British Gas HomeCare is an insurance scheme that aims to give households cover on their central heating, gas appliances and electrics by providing maintenance when unexpected incidents arise.

Households can choose a HomeCare plan for them and the amount of coverage they want in their home. There are currently four plans available which range from £13 to £27 per month dependent on the type of cover required and the additional options selected. British Gas HomeCare plans currently covers boiler and controls, central heating, plumbing, drains and home electrics.

The main feature of the plans is maintenance and repairs as well as accidental damage cover and the allowance of unlimited callouts per contractual year.

Obviously, the greater the price of the plan that you choose the more additional features you get and the more home emergency problems you are covered against. For example, the cheapest policy at £13 per month only covers boiler and control repairs whereas the £27 per month policy will cover against repairs to your central heating boiler, controls, radiators, pipework and your hot water system as well as repairs to your internal hot and cold water supply pipes, internal waste pipes and non-shared external drains.

The plans ensure that you are covered 24/7 and give you access to over 7000 qualified gas registered engineers as well as 500 highly skilled electricians. Therefore, this type of protection can ensure peace of mind for any household. However, as with any type of insurance cover you should make sure you are aware of the key exclusions within the policy documentation to ensure you are being covered exactly for what you require and expect.

So is this type of cover any good and is it worthwhile paying for British Gas’s HomeCare service?

From doing some research it appears the British Gas HomeCare service has received some bad press and complaints regarding the standard of service that has been received by policyholders. However, this is balanced out by the number of positive comments regarding the service. Many of the negative reviews tend to come from households who have older central heating systems and it is therefore harder for companies such as British Gas to support these boilers as getting parts if maintenance is required becomes harder or impossible. Therefore, in these situations British Gas will have no choice but not to support the boiler any more. It would therefore be worthwhile considering the age of your boiler when you take out such a policy and gain an understanding from the policy holding company as to how long the boiler will be supported for, so you aren’t in for any nasty shocks.

It is however generally regarded that these types of policies are a good deal as they can offer households peace of mind. If you don’t have a policy in place then you will either need to fix the problem yourself or find a local tradesman to come and fix the problem. Both of these options can cause unnecessary stress and hassle.

At least with a policy such as HomeCare you will know that you have access to qualified professionals and experts as well as a knowledgeable customer service team or help centre that are there specifically to answer any concerns or questions that you may have.

Guest Article by Sarah Wain

Soccer club Torquay United may have been rueing more than one mistake on Saturday afternoon, which saw them squander a one goal advantage to finish all square with visitors Southend United.

The Gulls, who play their football in League Two, were left red faced when a fault with their boiler left them unable to enjoy a post-match shower at the Plainmoor game. Had the team had boiler cover in place, they may have been able to enjoy a warm wash after the muddy game, rather endure cold showers or head for home in their kit.

According to the local Herald Express, the heating incident “rounded off an afternoon of much effort and plenty of mistakes” for the team, who currently lie a few points off the play-off zone in the basement division. After watching the team fail to overcome their play-off rivals, newspaper reported David Thomas commented: “An ‘if only’ afternoon – and those cold showers must have gone down a treat.”

Of course, it’s not the only time this season that a football team may have been left wishing they’d invested in boiler insurance. Last month, Premier League paupers Blackpool FC suffered the indignity of their third boiler breakdown of the season, leaving their opponents Liverpool facing a cold shower after a shock defeat. After the game, Tangerines boss Ian Holloway admitted that his own players were annoyed by the lack of warm water. “My lads were embarrassed and freezing again themselves. Cold showers!” he told the Mirror, before adding that the club’s chairman Karl Oyston had finally been persuaded to invest in a new boiler at the Bloomfield Road stadium. “We have managed to talk him into buying the right type of boiler now, that won’t break down. He has told me that he will do, but he wouldn’t sanction it the other week.”

Of course, with the right sort of insurance in place, shelling out for a new boiler doesn’t have to cost earth. Along with covering the cost of repairs and an annual service, many comprehensive policies also offer money off a new boiler if the old one has been written off by an engineer. Whether you run a football club or a home, no one wants to be left out in the cold – or left to foot the bill when things break down. However, the right sort of insurance can nip both of these problems in the bud. Back of the net!

Guest Article by Alex Smith

The Worcester Bosch boiler manufacturer has added to its website a new section called ‘Quick Gas Boiler Help.’

Designed to help boiler users during the cold winter months, the new section to the Worcester Bosch boiler’s website is there to offer friendly and easily accessible advice at all times. As the team at Worcester point out, a boiler’s lights might start flashing, but it could be something quite innocent – a simple command – or it could mean it needs servicing by a Gas Safe Registered engineer.

But the Worcester team make the valid point that more often than not, it’s a simple process to put right, but users have to have the confidence to put it right. And that’s where the handy online reference comes in. It provides quick hints and answers, plus lists of frequently asked questions, that should help most users of Worcester boilers with their initial queries and dilemmas.

Users of the website first select their model of Worcester Bosch boiler from a drop-down menu and can then click on the icon ‘find tips’ for all kinds of valuable advice. The list of frequently asked questions handles a number of recurring topics, including the meaning of certain codes, the implications of a blue flashing light and how to re-pressurise a system. The section also includes a number of helpful videos and advice as to whether a call to a Worcester representative might be beneficial.

