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Wednesday 18 April 2012

Tip top boiler tips

One of the things about boilers - an inescapable fact, if you will - is that they're one of the unsung heroes of the household. Just compare the boiler to me: I pretty much expect a 'perfect dad' medal for emptying the dishwasher, and operating what pretty much amounts to a one-man minicab hire what with all the running around I have to do in the motor, and so on. But if called upon to keep an entire house warm over the winter - all those hot baths, hot showers, cosy rooms, heated towel rails, and so on? Well, I'm only human.

So spare a thought for your boiler - hidden away in the airing cupboard day after week after year, until the inevitable day that something goes wrong. Poor little boiler gets noticed then alright!

In the event of something going wrong with your boiler, what you don't want is to be paying megabucks for an emegency call-out charge if you're left heating and hot water-less in the middle of winter. So here's some stuff you need to bear in mind about boiler cover:

There are different types of insurance available for the householder looking to cover their boiler.(One small tip - it's been pointed out to me that you'd be well to check whether insuring the boiler is your responsibility - for instance if you're a homeowner then yes, it's your call - but if you're a tenant then the chances are that it's your landlord or social housing provider's responsibility to get the boiler fixed if it goes down).

Another thing to note is that boiler servicing is essential. Imagine your boiler was covered against breakdown - but said breakdown happened because your boiler hadn't had the appropriate attention, then it's unlikely that your policy would cover the breakdown. So a service is really a bit like an M.O.T. really.Some insurance will include the price of an annual service - which is an option well worth considering.

Different types of cover exist including policies that will cover your boiler and controls - or you can get cover for your central heating system as well as boiler and controls. Just decide which is best for you and off you go.

See, there's really not that much to boiler cover - a bit like the boiler itself, it's something that you're only going to think about occasionally - but if anything goes wrong you'll be glad you did!