Anyone who has been involved in the planning of a central heating system will know that that system has to have a heart. And that heart is the boiler.

Choosing which boiler best suits your needs, as every central heating system has its own particular task to fill, dependant on the type of property it is being installed in and the needs of the family or individual living there. The basic choices these days are oil, electric or gas powered, with the first two gradually ruling themselves out these days, due to the seemingly never ending instability in the crude oil industry.

These days, most people who are planning a central heating system are inclined to go for Gas as the most sensible option, with either  sealed and vented or pumped systems being the most popular choices among the  types of gas central heating systems currently on the market.

When   installing a pumped and vented central heating system, an expansion tank and a feed need to be added to complete  the package.  This will mean that the  hot water will be able to kept within the  storage tank, and constantly  provide enough warm water  both for showers, baths, dishwashers and daily domestic needs as well as filling up  the central heating radiators. One very important point that needs to be taken into account is that the expansion tank must be installed at the highest level within the house, usually in the attic. For this reason, you will find that most traditional family homes have installed this form of heating, while apartment owners tend to opt for a sealed gas central heating system, which doesn’t need a water tank, saving space and reducing maintenance costs. In addition, installing a sealed system means that all the controls and safety devices already in place

Once the decision has been made which system to go for, the next question being which size of boiler is needed, if the pumped and vented central heating system is the one selected. British Gas, by far and away, the UK’s largest supplier of central heating systems offer a range of  boilers that  come in a wide variety of sizes, and by working with a company such as BG you will be guaranteed the best of objective and professional advice as to which size of boiler best suits your needs.

British Gas work with the best boiler manufactures in the World, with Bosch, Baxi and Burnham being just a few of the companies whose boilers are recommended. 

Piecing all of these details together may seem like a tough task, but not if you do so with the backing of Britain’s leading energy company, British Gas.

Tags: Boiler, Boiler Replacement, British Gas, Combination Boiler, Condensing Boiler

With British Gas reporting record profits for 2009 much of which is to be re-invested in making UK homes easier and cheaper  to keep warm, it’s easy to understand why one out of two households choose this time honoured British company to be their principal energy supplier.

The inescapable fact that British Gas  has now become by far and away  the UK’s cheapest gas  and electricity supplier after  succeeding once again to cut retail prices in January 2010, is making them ever attractive both to existing as well as new customers, as their ever growing market share indicates. There were many raised eyebrows when British Gas’s parent company adopted a strategy to provide both gas and electricity supplies as well as a full range of home services. These services, such as boiler, plumbing maintenance and home appliance insurance, have made British Gas a highly effective “one stop shop” for all energy services.

 Centrica, British Gas’s patent company, spurred by the success of the package deal intend to expand their service base, by working hand in hand with the UK government to improve home energy and work on the development of renewable energy, which may see UK households actually capable of producing some of their own power needs through the use of small-scale wind power utilisation and solar generation.

Centrica have gone ahead, confident that the British public is behind them, to cure some of their well documented problems with dealing on shortages of own gas and electricity supply. This shortage forced Centrica to top up supplies, especially during peak demand times, on the open market, which meant the company often being forced to pay high prices.

With the £1.3 billion acquisition of North Sea gas producer, Venture Production, and the purchase of a 20 per cent stake in the UK nuclear generator British Energy for £2.3 billion, these problems will soon become history, and the UK public will be able to enjoy the full power of British Gas.

Tags: British Gas, electricity and gas, electricity suppliers, Fuel Bills, gas supplier

Just a few weeks after it was announced, the UK government’s boiler scrappage scheme continues to create loads of interest. Till now more than fifty five thousand of the maximum 125,000 grant vouchers have already been claimed.

This means that the government’s Department of Energy and Climate Change have already given around £12.5 million in grants, leaving around 70,000 worth £28 million still to be claimed. The Energy Saving Trust whose role in the project is to process grant applications, are reportedly receiving thousands of 5,000 calls a day at their nationwide call centres.

Householders who are eligible to apply for a grant that will cover a reasonable percentage of the cost of the replacing ‘G’ energy rated boilers need to have a boiler that is more than ten years old and, for the moment, the offer applies to homes in England. Any grants received must be used to replace the old boiler with an ‘A’ rated boiler or equivalent. Any funds due to be refunded will only be remitted by producing the voucher along with a receipt for work carried out by an accredited tradesman.

The scheme, reported to be the brainchild of Prime Minister Gordon Brown was planned not only to reduce costs for the UK householder but also to cut carbon footprints.  The boiler scrappage scheme will provide eligible households £400 towards replacing their aging boilers with new energy efficient ones.

