Affordable warmth?

October is here and although we’ve had a few days of spectacular sunshine, there is no getting away from the fact that there is now a definite chill in the air.  The leaves are turning colour and I am pretty sure I could see my breath in front of me this morning when I was doing the school run.

Although I love autumn ( it’s my favourite season) this year I must admit to being more than a little worried about the costs that go hand in hand with the cooler weather.

Last year heating our home cost a small fortune as the winter was particularly cold.  Now the squeeze is definitely on with other costs such as fuel and even the weekly shop seeming to spiral out of control and take their toll on the household income.

Another worry is our ageing back boiler.  It has been reliably rumbling away behind the back of the fire since we moved in and I have it on good authority that it has probably been doing so since the sixties. Things were supposedly built to last then, but for this long? Hmmn, I’m not sure.  In any case the boiler is struggling to keep pace with our increased need for hot water following the birth of child number two and the sharp rise in the number of baths required … What can I say,  he’s a boy and in my house that equals dirty!

He also refuses to wear a bib whilst eating and before I can even get near him with a facecloth he has rubbed mucky hands all over his blonde curly hair … cue hair washing and tears.  You can see my predicament!

I had thought the costs of a new boiler would be prohibitive and to be honest, hadn’t even had our back boiler serviced however an increase in its usual gurgling sounds has sent me into a bit of a panic.  What if it decides to give up the ghost and pack up on us in the middle of winter?  Time to pull my head out of the sand and take stock.

So do I insure it, service it or even replace it?  Unsure and with far more questions than answers I set about doing a bit of research.

It seems that all is not as bleak as I had thought.  New boilers are apparently far more efficient and cost effective than their predecessors and can rapidly heat water in record time.  There are also a number of government backed schemes and green initiatives to try and take some of the sting out of the cost, or in the case of low income families even up to 100% of the cost. Once the work has been carried out, payments related to servicing can even be split over a number of months into small bite size chunks.

So perhaps now is the right time to be thinking about replacing the whole central heating system and start researching companies that offer the best deal in terms of replacement, on-going servicing and repair.

Feeling smug I start to make some phone calls until I realise that ripping out the old boiler means a whole lot of mess.  Good job I’m used to that!