Plumbing emergencies can happen at any time, even the most inconvenient of moments, and they don’t just consist of burst or leaking pipes. Also amongst the most common reasons for needing to call out a registered plumber are: discoloured or contaminated water, detecting the smell of gas, a blocked toilet, or the boiler breaking down and suddenly finding yourself without heating and hot water.

A common cause of boiler breakdowns is when the pressure in your system drops too low – which is certainly something you’ll want to get fixed quickly, especially during the colder months. Unfortunately, there is a chronic lack of plumbers in the UK (and if efforts are not made to attract new workers to the trade then we’ll have a real crisis on our hands), which means the good ones are always busy and you could have to wait a while, even in an emergency. This also means they can charge more.

Jonathan Ratcliffe of heating and boiler specialists Warm.co.uk says: “Unless we urgently address this problem, we’re looking at a crisis, with terrible waiting times even for emergency work, as well as hugely inflated prices for those who have the money, leaving those who don’t in an even worse situation.”

UK plumbers generally charge around £40 per hour for labour, and you should expect to pay up to 50% more for work carried out at the weekend or in the evening, which is often when an emergency occurs. Most home insurance policies won’t cover you for an emergency callout, which can cost anywhere between £45-75 and may or may not include the cost of some labour.

A boiler breakdown can be one of the most costly home emergencies, averaging around £900 in total for repairs, or up to a whopping £2,500 to replace the system completely. According to the Daily Express, “one in three homeowners say they could not afford repairs or replacement, leaving more than six million homes exposed.”

So, what if you could avoid your boiler from breaking down due to a lack of pressure in the first place? What if you could save yourself the stress of being left out in the cold, waiting for a plumber to arrive at short notice, and avoid the hefty costs of an emergency callout? We already have enough bills to pay, after all.

There’s a simple, affordable device that can be fitted to almost any radiator in your home that will alert you if the system pressure drops below a pre-set level, enabling you to take action before the boiler breaks down. With its innovative, advanced warning system, the PressureSentry affords you the time to schedule an appointment with your plumber during normal working hours and avoid costly emergency callout fees.

The PressureSentry can be fitted to most radiators in minutes during a routine visit, only drawing on the battery power if low pressure is detected, and comes with a three-year warranty. Its dual audio-visual alert system also makes it ideal for homeowners with visual or hearing impairments.

Find out more about how the PressureSentry device can give you peace of mind: https://teddingtonheating.com/pressure-sentry/