Initially with price estimates of around £2400 being the norm, it began to appear that many UK householders looked like they would have to pass up on the offer. However the Goverment offer began to look a lot more viable when British Gas came in with a dramatic announcement that all of the 125,000

Eligible to be awarded a £400 voucher against the purchase of a new A-rated gas boiler will be granted a further package of discounts and gifts to a value of £852. Stage one is an additional £400 discount, rapidly followed up by the gift of a set of radiator controls valued at £248 as well as Homecare 200 boiler cover for repairs, to a cost of £204. This means that more than half of the cost of replacing the boiler has now been covered.

There is no doubt that these very generous  offers by  British Gas spurred on many to make the decision to take up the  gas boiler replacement offer, and it now only seems like a matter of time before the rest of the grants are snapped up.

For more information on boiler, heating cost  and all your energy needs visit http://www.britishgasboilers.co.uk/

Tags: Boiler, Boiler Replacement, Boiler Scrappage Scheme, British Gas, Climate Change, Department of Energy, Energy Saving Trust

With the UK still in the throes of the toughest winter it has experienced in many a long year, with energy bills to match, most families are taking a long hard look at their energy bills and asking themselves what went wrong.

Be it gas, electricity or oil, there is no escaping the fact that energy costs went through the roof this year, and with  erratic global weather  conditions pervading who can say that next year won’t be just as bad.

That’s why when the spring flowers hopefully begin to raise their heads some time soon, there will be a period of appraisal for most families as they weigh up the realities of which fuel they can afford to heat their homes in winter 2010/2011.

Each source of energy will have to be taken into account and the pluses and minuses have to be weighed up. Those people who through no fault of their own made the decision around ten years ago to place their trust in oil will find it difficult to find too many plus factors these days with the ever rising price of crude oil making it almost financially impossible to use it to heat a home.

Apart from anything else,   on the negative side conventional oil boilers are very unfriendly to the environment, an issue that can no longer be ignored.  On the plus side, oil fired boilers are capable of providing consistent flow rate that is equal to that of a traditional gas boiler, but a considerably higher price.

With crude oil prices now sitting at around $80 a barrel, and with little chance of a price reduction in the near future, most home owners who heat their boiler with oil will need to get their pencil out and reach the difficult conclusion that continuing on the oil trail will only lead to increased energy costs. There are those who will argue that it doesn’t really matter what type of fuel is used in order to fire the boiler, you still run the risk of having the price go up as they do from time to time.

 While there is a lot of sense to this argument, there is no escaping the fact that replacing your money drinking oil fired boiler with one of  the new generation of British Gas boilers will justify the outlay, and in a very short time.

So why wait till next winter for the penny to drop, start the ball rolling now, before it becomes a snowball.

For more information on boiler, heating cost  and all your energy needs visit http://www.britishgasboilers.co.uk/

Tags: Boiler, British Gas, Condensing Boiler, electricity, energy prices, Fuel Bills, Gas, oil

A gas-fired boiler plays a very important part of an average UK family home. There are many people who fail to realise the importance of maintaining their boiler in the best condition, but soon do when it start to give them problems. A boiler that has been under-maintained will not operate to its maximum capacity, and that capacity will gradually dwindle to levels that will make it increasingly costly to run, till one day it will fizzle out altogether and become a useless and inanimate object that is only taking up some space in the corner of your basement. And as you can probably guess, that catastrophe will occur when you need your boiler to be at the top of its form, in the depth of a typical British winter.

Ask anyone who has ever had their boiler conk out when it is minus five degrees outside what it is like and they will tell you that it is no fun. They will also tell you that when things got back to normal they treated their boiler with a whole kind of new respect.

If you don’t want your boiler to let you down, you have to look after it. Sometimes people don’t know where to begin, and have natural aversions to all things technical. Nothing to be ashamed of, as after all, there are companies who provide boiler maintenance services. It is always a good idea to have your boiler checked out once year at least and preferably before the winter.

Another increasingly popular option being offered these days by companies, who provide boiler maintenance services, is a form of insurance that will go a very long way in ensuring that your boiler will always be in tip top condition. This is a very good investment, simply because it is more or less fixed cost. Dependant on your levels of gas consumption, a properly maintained boiler will save a lot on material costs, which will generally cover the cost of the maintenance insurance.

In the unlikely event that your boiler will break down, you can rest assured in the knowledge that a certified engineer from the company you will have chosen will arrive at your home within just a few hours and set the repairs in motion. Try and find a reputable heating engineer in the middle of winter and you will discover what an advantage having gas boiler cover really is. Most policies cover spare parts also, if the boiler is under a certain age. 

As your boiler creeps into the vintage and veteran category, generally speaking replacement parts are not included. However holding a gas boiler cover policy nay even is a better investment as it may delay the need to replace the boiler for quite a number of years.

So treat your gas boiler like you would your car. That way you won’t be out in the cold.

