It is generally known that systems such as your domestic boiler require periodic service in order to keep them in good operating condition. There are several ways to ensure the maintenance is done on a fixed schedule, such as using the service interval time controls as a reminder mechanism

Over the last several years we have seen a major drive towards upgrading old boilers to new high efficiency boilers to save energy and reduce carbon emissions. Still, there was notably little focus put on the importance of regular boiler maintenance and central heating system servicing.

It important to ensure your domestic boiler and central heating system is kept in good condition through periodic servicing, which provides the following benefits:

* Ensure that the boiler delivers good output even at maximum load times. Good maintenance ensures the system is efficient and reliable throughout the year, and delivers good performance even in the coldest winter days.

* Ensure that as a landlord or property owner, you keep within the law which requires you to maintain the boiler and the central heating system in good operating condition.

Gas Regulation 36 (part of Gas Safety, Installation and Use) 1994 states:

* It is the duty of the owner of the gas appliance to ensure that it is maintained in a safe condition so as to prevent risk of injury to any person and to ensure that the appliance is checked for safety at intervals of not more than twelve months.

* Every landlord must make sure that all gas fittings are maintained at a safe condition so as to prevent the risk of injury to any person in lawful occupation of the relevant premises.

* Without predisposition to the above points, a landlord must make sure that all gas appliances (including the flues) are checked within twelve months from the point of installation and at periodic intervals of no more than twelve months apart (whether such check was done subject to these Regulations or not).

In reality it proved to be difficult to enforce these Regulations in the case of private householders. There are 25 million homes to check in the UK and the current home owners are either unaware of their obligations, forgetting to do them or delaying them until their financial situation allows them to do it. It is expected that penalties would be imposed if an accident occurs which involved damage or injury and neglect can be proven.

There are automatic reminding mechanisms that help homeowners or tenants to keep up to the periodic maintenance schedule. Some use a flag up mechanism that raises the flag when it is time to check the system. Other systems take a more drastic route and physically turn the system off if the scheduled service was not done on time, displaying a local engineer’s phone number for an emergency service.

Automatic scheduling mechanisms actually provide a short grace period beyond the scheduled service if one was not carried out. It is, however, imperative that the owner of the system or the tenant arranges for a service engineer as soon as possible before the system actually shuts itself down.

According to the records by boiler servicing companies, calls for boiler servicing rise dramatically the closer it gets to the winter period, as systems are restarted after a long break for the summer. Using an automatic reminder for calling an engineer reduces scheduling crunches and un-serviced systems waiting for an engineer.