Worcester make the point that the advice section only offers an initial level of advice and does not replace professional advice, or using a heating engineer when appropriate.

The new section of the Worcester website comes at the same time that the Company has launched a campaign to find some of their oldest models still in existence. They particularly want to track down working examples of a: Heatslave Senior 6; Heatslave 2+; Firefly Oil Fired boiler; and, a Highflow 3.5. These are between 20 and 40 years old and are needed for an extensive collection already housed in the Worcester boiler museum. This unique collection gives visitors an insight into years of products, company literature, press cuttings and photography.

The hunt for the old boilers also commemorates two coming milestones in the history of the company. Next year it will be the 125th birthday of Bosch and a year later in 2012, Worcester will be celebrating 50 years of existence.

The Worcester Bosch boiler team are targeting installers who they think might know of customers who have the units mentioned above. And in return for being offered such a boiler, they are willing to donate £400 – matching the boiler scrappage scheme grant – to help towards a new boiler.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

Business Directory – B2B Index – Online business to business directory

The cold weather is a reminder that if your boiler is going to break down, it will do so on the coldest day of the year.

This is not only due to the law of fate, or bad luck, but if you think about it logically, then during the winter the boiler is being used more (and therefore stressed mechanically more). And on those bitterly cold days, the boiler will likely be hammered, constantly working to provide extra heat for the hot water tank and radiators.

And that is the most likely time it will fail. Modern day boilers are more reliable, but they are also more complex than they ever used to be and therefore, can be prone to problems.

Consider for a moment when condensing boilers were first introduced on a large scale into the UK. These new boilers could return energy efficiency rates of plus 90%. They do this by taking two grabs at the energy being produced by burning the gas. Firstly, there is the heat from the fuel burning process. But then there’s all that waste heat that traditionally went up the flue, or chimney. By catching that second lot of heat, boilers became dramatically more efficient, but at a cost. They are more expensive to install and because of the extra bits (for example drain piping and flue fans) needed to fulfil their role, potentially more prone to breakdown.

And in the first major UK winter for many years, a problem did crop up. A liquid is formed – known as condensate – during the collection of the heat from the waste gases. This is collected from the boiler via a length of pipe to an outside drain. When the temperatures dropped, these pipes froze and the boiler, rightly identifying it could not work properly with a blocked pipe, shut down. A simple problem, with a simple solution (de-frost the pipe), but for many users it was a nightmare until the problem could be diagnosed and put right.

Nowadays modern boilers have temperature control systems which prevent this problem, but the point is well made, and should be noted: modern boilers are potentially more prone to breakdowns.

And if this is the case, then homeowners need to know that there is a service on which they can rely. Emergency plumbers are notoriously expensive and their call-out charges can give people palpitations.

But a new service from British Gas can help to quell people’s fears. They have produced a new fixed price repair service for anyone with a boiler, or central heating system.

And the great advantage is with the British Gas service, that they will provide a fixed price before their engineer starts work. And this one price will include all call-out charges, labour and parts; all agreed before the job starts and therefore not depended on the size of the job. And what’s more, if the boiler isn’t fixed, then there’s no charge.

All work is carried out by Gas Safe registered engineers (remember, that’s the law, not registered, can’t work on a boiler) everything is protected by a guarantee of a year.

British Gas also supply a 24/7 free emergency helpline.

So, if your boiler throws a wobbly, try the guys and gals at British Gas.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

At this time of year, with the clocks going back, the days shortening and thoughts of next year’s summer way off, most boiler companies are asking their customers to ensure that the clocks on their devices have gone to the correct time.

Most modern day combination condensing boilers come complete with automatic clocks that, like computers, are pre-programmed to adjust to Greenwich Mean Time and British Summer Time changes.

Boiler manufacturer Worcester is just one that reminds customers to make sure the change has happened correctly, although it points out that most of its models do so of their own accord.

These Worcester boilers have controls for example that automatically adjust to GMT/BST:

• DT20 twin channel digital programmer
• DT20RF digital RF thermostat with twin channel programmer
• TD200 text display
• FW100 weather compensation controller
• FW110 programmable room thermostat.

But even if you think that your boiler is clever enough to stay ahead of the game, now is a good time to check the controls and look again at the timings that will get you through the winter period. And its been well researched that clocks and timing devices that are incorrectly set for the various seasons, can add a considerable amount to a householder’s energy bills.

Make sure that your heating and hot water comes on at the correct times to maximise that expensive energy you are generating.

And while you’re doing that, also give your system the once over as it prepares to cope with the demands of water. Check that the pilot light is burning correctly, that there are no stains around the boiler and that there are no leaks. Do this, but always bear in mind that you can’t do any DIY repairs on your own boiler – it is against the law. Only gas engineers on the Gas Safe Register are allowed to work on boilers so, if you think you have a problem, call one of them. Remember, never play around with you’re a boiler. Adjust the controls certainly, but never think you can service it yourself, or make repairs.

Also, give your system the once over, feeling for cold spots in radiators, muck stuck in water tanks, or any leaks you can see in the piping. Always remember that a central heating system will likely fail on the coldest day, on a Sunday (or it always seems that way), so make sure you check it out.

Guest Article by Neil Camp