Need a new boiler? Should I leave it? Yes? No?

Need a new boiler? Should I leave it? Yes? No?

Given the cost of having a new boiler installed, it’s understandable that people are leaving their broken or aged boiler problem at the back of their minds. After all, it’s summer and you can get by without it to a certain extent, especially if you own an electric shower. Not a biggie…

Burying your head in the sand doesn’t make this problem go away though. Putting it off until September or October when the autumn cuts in and the temperature drops brings its own problems. Many others will have been thinking the same. As you can imagine there’s always a rush at that time of year, lads are busy, and there’s a likelihood you may have to wait. No one likes being cold, me included.

Problems ahead this year…

This year is different I’m afraid. Many different scenarios are coming together to compound this problem even further for those of you needing a new boiler, or those looking to upgrade. Simply put; boilers are in short supply. Manufacturers are struggling to even reach 25% of their normal output in a lot of cases. Microchip shortages, pumps, various other components required in the manufacture are for numerous reasons simply hard to get hold of. This is pushing prices up, on top of the increases in the basic raw materials used to make these. This is expected to go on for at least another year or so….

For those of you who are on certain benefits and pensions and are looking to use the governments free boiler scheme, well my advice is hurry the hell up. This program is slowing down drastically, and rumours are it will be eventually closed.

The new free boiler scheme that is now open and the one that is being pushed to you is done so in view of the climate change targets we need to achieve; this is the installation of Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHP). Sounds good, yes?

Well, unless you are intending to live in a brand new home, or are in one with amazing thermal retention ratings, you might be in for a rude awakening. Just ask many who have experienced their first winters with these, having had it installed in their homes retrospectively so to speak. I’ll probably do a blog post later in the year on these, so will just leave it there for now.

Boilers all come down to money, or do they?

There’s an old adage, buy cheap buy twice….to be fair quite a lot of the boilers we replace are under eight years old. Shocking I know. We find a lot of these were installed under the free boiler scheme. They were cheap for a reason, they were free, they were basic, not well looked after usually because people couldn’t afford the cost of maintenance or repairs. You do get a small percentage last a lot longer, trouble free as well. You just have to be lucky that’s all.

 A clear case of you got what you paid for or not in this case. Even today, they are still the same under the scheme, cheap, basic, not expected to last any decent length of time. However, if you aren’t in a position to do any other, then they are heaven sent and I’m not knocking them, just the system which doesn’t allow for better.

If you are able too, get the best boiler you can afford, with the longest warranty you can also. In the long run it just makes sense. Top of the range boilers have all the goodies in them, they are expected now to last some considerable time, well after the warranty runs out anyways.

Value for money?

The leading manufacturers all give ten year warranties on their boilers as they have confidence in them not going wrong. That’s a pretty good summing up to be fair as they rarely do nowadays. Nothings perfect though, and a small percentage will. Often as not this happens in the first week. Boilers are transported to your home via lorries, trucks, vans etc from various warehouses. They tend to be knocked about a bit, so it’s inevitable the odd one will go down.

How long it takes the manufacturer to respond varies. Longer than one day is not good. In the middle of winter, you need your boiler fixed as a matter of urgency. That’s another reason we recommend you use the leading companies; their response times are brilliant.

We are Baxi approved and should your boiler breakdown we can offer next day repair as a worst case scenario and are often able to arrange to have it fixed the same day. That’s one of the reasons why Baxi are considered the market leaders in the warranty business.

You need to save money

Boilers are expensive. They are not going to come down in price either. They are now considered to be a major household purchase. This is something you can’t afford to get wrong. Just as important you have to have it installed correctly too. It can be costly if you don’t.

Efficiency levels are really good nowadays. 92% and above. In a nutshell, this simply means that for every £100 you pay in your gas bill you are getting over 92% worth of value from your boiler. So just about 8% is wasted. Hell of a difference from previous boilers we used to install. Once again, the leading manufacturers will provide this year in and year out against the inferior products on the market.

This is one of the main reasons you have your boiler serviced yearly, to ensure these efficiency percentages, amongst other things of course. This is also to safeguard your boiler warranty, the manufacturers insist upon this service being done yearly, it’s not just us looking for easy wages….

Any questions you might have or any queries regarding this blog or our services, please contact us on 07786574567 or leave any comments below. We will reply to you