Boilers require servicing each year. However, saving money by skipping this service often means that the boiler will fail or become less efficient due to lack of maintenance.
The Hidden 5% Drain
Boilers are the combustion engines that run with high precision. However, over the course of 12 months, the dirt that accumulates on the heat exchanger surfaces, the clogging of the burners, and the deposits of minerals in the internal waterways of the boiler happen during regular use.
Each of these problems requires the boiler to burn more gas than necessary to provide the same amount of heat as before, leading to a degradation in its efficiency of around 5% per year.
While a 5% drop in a specific variable may seem insignificant, its impact upon a variable that is calculated annually can have larger effects. For Boiler Servicing Cheltenham, consider //www.blu-fish.co.uk/gas-heating-services-cheltenham/boiler-servicing-cheltenham
Doing the Maths
An average household spends around £1,800 per year on gas heating using a modern boiler that has achieved efficiency of 90%.
Year 1 (Serviced): If the boiler reaches an efficiency of 90%, then £1,620 of the total cost will be used to heat your home. However, £180 of that amount will be lost as heat waste.
Year 2 (Unserviced): The efficiency of the boiler drops to 85.5%. Fuel consumption increases to deliver the same amount of heat. Annual costs for gas delivery increase by around £95.
Year 3 (Unserviced): Efficiency decreases to 81%, and you begin to waste £190 each year.
Over three years of neglect, you haven’t saved money – you’ve handed over hundreds to your energy provider and received nothing in return for that effort.
The Compound Penalty
The silent thief has no interest in your gas meter. However, inefficient operation will place extra effort on the other systems within the water heater. If these systems begin to wear down from increased temperatures and decreased performance, replacement costs can range between £400 and £1,200.
If you consider the annual service to be nothing more than a maintenance task, then you are making a mistake. The cost of performing an annual service of your boiler ensures that it will operate at peak efficiency, helps ensure that you do not void the warranty on your boiler, and prevents the silent thief from taking money from you every time you use your heating.
