Emergency boiler repair in London: hope for the best and prepare for the worst

9/25/2019

Emergency boiler repair in London: hope for the best and prepare for the worst

Cases when a gas boiler needs emergency repair are not uncommon in London. It could be a very frustrating experience unless you are prepared for it. Here we will guide you through all the steps so you will be fully aware of signs you need paying attention to and how to act when the boiler breakdown strikes you.

Warning signs your boiler needs immediate repair

All boiler malfunctions we can divide on extremely dangerous and of so-called secondary importance ones. Unit deformation, leaking, colour change, and no heating warns you are facing the first group. So they must be prioritised and resolved immediately.

Visible deformation of boiler parts

Any deformations due to inner reasons are obvious signs of your insecurity related to your heating appliance functioning. To clarify, you never know what may happen next moment, whether it may burst or not. Therefore, we recommend inspecting your unit at least once a month in order not to miss any deformation. Except for summer months, when the temperature allows you to stay for a while with your gas boiler out of order, this requires immediate repair.

There is water around the boiler

No boiler is designed to emit water. Thus, if you find any wet spots near your heating appliance, it means your unit is leaking. Leaking unit can still heat, but is unsafe. To clarify, there are electrical connections in its construction and water ingress may cause short circuit. In turn, electrical short has got two negative consequences:

Electric shock hazards that affect your health and threaten your life,
Major breakdowns that increase your repair bills and affect your budget.

So, if you notice your appliance is leaking, you should get the issue fixed as soon as possible.

The flame colour in your boiler is yellow or orange

Ideally, the flame should be blue. In this case you can rest assured your heating appliance operates properly concerning fuel combustion quality. In other words, it runs with complete combustion. In contrast, changing the colour to orange or yellow indicates poor air supply and incomplete combustion.
Is this problem is serious? Yes, it certainly is! Just read about the hazards incomplete combustion creates to choose one that stresses you the most:

Less energy release and, as a result, poor heating,
Producing more soot that pollutes the room and builds upon the flue walls creating extra restriction to combustion gases,
Carbon monoxide emission that threatens your life.

So, if the flame in your gas boiler isn’t blue but orange or yellow (especially if it is yellow), contact a Gas Safe engineer for emergency repair immediately.

Your boiler is not heating

No heat is not only the sign your boiler needs emergency repair but a real problem, especially in London winter. We guess we don’t have to tell you why you need to resolve this problem in no time. You know well, staying without heat and hot water is not a pleasant experience when it is below zero outside.

However, let us indicate one more detail – the risk of getting your whole central heating system frozen. The more scale of the disaster, the more efforts (and more money) it takes to restore the system.

Other signs indicating your boiler malfunction

Early we describe common signs that indicate the need for immediate repairs. Nevertheless, you may find other manifestations of your boiler failure. That is to say, we do not rate them as emergency but still urge you not to neglect them. Here they are:

Higher energy bills,
Strange noises,
Poor heat,
Losing pressure,
Frequent shutdowns.

Do remember, the faster you resolve any minor issue, the less risk of facing major troubles and the safer your life. Note, with regular central heating boiler service, you can lower this risk as well.

How to act if your boiler needs emergency repair

If you find out any of the signs listed in the previous section of this post, do not panic but follow our recommendations.

Step 1. Switch your heating device off

While manufacturers designed a boiler to shut down due to serious malfunctions, in cases we described earlier your heating unit is likely to be still operating. So, first you should do when notice your unit does not heat, leaking, or change its fame colour from blue to orange or yellow is to shut it down. To accomplish this follow the next procedure order:

Close the external manual gas valve to stop gas supply to your appliance,
Switch off the appliance on the control panel,
Shut down the system circuit breaker to stop power supply.

Step 2. Check your warranty or insurance

Here you need to check whether your boiler warranty is still valid. So, store your papers the way you exactly know their place and can easily access it. If the warranty is still valid, check the service centers you can apply for repairs.

