Boiler insurance

Boiler Insurance (Boiler Cover) is a type of insurance that covers repairs and in some cases the replacement of your home boiler. It can also cover other parts of your central heating system and even your plumbing and electrics.

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Types Of Boiler cover

More than 22 million UK households rely on a boiler for their heating and hot water. [cite web
title=The Energy Helpline
url=http://www.energyhelpline.com/heat-insurance-guide/Boiler-insurance.aspx

] But boilers are not usually covered by standard home insurance. They can be very costly to repair or replace so if you own your own home; it is advisable to take out separate insurance for your boiler or central heating system.

You only need to get boiler cover for your home if you are the owner, or if you’re the landlord of the property. If you live in social housing or rent from a private landlord then any repairs to the boiler are not your responsibility.

Boiler cover is usually a contract tying you into regular monthly payments for a year.

There are various types of boiler cover available in the UK:

• Boiler only• Boiler and service• Full heating system

Boiler only

Some types of boiler insurance policies cover only the boiler and heating controls - these are the cheapest types of policy.

Boiler and service

Boilers need to be serviced every year to ensure that they run safely and efficiently but it is estimated that four out of ten households neglect to service their hot water and heating systems. [cite web
title= The real chill factor: heating repairs could burn a £64m hole in household budgets this winter, www.uSwitch.com, 9 November 2007
url=http://www.uswitch.com/Press-Room/Press-Releases.aspx?ref=ppcgoogle%7egen%7euswitch%7ec]

If your annual service isn’t included in your boiler cover, a service by a Corgi-registered engineer will set you back anything from £65 to more than £90, [cite web
title= Do I Need Heating Cover?
url=http://www.energychoices.co.uk/do-i-need-central-heating-cover.html] however some types of cover will include this in your policy so it will automatically be done each year.

Full heating system

The most expensive types of boiler cover will insure not just your boiler and controls but also your full central heating system, including pipes, radiators and valves. You can even get boiler insurance that covers your plumbing and electrical wiring. But this cover will cost around £26 a month, [cite web
title= British Gas HomeCare 400
url=http://www.britishgas.co.uk/products-and-services/maintenance-and-breakdown-care.html?WT.seg_3=i100022

] so you should ask yourself whether or not you really need to get all of this covered.

Who offers boiler cover?

Many home energy providers offer boiler cover and you don’t have to be a customer to take out boiler insurance from that company, nor do you have to take boiler cover from the company that supplies your gas and electricity.

Various types of boiler cover at various costs are offered by British Gas, E.ON, Npower, HomeCall+ and Direct Line.

Boiler cover exceptions

Each boiler cover policy comes with some exceptions. These range from the amount of times you can call an engineer out to the amount that each repair can cost to what the insurer considers to be an emergency.

Most policies have a “no claims” period of between 30 and 45 days to ensure that customers don’t sign up simply to avoid paying emergency costs on a boiler that’s already broken down since it will typically cost £33 an hour to call out an engineer - or £76 in London [cite web
title= Boiler Insurance
url=http://www.energychoices.co.uk/boiler-insurance.html

] .

If your boiler is more than 15 years old you might not be able to get it covered as it will be unreliable and costly to the insurer. In cases like this it might be better to invest in a new boiler.

If your boiler is 10-15 years old then it probably isn’t an energy saving boiler and could be wasting 875kg of CO2 a year [cite web
title= Energy Saving Trust.
url=http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/home_improvements/heating_and_hot_water/what_is_a_high_efficiency_condensing_boiler] . By law, all new boilers must now be energy efficient condensing boilers, which could save you at least £150 a year according to the Energy Saving Trust [cite web
title= Energy Saving Trust.
url=http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/home_improvements/heating_and_hot_water/what_is_a_high_efficiency_condensing_boiler

] .

Make sure that you read the small print on any policy that you sign and carefully go over the terms and conditions to make sure that you know how long it will take for an engineer to visit; some will come out within 24 hours, some within a few days and others will limit callouts at weekends to extreme emergencies only.

References