Listen to commercial radio or pick up a weekend newspaper and you’re bound to come across an advert for gas boiler servicing before too long.
A gas boiler is a mixture of water, electricity and gas. Any two of these are a dangerous combination if not used carefully so having all three in one box and expecting it to keep on working properly, year after year, is probably not the best idea! Just like a car, boilers do need to be serviced occasionally. Of course, if you don’t get it serviced, the boiler won’t simply refuse to start or go into some kind of ‘limp home’ mode and only heat half the water!
However, as with the car, a modern gas boiler has a carefully crafted ‘engine’ that’s been tuned to work efficiently and needs checking to make sure that the operating parameters are still within specification. As gas burns, it releases Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and other noxious gasses – these have to be vented to the outside air and the pipework needs to be checked for issues: CO2 is odourless and has no colour so you won’t know you’re breathing it in – sadly, this is a killer gas and we do need to be respectful of the risk. One of the key checks of a gas boiler will be to use the ‘sniffer’ and check for leaks – both of exhaust gasses and of un-burnt fuel. Checking the free-flow of fresh air into the boiler is also key to ensure the gas is burnt as efficiently as possible.
The heat exchanger itself can’t last forever, either: gas burns at quite a high temperature and this heat, over time, erodes metal. At some point the exchanger itself will need replacing and the service engineer will look for signs for this, too.
On balance, it’s well worth getting the boiler serviced regularly: not only will it run more efficiently (and so save you money) but you can be assured you have a safe boiler, too.
Lastly – and deals are forever changing so we can’t be sure about this being true all the time – gas suppliers will often do a package where if you buy their breakdown/home heating cover, they’ll do an annual service as part of the deal.