Boilers and Installers

People often ask what is the best boiler, well there is no definitive answer, each installer will have their own preference of what they prefer to install and what is in their opinion is the best boiler, one they are used to and can repair and maintain, but what is more important for you to have an efficient system is the installer and the installation, it is important that the system is designed correctly, radiators have been sized correctly for the heat loss of the room, pipes insulated where needed and that the system is flushed and clean before been put into operation, dirty systems are often the cause of breakdown, another important factor is good controls, your system needs to be well controlled to be able to respond to your requirements in the most efficient way possible, listen to your installers, don’t think they are just trying to flog you something to make more money, controls are very important and most installers will not sell you anything you do not need, it does not really benefit them.

At the end of the day trust your installer’s opinion on the type of boiler, they have the knowledge and experience of that boiler, rather than taking what you have read on the internet in your decision, the UK need to have a relationship with their Plumbers, we are not all rip off merchants, what you see on Rogue Traders is a tiny proportion of installers, but they will always fail to tell you how many good installers they had who found the fault and charged a fair fee, because that would not make good TV

Prepare For Winter

Winter is fast approaching and the cold weather will soon be upon us, we are getting much colder weather than we are used to in the UK, we had a few spells of -20 degrees C at the beginning of the year, make sure you are prepared for winter and ensure you don’t get any nasty surprises, check any exposed pipe work is insulated, check your loft, any pipework within the loft should be insulated and if you have water tanks in the loft ensure these are insulated as well.

Always make sure you know where you cold water main stopcock is, if you are unfortunate to get a burst pipe this is the valve to shut off first, it is often found under your kitchen sink, but can be anywhere, it should look like this

If you have a condensing boiler check the route of the condense pipe, this will be a usually white plastic pipe that leaves the boiler and should terminate to a waste pipe or a soil stack, if the entire route of the condense pipe is within the thermal envelope of your building, this will be ok, but if the pipe runs externally you need to check a few things, if the pipe is run externally in overflow pipe (this is a small diameter pipe, about the same size as your broom handle) this will need attention, the best solution is to get a plumber to re-route the pipe internally if possible, if it is not possible than have the pipe size increased 40 – 50mm in my opinion, and make sure the run of external pipe is as short as possible, if very exposed have this pipe insulated as well, if as we all are you are a bit short of cash at the moment and you have the small pipe externally, insulate it with whatever possible, do everything you can to try and prevent it from freezing, if this pipe freezes your boiler will not operate and with the cold weather we have been getting this will not be a pleasant experience, a little investment now can ensure you have a trouble free and warm winter  

Green Deal

The Green Deal is less than a year away from starting and as usual no one really knows what is going on, lack of detail and information from the powers that be, but one thing has come to light, it appears that installers will have to go through another accreditation process to join Green Deal, this on top of MCS and Gas Safe, WHY? It matters not how the scheme will be run, or how the household will be assessed, the installation will be the same as every other installation and I believe that installers who are correctly qualified should be able to install under Green Deal for free

Without installers on board the scheme will not work, but trying to fleece the installer again to allow us to be on this scheme will mean many high calibre installers will not bother and the scheme will fail, it will end up been run by the large companies who will employ cheap labour who will work under the large companies Green Deal Accreditation and we will end up with poor installations, the UK has some of the best Plumbing & Heating installers in the world in my opinion, but  bureaucracy, red tape and costs often mean the public miss out on been able to use the knowledge, experience and high quality installation of these installers, when will the Government stop trying restrict our trade and allow us to trade freely to the general public, I believe the current system far from preventing the cowboy element, has increased it