Most of us have an innate understanding of a car engine’s needs. And, just as you need to service your car regularly, you need to do the same for your gas boiler.
A car engine and a domestic boiler have a lot in common. Both require fuel to produce energy and operate under pressure. The internal components in both can develop deposits or wear, too – but only an expert, such as a qualified mechanic or engineer, can spot these for a car or a boiler, respectively. Both look perfectly normal, even at the point where something is wrong. A car or a boiler will start to become less efficient and more prone to small problems if regular maintenance is not performed, and eventually, without any obvious warning, either will leave you stranded – or freeze your house.
The car analogy might seem extreme, but just consider efficiency as a factor in both. If your car has dirty oil, worn spark plugs or a blocked fuel filter, it will drive more roughly and use more fuel to travel the same distance. Similarly, if your boiler’s scaled heat exchanger or partially blocked burner loses efficiency, the boiler will use more gas to heat your house at the same temperature. The loss of efficiency in your boiler, just like in your car, means it will cost you more; but with a boiler, the loss is often spread over months – even years – in the form of an increment across every bill, rather than a huge hit that you notice all at once. For Tewkesbury Boilers, consider https://www.combi-man.com/boiler-finance/boiler-finance-tewkesbury/
Then there’s the safety parallel between a car and a boiler. If your car was playing up and you got into it with failing brakes, you’d know that you were in danger. However, if your boiler develops a cracked heat exchanger or a faulty flue or the gas valve fails to close properly, you won’t know that it’s as hazardous as a car with failing brakes. Except, there’s no visual warning like there is with brake failure: the invisible product of such problems is carbon monoxide – an odourless, colourless gas with no warning signs. This brings us back to the annual service, which is more than just a routine maintenance task: it is your one opportunity each year to check that both the conditions and the consequences of those conditions, in your boiler, are safe.
So treat your boiler like the vehicle it so closely resembles and book your boiler’s service today, rather than waiting for it to leave you stranded – or freeze your house. And don’t wait until it’s a convenient moment to do it; it could be a matter of life and death.
