Boiler cover

Home emergency plans are a great addition to your boiler care, providing further peace of mind that perils such as blocked pipes and water leaks are covered. With a 24/7 emergency helpline, you can ensure your whole home is covered in any emergency situation!

• Internal and external plumbing and drainage – Water leaks and blocked pipes.
• Home electrics
• Pest infestations

It’s important to read the terms and conditions before purchasing a home emergency plan and understand what counts as an ‘emergency’. It is likely to mean the total loss of a service such as central heating or hot water, rather than issues with heating controls or weak water pressure.

A home emergency is normally something that does one or more of the following:

• Makes your home uninhabitable
• Will cause permanent damage to your home
• Causes a risk to your health and wellbeing
• Makes your home unsafe

There are often exemptions to boiler and heating cover, you should always check your terms and conditions carefully to make sure the plan is right for you.

Boiler Care does not cover the below,

• Pre-existing faults
• Mobile homes, bedsits, commercial premises and HMO’s
• Boilers not serviced annually by a gas safe engineer
• Repairs to boilers within manufacturer’s warranty
• Boilers over 15 years old
• Non-emergency repairs *Excluding boilers
• Repairs in the first 30-days of the plan start date
• Any excess payments in order to raise a request
• Sludge in your central heating system
• Non gas boilers – Electric, Oil, LPG, AGA Rayburn and back boilers.

Boiler cover protects you and your home in case of an emergency involving your gas boiler. Your household depends on the boiler for hot water and heating. Boiler repairs and even an annual service are not cheap but are 100% essential, and finding a trusted qualified installer is often a bit of a hassle.

In addition to the age of the boiler and a lack of regular maintenance, here are some common causes of boiler malfunction over time:

• Because the pipes that move condensation away from the boiler installation run outside the home, cold weather can freeze and burst the pipes.
• Turning off your boiler over a long period of time, such as in the summer, causes issues once the weather gets cold again - especially when it comes to pumps and valves seizing up. Combi boilers are also vulnerable to this.
• Boilers lose efficiency when water pressure is low, which leads to increased wear and tear for many parts. If you have a gas boiler, you need to be especially careful with this issue.
• Over time, pipes in heating systems corrode and build up sludge deposits and sediments that affect water flow, which impacts how well your boiler runs.

If you own your home, the short answer is that yes, you are indeed responsible for routine boiler maintenance. In the case of major malfunction, your boiler cover actually kicks in and you won’t get rejected from trying to buy last-minute (or late) cover.

When you are dealing with home or car insurance companies, you must be able to show that your insured items are maintained regularly to remain covered. That is to say this expectation is standard for all kinds of insurance, whether it be home, car, or boiler cover, you can prove this by having a boiler service.

It is essential that anyone who services your boiler has Gas Safe Register certification to ensure that they can fix all manner of boiler ailments from combustion issues due to a badly installed flue, or valve failures. These are common types of malfunctions that could lead to carbon monoxide poisoning if left unchecked.

The Gas Safe Register has superseded the previous CORGI scheme since 2009. Its purpose is to ensure that every boiler and heating engineer is good at their job and strictly follows health and safety regulations.

Any issues requiring gas or heating repair should always be dealt with by a certified engineer. Under no circumstances should you or an unqualified person attempt any repairs, even if it’s just the heater or thermostat. Aside from the obvious safety issues, if you have a newer boiler any unauthorised repair will void the warranty.

These are some of the most common boiler problems experienced by households across the UK:

• 1. No Heat or Hot Water. This is typically due to an issue with boiler pressure or your thermostat. You may have a broken diaphragm, airlock or valve that needs to be a replaced.
• 2. Leaking and Dripping. Your boiler may be leaking water due to a broken internal component, such as a pressure valve or pump seal. Either the pressure is too high or a component has corroded and needs replacing. Dripping water could pose a serious health hazard in the kitchen where you have electrical appliances on the worktops.
• 3. Rumbling noise. If you hear a strange rumbling or gurgling noise, it’s usually due to a build-up of limescale or sludge in your boiler that has restricted the flow of water within the heat exchanger.
• 4. Pilot light goes out. If the small blue flame that’s usually kept alight keeps going out, its cause may be a broken thermocouple, a draught or a deposit build-up.

Here just a few of the many benefits you get from boiler cover and annual service:

• Costs of fees, parts and labour are all taken care of in case of a breakdown.
• 24 hour helpline available 365 days a year. This 24/7 assistance gives you peace of mind if anything happens someone is on the end of the phone to support you.
• A Gas Safe Registered engineer will carry out a boiler assessment and gas check. You’ll be guaranteed that the person who enters your home is good at their job and will strictly follow health and safety regulations.
• A full boiler service check helps to avoid a breakdown occurring.
• A physical record that certifies your boiler assessment and gas check. Not only will this put you on the right side the law if you ever want to sell your property, but it’s also the best way to catch any problems that may lead to a breakdown.