Tags: Boiler, Boiler Cover, boiler new, Boiler Replacement, British Gas, Combination Boiler, Condensing Boiler, new boiler, replacement boiler

In the UK, there is a lot of competition in the energy supply business, and as anyone will tell you, competition is a very positive thing, especially when price is a principal factor. After all, there is a simple logic that says gas is gas and electricity and electricity which performs a very important but basically very simple task and consumers are entitled to seek put the lowest price to purchase these valuable commodities.

However it has been long since proven that the lowest price does not always guarantee the best service, and sometimes consumers have discovered too late that price is not the only yardstick to be measured when choosing which gas or electricity supplier to opt for. 

There is another factor to be considered and it is a big one: And that is service. The problem is that many UK consumers have long discovered that using comparison shopping web sites can find them the cheapest supplier in their area, but very few have taken that extra step to provide energy shoppers with objective reviews on the service standards of these competing suppliers. If someone was surfing the web looking to change their energy supplier and was given the opportunity to study a comparison chart where not only price but price and service levels were available for each supplier, they might be able to think twice before deciding which combination suits them best.

For example, if you could choose between an energy supplier whose prices were the lowest but who received very negative reviews as far as service was concerned and one whose prices were maybe two or three percent higher but whose service was impeccable, which company would you choose? As the saying goes, quality lives on long after price has been forgotten. Any gas or electricity consumer, who has spent twenty minutes on hold, listening to elevator music and recorded and insincere apologies, will well understand the meaning of the phrase.

Sadly, at least till now, much more emphasis is placed on price when choosing which energy supplier than the price and service package. To be honest the major gas suppliers can also be the most competitive, simply because of the strength of their buying power. One of the largest energy suppliers in the UK is British Gas, who also been around for a very long time.

Time means experience and establishing services of professionalism and custom relationships and sticking to them without bending. That’s why when someone is looking around for an energy supplier they should stick to someone they know –like British Gas,

Tags: British Gas, electricity and gas, electricity bills, electricity suppliers, Gas prices, gas supplier

There is something in us all that likes to compare the bad things that happen to us. From surgical scars to how long we waited for a bus, the list is very long. One of the biggest competitions, and especially after emerging from a long and especially cold winter is, how high was your electricity bill? To be honest, the completion should be handicapped, for some people have naturally higher demands for electricity which is set by the size of their family, the number of rooms in their home, and any special needs that they may have.

Taking these factors into consideration, in any event, should allow a person to calculate how much to expect when their electricity bill comes along, especially if they have gathered statistics from previous years and according to season. If the bill has appeared to climb from the previous years for a season, then no time should be wasted in analyzing what went wrong, and correct before the next competition comes along.

It would be easy to say “well just switch off all the lights and sit in the freezing cold without a television, and that way you will save a fortune on your electricity bill.” But that would not be the point of the exercise. Energy is there to be used, but used wisely.

That means switching off lights whenever they are not needed, with the same rule applying to the television or television as well as the home computers.  Preserve warm or even cold air in a room by sealing all the doors and windows to preserve an even temperature. This is a low cost solution to a problem that will save a lot of money all year round.

Washing machines and tumbler driers are notorious users of energy, and are particularly in use over the winter months as people wear a lot more clothes, and cannot hang their washing out to dry. Try and use the off-peak hours to do your washing. You will be amazed how much you save. If you have an electric water heater, make sure that you don’t let it heat water to a temperature.

Although they take very little time to heat up food, microwave ovens use huge amounts of electricity. Instead use your home oven to re-heat food. It may take a lot more time, but will save a lot of money.

If you invest in fluorescent bulbs, and even change the existing ones in high-use fixtures, you will save around sixty percent in electricity consumption.  It all adds up.

There are many ways to cut down electricity consumption and with it the amount of money you will need to lay out. That way you can join the lowest electricity bill competition. It’s much more fun to win.

Tags: British Gas, electricity and gas, electricity bills, Electricty, Fuel, Fuel Bills, fuel consumption

It’s always a pleasurable experience to buy a new home appliance, especially one that will make your life easier. As you set off on your rounds to learn about what’s new on the market, and eventually choose which new washing machine, drier, fridge, oven, dish washer (or even all of them) then you look forward to improved quality of life that your new purchase will bring. You are already forming an imaginary picture of your new toy sparkling away in a corner of your home, efficiently carrying out the tasks it has been selected for, when the salesperson who has just spent some time and a lot of their skills and knowledge explaining all the virtues of the new machine that you have chosen, approaches you with an offer for extended domestic appliance insurance, and always after the deal has been completed.

You find yourself asking “if this appliance is so good, why should I need to insure it against breaking down?” But you already know the answer. Nothing stays new forever and if the new appliance will be in use, things will eventually start to wear out, and need to be replaced. 

All quality domestic appliances come with a year’s guarantee, and some with two or even three years. So why look further than that in the short term. Most domestic appliances will give at least two to three years of problem free service if looked after properly.

