Boiler servicing: have you paid over the odds for cover?

Your comment on burglar alarms interested me Vynor I fitted my own wiring in all the rooms with detectors and also window break detectors . I notice the new ones are radio controlled with no wiring but then you have the batteries to replace . Quite a few BT engineers in my day “moon lighted ” as alarm installers , used to get the parts wholesale . make sure the external box is good quality and change the battery every two or three years.

The only problem with installing and maintaining your own alarm system is that a system has to be professionally maintained (and maybe installed) to qualify for a discount on home insurance. I know this from experience. 🙁

Wavechange I know you like “going by the book ” but check into what or who qualifies to be called a “burglar alarm professional ” . I am streets ahead of them in technical knowledge and qualifications when it comes to electronics . I could at a pinch repair the old main unit PCB but now its a case of replacement of them , just like a “professional ” would do. Have you seen the training? no disrespect but you certainly dont need a degree in electronics they just get a bit of training nowadays in the basic essentials . I have wired up some very complicated systems in the past . This word “professional ” although sounding like Professor is by no stretch of the imagination in the same league as you and it is now applied with a vengeance to lots of jobs where the staff watch videos or go for a couple of weeks of training . I spent 5 years at an apprenticeship in all factory equipment repair and replacement . I qualified as a Hospital Engineer , I am qualified to work on fork lift trucks , I have decades of training in the old TV and radio repair and am conversant in building solid state equipment including top of the line Hi Fi power amps and the repair of them including all valve equipment , all types of electronic test gear and I have built my own distortion analyser testing down below -0.001 % THD . I have had extensive training with BT on all its old business electronic switching equipment at Otley , W, Yorks and Harrogate ( where HMG armed forces were trained ) and much more so even at my old age I would have no problem getting a “professional ” certificate to install/repair burglar equipment and yes I am up to date with the test equipment used to test them with , I also have equipment for testing digital circuits ( ex HMG forces ) . It is a case nowadays that a repair man goes in and changes a PCB , no unsoldering parts , too costly for the company .

When I have spoken to home insurers they have insisted on NACOSS (now NSI)-approved alarm companies to offer a discount. Before house and car alarms were sold to the public, I made my own, including making my own fibreglass circuit boards and hand-soldered the components. Happy days, but it has been a hobby rather than a living for me.

Meanwhile back on boiler servicing, Which? has found some of the workmanship is poor and some checks may be overlooked.

You are absolutely right about inspection, John. Hopefully the householder will check that hand-operated valves do close and are not showing any sign of leakage, but it’s one thing that a service engineer should check. They should also look at concentration of corrosion inhibitor in the system and drain a little water from a downstairs radiator to look for evidence of corrosion.