here