Energy Guides

Oil boilers: Is it worth taking out insurance cover?

Monday 31 January, 2011

By Dominic Welling - dominic.welling@consumerchoices.co.uk

If you live in the country, you may have oil-fired central heating, but is there any need to get insurance cover in place in case the boiler breaks down...

There are still around 1.5 million households in the UK with oil burning boilers.

And oil central heating is growing more commonplace as more homes are being built in the countryside and rural areas away from the mains gas supply.

Heating oil vs gas

If the gas mains don’t reach your property, the most likely alternative will be to have a ”wet” heating system. An oil-fired boiler will heat the water, which then provides central heating via radiators and hot water through the taps in your home.

The main difference between mains gas and heating oil is that it is delivered by road and stored in a tank, which you may have to buy or rent from your supplier.

Like gas boilers, oil boilers need to be serviced annually to ensure they run efficiently and last as long as they should do.

However no matter where you live or how you choose to heat your house, boilers can, and often do, break down and can be expensive to fix.

What boiler cover is available?

To protect yourself from an unexpected and ultimately costly oil boiler breakdown, you should seriously consider getting yourself some insurance.

You can read our guide on boiler insurance but the key things to remember are:

• Do not feel obliged to buy cover from your supplier
• Shop around for the best deal for you by comparing boiler insurance

Some policies do not cover you for an annual boiler service, any safety inspections or if your boiler needs to be treated for something like scale damage.

Also some policies have a cap on how much you are allowed to claim or how many times in a year you can call out an engineer, so bear this in mind when you are shopping around for cover.

You can check out boiler cover packages at:

• AA Home Emergency Response Cover (www.theaa.com)
• HomeServe (www.homeserve.com)
• npower hometeam 50 (www.npower.co.uk)

What is involved in servicing an oil boiler?

It’s recommended to get every boiler serviced annually. This should help you avoid costly breakdowns and ensures your boiler runs more efficiently.

Make sure your engineer is registered with Oftec (Oil Firing Technical Association).The engineer should clean the combustion chamber and check all seals and gaskets.

On the burner he should:

• Replace the nozzle
• Clean the blast tube
• Check various parts
• Test the ignition transformer
• Disassemble the oil pump off the burner and replace any worn drive couplings
• Open pump clean internal filter
• Lubricate the motors shaft and bearings
• Check and adjust electrode settings
• Reassemble the burner and test, adjusting oil pressure and air settings to the manufactures recommended settings.

And on the oil tank he should -

• Clean/replace filter or strainer
• Inspect tank isolation
• Complete a tank risk assessment
• Ensure remote and internal fire valves operate correctly
• Inspect for excessive corrosion and leaks on tanks and pipe work inspect location for safety