What an Annual Service Plan Actually Covers.

Service plans have a reputation, and some of it is earned. Plenty are insurance policies with an annual visit stapled on. Ours is the other way round: a proper service, with the call-out charge removed for the rest of the year.

What happens on the visit

An hour, give or take. The engineer checks combustion or refrigerant pressures, cleans the filters and the condensate trap, checks the expansion vessel and the system pressure, tests the safety cut-outs, and runs the whole thing up to temperature to see it behave.

Then you get the readings in writing. Not a tick sheet: the actual numbers, so next year’s engineer can see what moved.

Why manufacturers insist on it

Nearly every boiler and heat pump warranty requires an annual service by a qualified engineer, recorded. Skip two years and a £2,000 warranty claim is refused on paperwork. The service costs less than the gap it covers.

What it saves in running costs

A heating system with a clogged filter, a waterlogged expansion vessel or a tired pump still heats the house. It just burns more to do it. The difference is rarely dramatic and it is rarely nothing.

What the plan adds

No call-out charge for the rest of the year. Priority booking, which in February is the part people actually care about. Ten per cent off parts and repairs. And the same engineer wherever we can manage it, because someone who saw the system last year fixes it faster this year.

When not to bother

A boiler in its final year before replacement. A holiday let that is empty eight months a year. A system already covered by a landlord’s contract. We will tell you if you are about to pay twice.