If your appliance is much older, you may have another option to cover your repair expenses. To clarify, your home insurance may include boiler breakdown clause it covers. So, check if yours has this clause and make prescribed arrangements if it has.

Step 3. Contact a company near you for emergency boiler repair

No matter, whether you have the valid boiler warranty, cover, or appropriate clause in your home insurance, you need to contact a Gas Safe engineer. Note, emergency call-outs are often charged at higher rates than pre-scheduled. However, it is still cheaper comparing to the inconvenience and expenses you may have during the longer no-heat-no-water period.

Step 4. Prepare for no-heat-no-water period

It is impossible to guarantee you will get your appliance back up and running the same day it breaks down. So preparing for no-heat-no-water period is what you do the next:

Make arrangements to eliminate draughts,
Organize temporary heating with safe portable heaters,
Dress warm and use layers.

Using your common sense, you will get the best of your means so you and your family won’t catch a cold but survive this period.

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Understand the essence of boiler breakdown service and your options

9/18/2019

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Understand the essence of boiler breakdown service and your options

No one wants to wash with ice water or stay in their cold home in winter. Therefore, if your heating appliance breaks down, the sooner you bring it up and running, the better. Your options for fixing your boiler breakdowns, apart from one-time repair services, are the following:

Boiler warranty
Home insurance
Breakdown cover

Unfortunately, a boiler warranty is at your hands only during the first years of your enjoying your new appliance. So, it’s of little use for most households in the UK. A boiler breakage clause may be a part of your home insurance to give you some peace of mind. It deals with contribution towards your repair expenses or attaches you to a heating company accredited by the insurer. With a boiler breakdown, cover you deal with an engineering company you choose, directly and on long-term conditions.
So, let’s discuss a cover issue for your gas boiler to get deeper into breakdown services it offers, understand its pitfalls, pros and cons.

Types of boiler service and breakdown covers

Basically, there are two cover types that differ with the number of services depending on the items they deal with:

Boiler
Boiler and heating system

The first type deals only with the heating unit, its internal components and controls. Including heating system in your plan means you can apply with your heating pipework and radiator issues as well.
However, each company develops its own plans and ranges them within these two bases. For example, for a gas boiler, a cover may split on the only breakdown servicing and a plan with initial inspection or annual service as well.
The tendency here is the wider the range of breakdown services a company provides within the cover, the higher its annual fees.

Typical boiler breakdown cover pitfalls

Choosing a cover for your heating device, be aware of its pitfalls. These pitfalls concern specific conditions and exclusions on which a company provides its services. Here are the most common of them:

Claim excess,
Initial no-claims period,
Claim limits,
Repair and replacement limits,

So, do your due diligence to be sure you understand all these reefs. Different contractors offer different conditions. Thus, you can choose the one that meets your needs, expectations, and budget.

Claim excess

Claim excess is a call-out fee a company charges every time you claim their assistance under the contract. First, a contractor may charge for a claim excess to prevent false call-outs. Second, this call-out fee compensates its labor and travelling expenses for an engineer getting to the site. In general, the exact excess amount varies from £50 to £99 depending on the company.

Though charging an excess is a widespread practice, you may find a company that doesn’t apply it. We can’t say whether no-excess practice affects the quality of their gas boiler care and breakdown services such company provides. Nor can we guarantee it will really benefit you.
First, if the company is a new entrant, it may run a no-excess policy to win its target audience. Second, the company may issue any other coverage conditions such as, for example, claim limits. Third, the company may charge greater annual coverage costs.

No-claims period

This is a period when you are not eligible to apply for any repairs. Usually it lasts from 14 to 30 days from the start of the contract. To clarify the nature of no-claims period, it is enough to mention two main things:

Fraudulent calls
Boiler condition inspection

First, with this clause, a contractor protects itself from being misused by dodgers with faulty devices. Second, the clause gives a contractor time to complete the initial inspection to understand the reasonability of accepting any repair obligations.

