Gas boilers should ideally be serviced once per year. As a general rule of thumb, if you neglect your boiler maintenance you will at some point find yourself with an inefficient system that’s costing more to run or even worse, you may experience a breakdown in the middle of winter when you need the boiler the most.
The parts found on inefficient systems often fail early and need to be replaced far sooner than on systems that have regularly been serviced. With the average cost of a new boiler at over £1800, neglecting maintenance doesn’t make any sense.
Then there’s the safety aspect to consider; gas is the one area of your home maintenance that you should never neglect.
How Much Do You Think a Gas Boiler Service Will Cost?
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Here are the key benefits you’ll get from a boiler service:
Legal Obligations
If you’re a landlord, you are legally obliged to have the boiler serviced at regular intervals. While homeowners who live in the home are not legally required to service their gas systems, any subsequent gas leak that leads to a fire or explosion will certainly be investigated, and if you haven’t had the boiler serviced for years, you could find yourself in the civil courts.
Peace of Mind
If anything, at least you’ll have peace of mind that the gas appliances in your home are working safely. Cars need an MOT once per year, and it makes sense to have the boiler checked as frequently.
Insurance and Warranties
Some home insurance policies require the policyholder to ensure the boiler and gas-consuming appliances are checked at regular intervals. If you fail to meet this obligation, you may find your insurance doesn’t pay out the full amount in the event of a claim. If you have a new boiler with a warranty, you’ll almost certainly need to have the system checked by a professional at regular intervals to keep the warranty valid.
Reduced Gas Bills
It shouldn’t be a surprise to find out that an inefficient boiler will burn more gas than a well maintained one. Have your boiler checked once per year, and there’s a good chance you’ll make a saving off your utility bill.
Avoid Emergency Call Outs
If a boiler fails during a cold winter period, you’ll need to get it repaired as soon as possible, that’ll most likely involve an emergency call out that could cost substantially more than a regular pre-booked check-up.
What Steps Are Involved With a Boiler Service?
Different companies will have different policies regarding what is and aren’t included in a typical boiler service.
In general, a boiler service includes the testing, cleaning and pre-emptive fault-finding of a gas-powered boiler system. Some companies or individuals may also include the labour element of any minor repairs that involve replacement parts.
- A visual check is first carried out, and any apparent damage is noted.
- The technician will then test for gas leaks using a detection device.
- Flue inspection.
- Flue gas check – this check will determine if the boiler is burning too much or too little gas.
- Pressure check and top up if required.
- Clean the condensing and check if the system has one.
- Check and if necessary, clean the filter.
- Check the burners and flame.
- Inspect the controls.
- Check the seals are bonded correctly.
- Radiators are inspected to check they all warm up as required.
What Isn’t Included in the Cost?
Every company is different, but most exclude the labour and material cost for any substantial repairs that require replacement parts, excluding seals, grease or minor items that can be easily replaced during the inspection.
Boiler Servicing Cost in 2022
Below is our guide to current charges for gas boiler servicing, we last updated this guide in 2022:
British Gas is the most well-known brand in this industry, and they complete more boiler checks than any other company. They currently charge from £90 although they may increase the price depending on where you live so fill out the form and get a custom price from them here.
SSE cover most areas of the UK and currently charge around £90 for a system check-up. They also claim that if anything goes wrong with it within 21 days of the service, they’ll check it again for free and if the issue is a result of their work, the fix will be free of charge.
The consumer service Which? doesn’t offer gas boiler servicing but they have conducted extensive research into prices. According to an article that they released back in 2017, the average cost of a boiler service is £72.00. Update 2022: They now charge £90 for a one-off boiler service.
Can You Save Money With Breakdown Cover?
Many companies now offer breakdown cover, and while the initial price is very low, it often increases considerably in later years.
British Gas currently charge £204 per year for boiler breakdown cover which includes a yearly service and cover for the controls too.
The current price for a boiler service is £90, so by choosing their basic insurance option, you only pay an extra £114 per year.
The pitfalls?
The price is likely to go up the following year as they hike their prices for existing customers that make claims on the policy.
If you need to claim on the policy, there’s also an excess of £60, but this excess isn’t payable when you have a boiler service as that’s included in the base price.
Homeserve offers a free boiler service in year one of their insurance policy which currently costs £8 a month with a £100 excess. This is a great offer for those that are happy to change to a different insurer for the second year. If you stick with them though, they charge £244 per year going forward.
Can You Save Money by Going Local?
Big national companies like British Gas and SSE have lots of overheads and costs; it’s easy to assume they would charge considerably more than small local businesses but do they?
In April 2022 we contacted 19 gas engineers in the Guildford (Surrey) and Reading (Berks) areas and asked them how much they charge for a gas boiler service to a 3-year-old condensing system.
The average price was £82.00.
Based on our limited research, those in the south of the UK can make a slight saving by going local. We would expect gas engineers in northern areas to be even cheaper as wages often lower the further away from London you’re based.
How Long Does a Typical Service Last?
The average time a technician needs to check and clean a system fully is between 30 minutes and 45 minutes. Older systems may take slightly longer, but it rarely takes more than 1 hour.
The Gas Check Register
When choosing a local gas engineer to carry out a service or any other type of work to a gas boiler, you should first check the Gas Safe Register. Don’t just take the gas engineer’s word as truth, actually go and check the database.
You can check the Gas Safe Register for free here.
Get a Quote From a Local Gas Engineer
The button below takes you to a service where you can check reviews and ratings of local gas engineers.
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