British Gas has unveiled a new system for remotely diagnosing boiler issues.
Boiler IQ is the company’s latest venture into smart home territory. It constantly monitors the status of a home boiler, sending the data straight back to British Gas.
When a fault is detected, Boiler IQ will send out a text message to notify the customer. They will then receive a call to arrange an engineer visit.
In other words, a fix will be arranged before you even have direct experience of the fault itself. In fact, it’s been found that the system will detect faults up to 24 hours before a customer does.
The Boiler IQ system was developed by a team that includes former NASA scientist Adi Andrei, who formerly designed software for diagnosing faults in aircraft.
“Many people will be surprised to hear that boiler behaviour is actually less predictable than a plane,” says Andrei. “It’s harder to know when something is wrong with a boiler than it is with a plane. Boiler IQ makes all that a little bit easier for us.”
Related: Smart Thermostats explained
The next step for Boiler IQ will be to predict where a fault is likely to occur before it does.
Boiler IQ will be available to British Gas HomeCase customers with eligible Worcester Bosch boilers from March 21. A monthly charge of £3 will be added to your Home Care bill.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.