Argh! Boiler broken – coldest night of the year SHOCKER!
The story is pretty predictable… Winter weather, snow warnings, -5C outside. And of course what happens? My heating doesn’t work. Not just in one room, but in the entire house. Nightmare…
Yes! I know I’ve heard the radio ads. Constantly trying to guilt me into buying boiler cover or boiler insurance or whatever. A lot of them do gas cover and leak cover and you-name-it cover too, but they cost £600 a month or something.
Sadly it turned out that I was wrong, they aren’t that expensive. The jury is out as to whether they’re good value or not (like most insurance products…) but if you hunt around for comparing boiler cover on websites like this, you can get a decent saving. Comparing boiler cover and insurance prices is always a good idea if you’re particularly savvy with money.
The better solution would probably be to just put away £40 a month into a savings account for ‘rainy days’ and emergency home funds. But most people don’t; if they see £40 in their bank then they must spend it on Deliveroo instead. If you’re like that, then boiler cover is probably a better idea.
It seems I’m not alone; MummyFever has had a similar escapade! And in any case, bleeding a radiator is pretty straightforward and you don’t really need an engineer. The system could need balancing if it’s just certain radiators in your home.
In the end Mike the plumber came out and fixed my leaky boiler (no water damage thankfully). Because it was night rates it ended up costing me £380 + VAT. Pretty shocking but then I asked myself, ‘how much would I want to get out of bed at 1am and fix some random person’s boiler?’. The answer is, probably a lot more.