Claim limits

Unless a company charges excess, it usually limits the number of claims. Claim limits may grant up to 5 call-outs a year including annual boiler service request. However, you can find companies that enlarge your limits up to 10 call-outs and more.

Repair limits and boiler replacement

Reserving boiler service via a breakdown cover, consider its repair excess and conditions. With repair excess you have to pay parts and labour costs in case its amount exceeds set repair limit per claim. For example, some companies additionally charge for their labour if parts cost more than 75% of the replacement expenses.

As for replacement conditions, most contractors promise free-of-charge replacement for an appliance under 5-7 years. However, they contribute only £200-350 in case of replacing an older device. Imagine you need to replace your 7-year old gas combi appliance with a new one. Still, even with the cover, you will have to pay from your pocket up to 80% of its price and all works related to gas combi boiler installation.

Pros and cons of a boiler breakdown cover

As it says, there are two sides to every question. Therefore, we recommend you to compare your typical boiler service options and a breakdown cover with your needs to find the best solution.

Benefits you can get (pros)

First, it is good to have someone you can rely on. With a cover, you don’t need to cudgel your brains over deciding who to call for boiler repairs or servicing.

Second, you can be sure your call-out will be of the highest priority in case of emergency. As a company has got certain obligations, it is interested to fix the problem as soon as possible.

Third, if you will face major boiler breakdowns, your repair bills won’t be as hefty as they could be. Partly it is because the company, according to your agreement, won’t charge you for labours in full. Partly it is because your expenses are dispersed via monthly cover fees.

Opportunities you can miss (cons)

First, if the company you choose in fact is not as professional as it presented itself, you will be still bound to it by your agreement. Thus, you may miss an opportunity to entrust your heating appliance to more reliable contractor for better breakdown service.

Second, if your appliance will run all the year flawlessly, you will simply waste money. Maybe £160-250 is not a great fortune, but still, money doesn’t grow on trees.

Third, with so many conditions and exclusions, you may end up paying more money for minor fixes. It is especially true if your heating appliance is older than 7 years.

To conclude, it’s up to you decide. You may sign a breakdown cover agreement for your boiler care or apply for its repair and servicing on the terms of one off call-outs. Try to analyze your device condition and weigh the pros and cons basing on the results.

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How to look after your luxury kitchen

9/11/2019

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Luxury Kitchen Care Guide

We are happy to share our guide that took us many years of experience and a few months of writing and designing to create it. In the document below you will find tips and aspects, which you should take into consideration when you look after your kitchen equipment. Especially, it will be very helpful for those who owns La Cornue, La Canche or Sub Zero brands.

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Central air conditioner installation: what to consider

9/4/2019

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Central air conditioner installation: what to consider

Installation of central air conditioner involves many preparation steps that enable you to get optimal performance of the system. In this post we will outline the basic concerns for central air conditioner and its installation, so ask a contractor near you for solution appropriate in your case.

1. Choose the right-sized ac unit

Central ac installation is not a cheap project. Therefore, you need to do your due diligence to select the ac unit that has got right size for your premise. This step is crucial as it affects the conditions you will live in and your budget as well.

When it concerns central ac unit and its installation, size stands for the exact amount of heat the unit can remove out of your home.

In other words, it stands for ac unit capacity. You can measure air conditioner capacity in one of two metrics:

British thermal unit (Btu) per hour
Tonnage

However, in the UK we usually express capacity in Btu metric. So, let’s discuss this metric in more details. Btu is about energy (heat) you need to use to raise the water temperature at certain extent in an hour. One Btu means you take 1 pound of water and heat it by 1° Fahrenheit. That is to say, one Btu is equal to approximately 1.055 kilo joules.

Problems with undersized unit

If your install air conditioner of less capacity you really need, you will suffer from tree main problems:

Longer cooling period
Higher repair bills
Higher electrical bills

First, an undersized unit takes more time to cool your facilities or fails to do it at all. Second, longer run leads to increased wear and tear and more frequent breakages. In other words, you will spend more money to repair your cooling appliance.

