Our Blog has Moved!

We're pleased to say that our blog has finally moved to it's new destination - the Maintracts website! Make sure you book mark our blogs new home to keep up with the latest news, advice and opinion from Maintracts.

Create a Fire Escape Plan

Every home should have a fire escape plan. We hope you’ll never have to use it, but being prepared will ensure you and those who live with you can quickly put a plan in to action if needed.

If you are worried about putting a plan together yourself, you can always speak to your local fire and rescue service who will be able to help for free, but if you would like to create your own then you can incorporate these tips in to your plan.

If you would like to create your own plan it’s best to plan with everyone you live with, including your children, to ensure that you all understand the it.

Make sure you have, if possible, two escape routes and that they are clear from any blockages (not blocked with boxes or bicycles or chained/padlocked). If the windows have locks makes sure that the keys are easily accessible.

You need to make sure that you have a room that you can all go to should the worse happen and you can’t get out in the event of a fire. If possible, the room should have a phone and if they are old enough, your children should know your address and how to call the emergency services.

If you are in a room and you haven’t been able to call 999, open a window and draw attention to yourselves. If you need to break the window, use a heavy object and strike the glass in the corner.

Only escape from a window if you are in immediate danger.

When in the room, use clothes and bedding to stop smoke coming through the bottom of the door before you start to leave the room. If there are two adults and children, ensure that one adult leaves first to help with lowering the children. Do not jump if possible, throw mattresses and cushions on to the floor to lower yourself on to.

We hope that you never find yourself in a situation where you will need a fire escape plan, but if you do, we hope that these tips will help. For further fire safety advice please visit the Fire Service website.

Read our article on fire safety in the home for top tips on how to prevent a fire happening in the first place.

Fire Safety in the Home

There were 39,600 house fires in Great Britain between April 2013 and March 2014, which resulted in 9,748 casualties and 258 deaths.  Of those deaths, 85% were accidental*. House fires are all too common and while they aren't 100% preventable, they can be greatly reduced by following a few simple steps.

The most common causes of fires in the home are:

• Failure to maintain electronic appliances
• Failure to service gas appliances annually
• Unattended or careless cooking
• Candles or open flames
• Plug overload
• Smoking indoors
• Electronic circuit overload
• No smoke alarms or alarms not working

To ensure that you are on top of your fire safety you should do the following:

• Put a fire extinguisher and fire blanket in your kitchen (make sure that the extinguisher is for kitchen fires)
• Keep your stove top and oven free of grease – build up can cause fires
• Do not smoke in the house
• Clean wood burning fireplaces after each use
• Turn off any appliances that do not need to be on at night or when you go out/on holiday
• Don’t overload electrical circuits
• Keep combustible items away from appliances 
• Vacuum dust from outside smoke and carbon monoxide detectors
• Tests your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors once a month
• Clean lint from your tumble dryers
• Do not use electrical items with broken wires
• Practice your fire escape plan with everyone in your house and have at least two exits

By following these steps you can help reduce the possibility of fire in the home. Next week we will look at how to create a fire escape plan.

* Department for Communities and Local Government

Show your Heating Some Love

Spring has well and truly sprung, so why not thank your heating for keeping you warm over the last few months and give it a service ready for next winter? While it's important to ensure that any major work is completed by a professional, there are a few things you'll be able to do yourself.

Bleed your radiators

You should bleed your radiators once a year or when they feel hot at the bottom and cold at the top. If you don't do this then your radiators won't heat up properly and you'll waste money and energy. Before you bleed your radiators make sure you turn off your boiler and have some rags handy to catch any water that comes out. Using a bleed key, slowly open the valve at the top of the radiator.

You'll start to hear a hissing sound as air escapes - keep the valve open until the air has stopped completely. If you have a combi boiler make sure you adjust the pressure after you've bled your radiator, otherwise the boiler will not run correctly. If you've bled your radiator and it's still not performing correctly call your local plumber.

Insulate pipes

It's really important that you insulate your pipes and water tank, it's inexpensive and will save you money and energy. You can buy foam insulation from any hardware store; simply slip it around your pipes and secure it with gaffer tape. For your boiler you'll need a hot-water tank jacket.

If a year has passed and you haven't had your annual gas check and boiler service, make sure that you get one arranged ASAP, or if you are an tenant, speak to your landlord. By doing these three simple things you will save money, save energy and be ready for next winter.

Image

Happy Easter - Open all Weekend

We hope that you'll have a great Easter weekend with friends and family, but if you find that you have any problems with your boiler, heating, gas, plumbing or electrics, be rest assured that we will be here for you - even on Good Friday and Bank Holiday Monday. If you have an emergency call us on 020 8682 2244.

Our Latest Reviews

We pride ourselves on giving the best service possible to our customers and we love it when we get a great review, so we thought we'd take a moment and share some of our favourite reviews on Checkatrade. 

"Paul has always provided a high standard of service and is keen to solve problems."
"Excellent service, very polite and efficient."
"Very efficient and friendly service."
"Very professional service, would use again for sure."
"Always superb. Polite and excellent, terrific people."
"Efficient, speedy and clean service, would recommend."
"Excellent, timely and very good communication around faults and repairs. Would recommend."
"Exceeded my expectations. Excellent."

You can see all of our reviews on our Checkatrade page and leave feedback! Let us know if you think we did a great job.

What's the Right Boiler for You?

Buying a new gas boiler can be a daunting experience. Not only will it probably be one of the most expensive items you'll ever buy for your home, there are numerous brands and types on the market to chose from.

The first thing to mention is that it is vital that your boiler installation is completed by a professional and if it's a gas boiler you must hire a Gas Safe Registered engineer.

Once installation is complete they will supply you with a certificate to prove that the equipment has been tested and complies with all safety standards. Your boiler MUST then be serviced every year by a Gas Safe Registered Engineer.

Combi Boilers can be gas or electric and provide unlimited hot water and heat. You don't need a tank in your loft and they don't take up much space. The main downside is that water pressure may drop if you need hot water from more than one tap.

System boilers, or sealed boilers, come with a water cylinder that normally sits in an airing cupboard and has no water tank. Because there's no water tank it takes up less space and you can get water from more than one tap at a time. System boilers are a bit slower though and you won't get hot water straight away. Once it runs out you will have to wait until it reheats and although you don't need a tank, you will need to find room for the cylinder.

Conventional boilers have a cylinder and a tank and will allow you to get water from multiple taps at the same time, however like system boilers, once the hot water runs out you have to wait for it to reheat. Not only that, you need to find room for the cylinder AND the tank.

Condensing boilers are energy efficient because they capture some of the heat that would have escaped from the flue and reuse it. So you get more heat from the same amount of fuel, meaning you will save money.

Most UK households use gas heating, but what alternatives are there for the estimated 4.3 million households (source Which?) that are not connected to the UK's gas network? Other options include oil burners, liquid petroleum gas, wood burning stoves or electric.

When installing your new boiler make sure to speak to your engineer about heating controls, as this would be a good time to look at replacing them. Modern heating controls are an excellent way to manage heating costs as you can not only control the temperature, you can go as far as managing the heat in each room on some systems.

If you would like to find out more about replacing your boiler then please call us on 020 8682 2244.