Servicing of HW Cylinder/ASHP to maintain warranty- is it worth it?

[ykhan16]

Been happily living in our self-built home for just over a year (thank you again Buildhub for all the help and advice during the long and tricky process!)

 

Now i'm on the other side i'm slightly tearful about the running costs (water, electricity, council tax). Grimacing now at the servicing costs for the heating system. Midea (ASHP manufacturer) are quoting £29p/m for the Mi Care service plan (link) which apparently is needed to maintain the 10 year warranty (found another company that can offer a similar service plan for £15p/m but warranty would lapse). Separately our Telford horizontal cylinder also needs its own annual servicing (cost £245+vat) to maintain its lifetime warranty.

 

Do I just suck it up and pay for this now every year? Would be interested to know other peoples views.

[SteamyTea]

A total rip off, until something goes wrong.

Then you loose the money you spent on servicing and the insurance premiums.

 

And people wonder why I think vented DHW systems are better, though I suspect the insurance companies have that covered.

As you are talking around £300-£350 a year, with a potential catastrophic failure every 15 years, though it could happen any time, I would not bother.

[ProDave]

£29 per month over 10 years is £3480 over 10 years.  About the cost of a new ASHP.  What do they actually do for that cost?

 

£245 for an UVC service sounds too much.  I just do my own, or I will call my local friendly non VAT registered plumber to do it for a lot less.

 

The one bill I complain about is council tax.  It is our largest bill after food, and is the one you cannot do anything about e.g by looking for a better deal or a different provider.  CT is roughly twice our energy bill.

[Nickfromwales]

For the cylinder, you could just say feck it and do your own annual inspection. To be clear here, the warranty on the cylinder is neither here nor there as the Telford stainless cylinder will outlive you. It’s the safety aspect and reliability you need to focus on, checks for functionality of safety devices, expansion vessel pre charge pressure, and so on.

 

For the heat pump the monthly fee is just utter BS, but Midea aren’t a big player sadly so they’re just squeezing your nuts I’m afraid. Always best to check who you’re getting into bed with so there’s no shocks when you wake up next to them   

[nod]

16 minutes ago, ProDave said:

£29 per month over 10 years is £3480 over 10 years.  About the cost of a new ASHP.  What do they actually do for that cost?

 

£245 for an UVC service sounds too much.  I just do my own, or I will call my local friendly non VAT registered plumber to do it for a lot less.

 

The one bill I complain about is council tax.  It is our largest bill after food, and is the one you cannot do anything about e.g by looking for a better deal or a different provider.  CT is roughly twice our energy bill.

We are just short of 5k for CT 

seems a lot for just two of us 

[JohnMo]

3 minutes ago, nod said:

We are just short of 5k for CT 

Thought we were expensive at £3k but we do not have to pay water or waste water charges (another £1k) -for two of us.

[ykhan16]

Thanks guys- good points. For the HW cylinder I am leaning on doing my own inspection but its in the loft and above our kids bedroom and thats a big worry for me. 

 

Yes coming from a tiny 2bed terrace with no water meter- bills have been a shock to the system. ☹️

Edited April 23 by ykhan16

[marshian]

I'm not talking about safety related issues here

 

I have a simple rule for all white goods "insurance plans" or "extended warranty" costs - I get a minimum of 1 year for free - if something is going to go wrong it's more likely to do so in the first year so I'm very skeptical about the benefits. (You don't hear many companies offering warranty cover going bust)

 

If the cost of the cover for additional 2, 3, 5, or 10 years (Based on a reasonable expectation of expected life) is more than the cost of a replacement new item they can get in the sea * see note

 

I take 25% of the cost of the plan and stick that in a savings account

 

It meant that when I replaced my gas boiler last year the £3500 it cost was all from that same savings account

 

I have a neigbour who covers all his appliances with "Extended Cover" - last year he was crowing about he had his american style fridge freezer replaced FOC -but he pays somewhere close to £300 per month for all appliance cover he has.

