Is your boiler older than the first iPhone?

Our latest research has found more than a quarter (28%) of UK households plan to wait for a complete boiler breakdown before even considering a replacement.

While 27% would delay a boiler replacement because they couldn’t afford the cost, 11% think it’s just too much hassle to replace a boiler before they need to.

All of this is contributing to an ageing population of boilers! 18% (5.1 million) of households, (almost a fifth) are running with a boiler that’s more than 10-years-old.

Among those households, 1.3 million have a boiler more than 20 years old. That’s old enough to have witnessed eight Prime Ministers, a global pandemic, over 50 iPhone models and the complete rise of social media as we know it today.

Is an older boiler less efficient?

If your boiler is 10 years or older, it could cost an estimated £202 more to run per year, according to the Energy Savings Trust.

That’s a silent drain on household finances, at a time where costs are high and money is tight. Less efficient boilers could be costing us a whopping £1 billion nationally.

As we get older, we moan, groan and click in different places - and our boilers aren’t too dissimilar.

Our research shows that over a third (34%) of us have experienced strange noises coming from our boilers, such as humming (11%), gurgling (7%) or vibrating (6%). These can all be warning signs of age and inefficiency.

Noisy boilers can be hard to ignore, with 17% saying that constant whirring and banging puts them on edge in their own home. More than 1 in ten (11%) report being kept awake at night by the sounds of their heating system.

How long do boilers last?

If maintained and regularly serviced, boilers can last for decades. Typically, though, a boiler will last anywhere between 10 and 15 years. Chris Houghton, gas expert at HomeServe explains:

“The biggest secret to extending the life of your boiler is the quality of the water in your heating system.

"When oxygenated water is put into a heating system, corrosion starts to take place. Over time, this leads to build up of black sludge that makes your heating system inefficient and damages your boiler."

To prevent this corrosion, you can ask a Gas Safe engineer to check your inhibitor levels during your next service. They'll also clean your magnetic filter, which helps to separate the black sludge in the system’s water as it goes through your boiler.

If your boiler is past its best and needs a little TLC, a boiler service is a great place to start. Take a look at our boiler service plan.

How old is your boiler? And how have you kept it running for so long? If you’ve got an old age success story, we’d love to hear about it using the form below:

How to submit

Share your boiler’s age, details and a photo of it using the form below.

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