At last, you have to pay for wasted electricity. Let’s explain it with an example of far distance at the first sight. Imagine you want to boil water somewhere outside in cold winter with just one candle in your possession.

However, the candle can give less heat to the water that cold air takes away. As a result, you will spend (and waste) your candle but you will not boil your water. So it is with an undersized unit though situation is vice versa. Heat accumulates in your house more quickly and intensively than air conditioner is able to remove.

Problems with oversized unit

In contrast, if you complete ac installation of too much capacity, your oversized unit will cool your rooms too fast to remove extra moisture. That is to say, your may have to face extra humidity in your house. In turn, it may affect your health and spoil your clothes, linen and furniture.

So, you will end again with more money to spend. Besides, a unit of higher capacity costs more. It means, you overpay for your cooling system at installation stage.

How to calculate the heat gain

Of course, you need to consider a lot of factors to calculate the heat gain. Nevertheless, the basic factors are the following:

Premise size
Heat sources
Insulation
Premise location

Premise size includes not only its length and width, bur its height as well. Speaking about heat sources, we mean total heat radiation of all appliances and the number of people living here. These two bullet points are easy to estimate.

However, premise insulation and location needs an expert to estimate their impact on the total heat gain. So, ask a reliable contractor about this when you design your central ac system.

2. Choose air conditioner with an optimal efficiency-price rate

AC efficiency is the ratio between its heat removal capacity and its electricity consumption. In other words, it shows the number of Btu per a watt. In the UK AC rating rated efficiency usually is expressed in letters. Efficiency of modern units typically varies from A to A+++. Installation of central air conditioner that has got higher ratio helps you to save money on your electricity bills.

Although units of higher efficiency are cheaper in use, they are more expensive to buy. Therefore, you need to consult with your budget whether you can afford it or not. We often recommend our clients to choose the appliance in the medium efficiency segment. This is because its efficiency-price ratio is optimal.

3. Think about installation of a multi-zone central air conditioning system

There are two main types of central air conditioning system:

One-zone ac system,
Multi-zone ac system.

One-zone central air conditioning system has only one thermostat to control the temperature in the premise. However, it may be very inconvenient to have all rooms at the same temperature. Moreover, recent researches proved lower temperature in your bedroom benefits you health and prevent your skin from early aging.

In contrast, with multi-zone system you can create two or more separate zones. To reach this you need to install additional thermostats for each zone and mechanical dampers.

central air conditioner installation near me

Thermostats control temperature in each zone. In addition, mechanical dampers direct the air toward certain zone based on its cooling needs.

To summarise, it is worth noting you can save up to 30% on your electricity consumption if you install multi-zone central air conditioning system with right-sized unit of A++ efficiency. Isn’t it great to pay less for more comport in long run?

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FIVE necessary fridge freezer maintenance tasks

8/20/2019

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Five necessary fridge freezer maintenance tasks

Your fridge and fridge freezer are the most hardworking appliances in your kitchen and deserve proper maintenance. Unlike any other units, they operate around the clock.

For example, you turn on your oven only when you are cooking. However, your fridge freezer is constantly in use keeping your meat, ice-cream, and other goods well-frozen. So, it is with your fridge, which cools beverages and keeps food fresh.

In this post, we will discuss important tasks of your refrigerator and fridge freezer maintenance that helps to prolong their life and cut the need of repairs.

Why you need to maintain your fridge and freezer regularly

Lack of maintenance leads to intensive and inefficient unit functioning. Thus, it drains your budget in two ways:

Higher electricity bills
Higher repair bills

To understand the necessity of freeze and refrigerator maintenance, you should realise a huge role a motor plays in its operation. In other words, the motor is the heart of your refrigeration appliance. As it comes with every electrical unit, a switching phase is the most adverse for the fridge motor.

To clarify, it is the time the appliance gets current of the highest value. So, it risks getting damaged every time the motor turns on. Hence, the more frequently it starts the higher possibility of its breakage.

