Regular servicing and efficiency checks of entire systems are integral to maintaining efficient home heating. While installers are well versed in encouraging customers to take up annual services, reminders and warnings often go unnoticed until heating is needed in colder months. As such, consumers risk missing out on lower energy bills if they fail to keep up with annual services. 

One answer to this problem is the mandating of servicing by government. Why should one of the most important parts of our homes not have standardised servicing like other products we rely on? 

Take cars, for example. Now, it would be absurd to suggest we didn’t need an MOT each year for any vehicle on the road because of safety concerns. So why is this different for the heating systems across the country that could be at risk of fault too?

A universally safe standard

As expected over the summer months, household heating systems including secondary heating systems are forgotten about as people spend more time outside and don’t turn their heating on. 

Because of this, problems appear when these appliances or systems are switched on in the winter months without having undergone the necessary checks earlier in the year. Without regular, annual services, homeowners risk the prospect of a hefty, unexpected repair bill that could have been avoided. 

Consumers may think that they are using their heating system efficiently by minimising the amount of time appliances are left on or making sure temperatures are set correctly around the home. However, despite efficiency steps taken by the customer, heating systems themselves must first be operating at maximum efficiency. 

Whole system servicing and efficiency checks ensure systems are operating at optimal levels, in turn bringing down energy bills for the cost-conscious consumer.

Every year, people are reminded to get their appliances and systems serviced, but there’s a question mark over how effective a method this is in the current landscape. If mandatory servicing was brought in across the country, industry guidelines could be rolled out in every home without the decision falling to individuals. 
There are already requirements in the rented sector for the assurance of safe appliances, so why not replicate this for all property owners?

Powering the future

Because servicing is mostly associated with boilers, many homeowners are unaware that all fixed heating appliances in the home require regular services and checks too. 

Installers are trained to ask questions on a callout to find any other appliances that may need a service and provide technical information and industry guidance as to why. If annual servicing and whole system checks do not take place on all heating appliances, the complete heating and hot water system may not be running efficiently throughout the year.

The UK’s journey to net-zero will see more sustainable heating systems installed, reinforcing the need for mandatory servicing. Heat pumps are highly efficient but much more unforgiving in terms of performance if the system is not maintained through regular servicing. 

Renewable energy sources present the government with an opportunity to level out the servicing landscape across the UK, with best practice guaranteed in every household, regardless of the heat source.

Mandating servicing for all appliances not only provides peace of mind for homeowners, it also takes the onus away from installers who are seeing their job requirements change daily. Now not only technical engineers, installers are also representatives of the industry, of advice, and of guidance. 

The greater good

A legal mandate is the right option for every household in the UK; something HHIC’s latest consumer survey of 2,000 UK homeowners showed. 

Of the surveyed respondents, four in 10 homeowners had not had their boiler serviced in over a year, with 16% saying they could not afford to. Used in conjunction with latest data of homeownership in the UK, this could mean that over seven million homes in the UK have not had a service as of yet this year. 

More than three million UK households have never had a boiler service, according to the Benchmark Steering Group. Seeing as gas boilers are not the only appliance that require a service, potentially millions of household appliances could have never been serviced. 

When it comes to scheduling annual servicing, 24% of respondents planned to have one this winter, compared with just 11% who get it done over the summer, the recommended time of year for a service. Timescale is crucial to running efficient appliances over the colder months and it is imperative that any advice around servicing following a mandate by government encourages homeowners to have theirs in the summer months. 

As the price of heating bills continues to fluctuate, almost nine in 10 respondents (87%) also said they were concerned about the price of heating over winter. This response confirms the need for annual servicing, guaranteeing all appliances are operating at maximum efficiency.

Staying up to date

Each heating system, including any hot water storage provisions and controls, contains varied and complex components that require multiple different checks. Engineers should always use the manufacturer’s instructions as a point of reference for the necessary technical information, no matter the appliance.

How can the latest requirements for systems be kept up to date if servicing is not made mandatory? It is in the interest of government and policy makers that important changes are implemented across the country through mandatory whole system servicing as more sustainable energy sources are introduced into homes.