Coping with a cold snap

At the time of writing the UK is locked in the coldest and bitterly snowy winter season in recent (and not so recent) memory. To say the place is cold is a little bit of an understatement and talk often turns to one of two things; firstly, how ridiculous it is that the country is brought to a complete stop by a few flurries of white stuff and secondly how thankful we all are for central heating. How ever did we live before it?

But don’t get too confident. Things can go wrong and central heating systems can break (often because of the cold itself ironically) and then we can all be hurled back to the 1800s in the swift cracking of a water pipe. As weather gets steadily more severe through global warming it is more and more of a priority to make sure that your home heating system is in good shape. Of course, severe weather can mean heat waves, but installing AC is another matter.

The most common problem is with radiators that are either faulty, poorly maintained or just plain broken. You can do a bit yourself by bleeding them, but anything more serious is definitely a time to call in the experts. As manly as tinkering with the inner workings of your house may make you feel, if you break something crucial then you could be in for a few seriously frigid evenings. Both temperature wise and with whomever you share the house.

Luckily, all the big companies do radiator, boiler and central heating repair as a matter of course. British Gas offer a good service of radiator maintenance and repair (you may even want to survey their surprisingly diverse range of new radiators), and are well respected for their prompt response times, but any of the big companies offer a good range of competing services. The best idea is to shop around (but don’t take too long, things might freeze), but for the most part they are responsible and affordable. Besides, it is a crucial matter and it needs to be done. As this winter has proven, the cold is not cool…