 

By my logic American fridge freezer say £700 - 800 he could have covered that cost in under 3 months and as a plus 

 

It wouldn't have took 3 "engineer" visits with various parts being replaced as a potential fix while suffering a below par fridge performance before they accepted the fridge was beyond repair (who knew a fridge has a motherboard!!!)

 

Note * It always is!!!!

 

 

[ykhan16]

2 hours ago, marshian said:

I'm not talking about safety related issues here

 

I have a simple rule for all white goods "insurance plans" or "extended warranty" costs - I get a minimum of 1 year for free - if something is going to go wrong it's more likely to do so in the first year so I'm very skeptical about the benefits. (You don't hear many companies offering warranty cover going bust)

 

If the cost of the cover for additional 2, 3, 5, or 10 years (Based on a reasonable expectation of expected life) is more than the cost of a replacement new item they can get in the sea * see note

 

I take 25% of the cost of the plan and stick that in a savings account

 

It meant that when I replaced my gas boiler last year the £3500 it cost was all from that same savings account

 

I have a neigbour who covers all his appliances with "Extended Cover" - last year he was crowing about he had his american style fridge freezer replaced FOC -but he pays somewhere close to £300 per month for all appliance cover he has.

 

By my logic American fridge freezer say £700 - 800 he could have covered that cost in under 3 months and as a plus 

 

It wouldn't have took 3 "engineer" visits with various parts being replaced as a potential fix while suffering a below par fridge performance before they accepted the fridge was beyond repair (who knew a fridge has a motherboard!!!)

 

Note * It always is!!!!

 

 

Completely agree with this which is why I dont pay for any other extended warranties. If something stops working before it aught to, i'm happy to use the sale of goods act with the retailer to get a repair. (Did that previously when my TV failed).

Its just the worry on safety and losing hot water/heating during the middle of winter. Think I will get the Midea plan for now then reassess 12 months down the line.

[SteamyTea]

8 minutes ago, ykhan16 said:

just the worry on safety and losing hot water/heating during the middle of winter

The real problem with water is the damage caused by leaks.

 

In some ways, I think that all that stuff needs to be in a separate building, or at least a properly 'designed for failure' plant room.

[Nickfromwales]

7 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

I think that all that stuff needs to be in a separate building

Kids, say "no" to drugs  

[G and J]

14 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

The real problem with water is the damage caused by leaks.

 

In some ways, I think that all that stuff needs to be in a separate building, or at least a properly 'designed for failure' plant room.

Da Bungalow we've demolished shows evidence under its layers of its configuration at birth.  No wet stuff in the main part.  An outhouse at the front had a potty (plumbed in and connected to the sewer, a bit of a wow for Suffolk in the 1920s), and some short, buried lead piping presumably for the scullery.   So there really is nothing new under the sun…

[ykhan16]

17 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

The real problem with water is the damage caused by leaks.

 

In some ways, I think that all that stuff needs to be in a separate building, or at least a properly 'designed for failure' plant room.

That was Version 1 of our plans. Ended up having to move to the utility/plant room to reduce costs (and to keep things inside the envelope)- then things finally got shoved to the loft as my wife wanted a "nice" utility room. Compromise at every turn as per usual! 🙄

 

Been discussing with the guys at Midea and they have come down to £250 up front payment which works out at £20.83 p/m- Inspection of cylinder, expansion vessels etc also seems to be included. I will sign up to this and just let the Telford warranty lapse. Appreciate the advice guys!

[Nickfromwales]

1 hour ago, ykhan16 said:

That was Version 1 of our plans. Ended up having to move to the utility/plant room to reduce costs (and to keep things inside the envelope)- then things finally got shoved to the loft as my wife wanted a "nice" utility room. Compromise at every turn as per usual! 🙄

 

Been discussing with the guys at Midea and they have come down to £250 up front payment which works out at £20.83 p/m- Inspection of cylinder, expansion vessels etc also seems to be included. I will sign up to this and just let the Telford warranty lapse. Appreciate the advice guys!

If they sign off the cylinder as a G3 annual inspection the warranty with Telford will be fine. Telford don't care who inspects it, just as long as the benchmark book gets stamped / signed each year (book this a week or two early so you don't lapse).