It’s usually after the machine has been in use about three years or more that the question arises: Is taking out domestic appliance insurance worth the investment? What should be taken into account is how much did the appliance cost, what it will cost to replace it today and how much will the domestic appliance insurance cost against calling out someone from the yellow pages to carry out a breakdown repair on a one-off basis.

If the decision is reached to take out domestic appliance insurance, it is very worthwhile to check out the costs, for parts only or parts and labour. It goes without saying that comparing quotes is a must; with a preference of working with tradesmen who are accredited repair specialist for the appliance you are interested in insuring. Armed with these facts you can go ahead and make your decision. 

Much as in time you will come to love all these appliances that you have bought, especially if they have been loyal servants and given little trouble, sentiment should never be allowed to play a part in deciding to renew your domestic appliance insurance. For a start, you should never agree to be convinced to renew the insurance automatically, or all of your appliance insurance be lumped together on one policy for “convenience”.  Instead you should sit down at the beginning of the year, and carry out the check that you did when you first took out the insurance for a particular domestic appliance, and add another feature.

• how much did the appliance cost,
• how much will it  cost to replace it
• how many years of loyal service has it given me
• how much will the domestic appliance insurance cost

By doing these regular checks, you will be able decide to say “thanks loyal and trusty servant” and vacate its place for a new, shiny model.  That’s life!

Tags: British Gas, Insurance

With the launch of their WebSaver 6, British Gas have now earned the title as  being the most competitive  energy supplier in the UK with an average online tariff offer coming in at less than  £900 a year, beating Npower’s online tariff into second place. Replacing their WebSaver 5 online saving scheme, BG’s new WebSaver 6 holds the lead in 10 out of 14 regions energy plan as the most competitive energy supply tariff on the market.

British Gas’s online price cut in prices will take them back to levels where they haven’t been for more than two years.  The average standard energy tariff for a UK home before British Gas price cuts was still   £1,200 annually for those UK consumers who do not settle their energy bills online, and with their recently announced prince cut of 7%, they will now lop of £55, which puts British Gas into the lead of offering that cheapest standard duel fuel tariff, averaging £1,147 annually.  So far, there have been no sign of British Gas’s principal competitor’s in the energy supply sector coming in with an offer that compares, never mind, beats British Gas’s new tariffs.

The  considerable prices savings that settling energy bills online brings are drawing more and more people to this simple alternative and with price differences of more than 20% for the same  service the hope is that hundreds of thousands of UK  houses will follow suit. Energy analysts confirm that, switching to an online plan, using a duel fuel system and settling accounts through direct debit will save around £300 from a typical UK family’s energy costs.

Without a direct connection to the online saving opportunities being offered, the reductions which are effective immediately are due to the recent drop in wholesale gas prices which has enabled British Gas to pass these savings directly on to their customers.

However energy regulator Ofgem issued a warning that household bills are liable to increase steadily over the next decade as UK energy supplier will find it difficult to keep up with increased demand with the existing infrastructure.

Tags: British Gas, electricity and gas, Fuel Bills, gas supplier, WebSaver 6

All of us need to maintain our bodies at a certain temperature, with the elderly, the infirm and the very young being especially vulnerable.

If there is one thing that the UK public has realised in the last few weeks is that winters are getting fiercer, and in order to get through them at a level of comfort, efforts and investments have to be made to the home. Not only is it important to install and maintain a heating system that will provide enough heat in the home to get through that period, it is also equally important to ensure that the heat that is generated is retained.

That’s why proper insulation is very important, as it helps to preserve the heat generated by a heating system. Insulating a home need not be a backbreaking expense but, like many other similar applications, it is better if the installation is put in while a property is being built.  Older properties tend not to have original insulation, and it may need to be added later, at more expense and considerable upheaval. However, when it comes to issues of health, then expense should be less of a consideration. As far as finance is concerned, a decent insulation system will return its investment, but it will be over a reasonably long term.

Insulation comes in many forms. These include fibrous insulation, foam insulation, insulated panels and even straw panels that are designed to aid proper insulation techniques. In the meantime, alternatives to conventional fibreglass, cellulose, and mineral wool are in a state of constant development and are slowly finding their way onto the market.

People are inclined to devalue the importance of proper insulation, as it represents the classic case of “out of sight, out of mind”, and that’s why the UK government is constantly mounting campaigns to stress the importance of properly insulating the home, as well as providing wide-ranging benefits for those who do. For example, UK residents who are in receipt of benefits may also be entitled to a grant of up to £3,500 for home insulation, through a government-backed scheme known as the Warm Front.

 For More information visit http://britishgasboilers.co.uk/gas-and-electricity.htm

Tags: British Gas, Energy Bills, energy costs, Energy Efficiency Advice, Heating and Hot Water, heating bills, insulation