The annual boiler service is a very important job that is best done in the warmer months of the entire year, but did you know around 90% of us do not have the boiler serviced.

The boiler for reasons uknown seems to get forgotten until something happens, you head to have a shower and find you have no warm water. Then Click here for more info begin to panic looking for someone to repair the boiler.

So why is the annual boiler service important?

11 years ago the high efficiency-condensing boiler became compulsory in britain.

With the boilers before condensing it was not as vital that you have them serviced as it is now. The reason is that the boilers then did not have so many parts inside because they do in the current condensing boilers, yes they went wrong but were a lot easier and cheaper to repair, although it is definitely a recommendation by the boiler makers to really have the boiler and any gas appliance serviced annually.

It's more important now than ever before to have an annual boiler service and the boiler checked over to make sure it really is performing as should be, and most important that it's SAFE.

With an annual boiler service one of the most important checks is the flue pipe, this has to be checked to make sure all joints and seals aren't leaking carbon monoxide or products of combustion in to the room the boiler is situated in.

The high efficiency or condensing boilers because they are known while running produce condense, this is an acidic water, since it is acidic, it can start to rot the flue-pipe, and really should this happen the flue will begin to leak products of combustion (carbon monoxide), which as we all know can be extremely dangerous to life, that is the most important parts of the service.

All condensing boilers have a condense trap built-in, this must be washed and checked for leakage it's also section of the boilers flue system.

When the boiler is running the water it produces cleans the combustion chamber of any residue and this ends up in the trap.

With many boilers of today they work under ruthless and also have an expansion vessel connected to the pipe work, this can be either internally or externally.

The expansion vessel will over time will lose pressure and can ought to be recharged to keep the boiler working to it's full efficiently.

The expansion vessel is a very important part of the annual boiler service that needs to be checked. Once the vessel loses the charge it puts strain on the pump, the inner water parts and the entire O rings within the boiler.

Have you ever noticed whenever your boiler is running that the pressure gauge either fitted on the boiler or on external pipe starts to rise when the boiler cools down the pressure drops down to zero. You may have pointed out that the discharge pipe or overflow pipe as some individuals call it, is showing signs of water discharge. If you have then this is normally an indication that the expansion vessel has lost its charge.

Section of the annual boiler service would be to check the boiler combustion rate.

This is to make sure the boiler is burning gas since it was designed for, that is carried out using a flue gas analyser that is inserted in to the flue-pipe and a reading is taken, if the readings are within the boilers recommendations then no more action is required, but if the readings are from the recommendations then further investigations are needed to find the problem.

With the old kind of boiler the burners were removed and the flue-ways were cleaned and checked, but with the condensing boiler the flue-gas reading tells us when the burners must be removed. In fact Vaillant boilers now say the burners may never need to be removed if the boiler is set up and maintained properly, they once suggested that the burners be removed every five years.

With an annual boiler service they are just a few of the checks that need to be carried out, and because many boilers now include long warranties, to keep the boiler warranty valid you'll want an annual boiler service. After the service has been carried out, then the engineer needs to date and sign the warranty booklet to keep the warranty valid.

I have spoken to many customers with long boiler warranties, and for some reason they appear to think they do not need an annual boiler service due to long warranty. This is not so, you must keep up with the annual boiler service otherwise, in the event you need to produce a claim under the warranty you might find you'll have a large repair bill, all as you failed to keep up the annual boiler service.


One last thing before we finish, remember that any type of gas work, be it fitting your brand-new cooker, the annual boiler service whatever it could be has to be completed by a Gas Safe Registered person. If they're not gas safe registered then you could have no warranty on the boiler & most important you will discover your home insurance also becomes void should something happen.