Our latest survey found that 9% of gas boilers develop a fault within a year of ownership; 20% within 5 years. Spending on a boiler service could potentially spare you a huge repair cost in the future, by addressing minor faults early on, as well as giving you peace of mind.
Read on to find out what you can do to ensure you get the best boiler service. We'll also tell you how much you should expect to pay for a boiler service so you don't get overcharged.
Find out more about boiler cover (including why we don't recommend it for most people ) or arrange your boiler service today with a reliable local engineer through Which? Trusted Traders
There are two types of boiler service schemes: an annual boiler cover package or a one-off service.
A one-off service should cost somewhere from £70 to £110 for a gas boiler. It's a little less on average for an electric boiler. If something needs to be fixed, you'll need to pay for that on top.
In a 2023 boiler customer survey, we found the average repair cost people had paid was £196.
A boiler cover package typically costs £200 to £300 a year. This should include an annual service and cover repair costs. Our survey found that people paid an average of £270 a year for a boiler cover package.
Some boiler cover packages have a cheap introductory offer but prices ramp up from the second year.
Find out how an efficient boiler installation designed by an expert engineer saves you money in the long run.
Our 2023 research found that people with boiler cover paid £270 on average per year, which is 76% more than the average annual cost of servicing and repairs (£153) paid by those who did not have any boiler cover.
We calculated this by including any costs of repair during the 12 months or £0 if no repairs were needed, and adding an £80 cost to those who had a service in the past year, the average cost of a service at the time of the survey.
An important caveat to these costs is that some boiler cover policies will include more than just service and repairs. For example, they might include cover for drains, plumbing and home electrics.
Some home insurance companies also give you cover for boiler breakdowns, either as standard or as an optional extra, so it's worth checking if you already have this. The cost of adding breakdown cover to an insurance policy is usually much less than getting a separate breakdown contract, but you don't get the same benefits.
Find out what you should expect to pay for a repair in our common boiler problems and repairs guide
There is a file available for download. ( pdf — 39 KB ). This file is available for download at .
The purpose of a service is to prevent your boiler breaking and costing you more in the long run.
Here's what should take place as part of a boiler service:
You should get your boiler serviced every year by a Gas Safe registered engineer
. You can arrange a service yourself or through a heating engineer – it should cost about £100. Alternatively, you can get boiler cover through a plan, such as Homecare, that includes a boiler service, but this can cost more than £200.
We would recommend getting your boiler serviced by a Which? Trusted Trader .
Remembering to get your boiler serviced can be a pain but a new app from Benchmark (available on iOS
) will make boiler servicing more transparent and easier for homeowners to stay on top of.
Like a car’s service booklet, the Benchmark app acts as a digital record of your boiler’s installation and servicing history.
If your boiler has been installed within the past 12 months and a Digital Benchmark record was created by your installer, it will let you see exactly what has been done during your boilers installation and each service.
The app sends push notifications to alert you when it’s time to get your boiler serviced. All this makes it easy to keep up with regularly servicing your boiler, ensuring it remains in warranty and your heating system performs as efficiently as possible.
Ask what will be included in the boiler service. Watch the engineer and use our checklist to ensure that they cover the basics. A good boiler service should last at least 30 minutes. If it's shorter than this, ask why.
Finally, ask for a written report and check it is accurately filled out. If you have any concerns, contact the Gas Safe Register on 0800 408 5500 or through the Gas Safe Register website
You should get a carbon monoxide detector to be safe, and you're legally obliged to have one if you live in Scotland.
Before paying for repairs, check whether your boiler is still under its initial warranty. Most new boilers typically come with cover for parts and labour in the first one or two years.
Although the checklist should stand you in good stead for most boilers, bear in mind that not all boilers are the same.
Most older conventional systems, for example, have parts such as the heat exchanger, burner and fan that would need to be dismantled and checked. This is not normally necessary for a modern boiler, unless the flue gas analysis suggests there's a problem.
If you're getting a replacement boiler, use our new boiler costs guide to see how much you can expect to pay
We also surveyed 10,018 homeowners in May 2023 to gather their opinions about the company they'd used most recently for a boiler service.
There are scores of independent boiler engineers you could use, but we can't gather a large enough sample size to the able to rate them. The table below shows results for the six most popular boiler servicing companies.
Most were easy to contact, and easy to schedule a service with, which is reassuring. But there were big differences between the best and worst when it came to value for money: the worst brands may surprise you.