Maintenance aims to prevent refrigerator motor from excessive load. It creates favourable conditions for longer period between switching phases. In other words, refrigerator maintenance enables reduces the risks of fridge or freezer motor breakage. For example, that’s why you need accomplish cold room installation providing easy access to its key parts for proper maintenance.

Task 1: Keeping right temperature inside your fridge

Temperature inside your fridge freezer is very important. If you set the temperature too high, it allows the motor to work with lower load and longer periods between switching phases.

However, too high temperature has got a bad impact on the goods you store. In other words, your goods get spoiled very quickly. In contrast, if you set the temperature too low, the motor runs more intensively and your goods get over-chilled.
Therefore, it is essential to keep the right temperature inside your refrigeration appliances:

37– 40° F inside a fridge
0° F inside a freezer

Thus, adjust your unit temperature control so that it complies with recommended settings. Check the temperature at least once every two months to be sure your fridge freezer performance is at the top.

Task 2: Door gasket check

Manufacturers designed door gaskets to prevent outside warm air from getting inside a fridge or freezer. However, its door gaskets may get dirty. The main problem here is this grime acts as glue. Therefore, the door gasket sticks to the appliance and risks being damaged when you open its door.

Moreover, these sticky spots may accumulate garbage. Thus, there appears a gap between the door and the appliance and warm outside air seeps inside it. And again, we return to the unit motor. As inside temperature rises faster, the motor has to run more intensively and switch on more often. But, as you remember, this leads to its more rapid getting out of order.

To avoid such early failure, your second maintenance task is to clean the door gasket as soon as you notice any grime on it:

Open the door
Wipe the door gaskets with wet sponge
Dry it carefully

Also, make it a rule to perform this procedure once every two months.

Task 3: Motor fan cleaning

As we stated earlier in this post, a motor is one of fridge freezer key parts. It works hard and it heats up while working. To cool the motor, there is a fan installed near it. However, as we do not live in sterile conditions, this fan accumulates dust onto its blades.

This lowers fan efficiency and results in worse motor cooling. Thus, the motor may get overheated and break down. To prevent this, it has to run more intensively to provide proper fan functioning and sufficient cooling.

That’s why motor fan cleaning is an important step of fridge maintenance service. You can reduce excessive motor wear by cleaning the motor fan at least once a year:

Unplug your fridge freezer
Find the motor fan location. It can be either on the front or back bottom of the appliance
Unscrew and remove the protective grade to get the access to the fan
Gently clean the fan blades using a refrigerator coil brush, vacuum cleaner, and damp soft cloth
Give the time for the fan to dry
Screw the protective grade back on its place
Plug the unit into a socket

Task 4: Condenser coil cleaning

A condenser is another important part of your fridge freezer. Its task is to remove the heat from the units. Therefore, with dusty and dirty condenser coil it can’t perform the task efficiently and overloads the motor.

Refrigerator maintenance and repair in London

Hence, you need to clean condenser coil at least once a year:

Unplug your refrigeration unit
Find the condenser coil location. It can be either on the front bottom or on the back side of the appliance
Gently clean the condenser coil using a refrigerator coil brush, vacuum cleaner, and damp soft cloth
Plug the unit into a socket

If you have got pets clean the coil every half a year as there is more aggressive environment in your home.

Task 5: Drain hole cleaning

Modern appliances have got anti-frost system that enables it to defrost automatically. During this procedure, excess water drains through a special opening – a drain hole. If the drain hole gets clogged, the water will stay inside your appliance. This not only deteriorates unit performance, but also creates perfect conditions for bacteria replication.

Therefore, you need to check the drain hole at least once a month and unclog it when necessary. Use rolled cloth or cotton swab to complete the procedure.

To conclude, it is worth to mention regular fridge freezer maintenance will benefit your budget and your health while taking only one hour a year and a little effort.

We are not responsible for the break downs of your appliances if you follow these steps. If you are not intelligent enough we suggest to contact us and we will help you in short period of time.

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