Terms and conditions

Last updated: September 2026

These terms apply to every installation, service and repair carried out by Thermo Heating & Cooling Ltd, trading as Balmy, a company registered in England and Wales, of 136 St Albans Road, Watford WD24 4FT (“Balmy”, “we”, “us”, “our”). They form the contract between you and us together with your written quotation or booking confirmation. Please read them before you accept a price. Nothing in these terms takes away your rights as a consumer under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

1. Some definitions

• Online estimate — the price shown by the instant quote tool on this website, based on the answers you give.
• Fixed price — the price we confirm in writing after we have checked your photographs, which is what you pay unless something in section 4 applies.
• Equipment — the boiler, air conditioning units, radiators, controls, flue and other parts we supply.
• Installation — the work of removing your old equipment where agreed, fitting the new equipment, connecting it to your existing pipework, wiring, gas and drains, commissioning it and registering it.
• Existing system — the pipework, radiators, wiring, controls, cylinder, tanks, flue, drains and building fabric that were there before we arrived.
• Service — an annual inspection and clean of a boiler or air conditioning system, as described in section 12.
• Working day — Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays.

2. Your online estimate

The instant quote tool prices a job from what you tell us: the type of boiler or air conditioning you want, the size of your home, where the flue or outdoor unit goes, and so on. The figure it produces is an estimate based on that information. It is not yet a binding price.

An online estimate is held for 30 days. Prices shown include VAT at the rate that applies on the day the work is completed. Air conditioning installations are currently zero-rated for VAT; from 1 April 2027 they carry VAT at 5%, and a job completed after that date will carry it, whatever the estimate showed.

Anything the tool marks as “to be confirmed”, and any option it could not price, will be priced by us before we confirm.

3. Photographs and your fixed price

Before we confirm a price we ask you for photographs of the equipment to be replaced, the room or rooms involved, the outside wall and, for a boiler, the flue, gas meter and consumer unit. We check those against your answers. If everything matches, we confirm your fixed price in writing and that price is what you pay. If the photographs show something different from the answers you gave — a different boiler type, a longer flue, a second bathroom, an internal wall — we tell you what changes and why before you decide to go ahead.

Please send the photographs within seven days of your enquiry, and in any case by 3pm two working days before your installation date. If we have not received them we may have to move the date.

A fixed price is valid for 30 days from the date we confirm it, and the work must start within 90 days of that date. After that we may need to re-price it.

4. When the price can change after it is fixed

We only change a fixed price in three situations, and in each one we stop, explain what we have found, give you a price for it and get your agreement in writing before we carry on:

• Something on site could not reasonably have been seen from the photographs and your answers, for example a gas supply that does not meet the new boiler’s requirements, pipework buried in a wall that turns out to be undersized, or a flue route that is blocked.
• The information you gave us was materially wrong.
• You ask us to do extra work while we are there.

If you do not want to pay the extra, you can cancel that part of the work, or the whole job, and we refund anything you have paid for work not done. Where the extra is needed to make the installation safe or compliant we cannot complete the installation without it.

5. Placing an order and paying

You place an order by accepting the fixed price in writing, or by booking a service through this website. We send an order confirmation by email with the price, the equipment, the agreed date and these terms. The contract is made when we send that confirmation.

A deposit may be required to secure a date and order materials; if it is, the amount is shown on your quotation. The balance is due on the day the work is completed, by card or bank transfer, before the commissioning paperwork is handed over. Services are paid for on the day. If you are paying with finance, the finance provider pays us and your credit agreement with them sets out your repayments (section 15).

Equipment remains our property until it has been paid for in full. Where the customer is a business, we may charge interest on late payment under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.

6. Your right to cancel

Because our contract is made at a distance or at your home, you have the right to cancel within 14 days of the day you receive our order confirmation, without giving a reason, under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. To cancel, email us at info@thermo-hc.uk or use any of the contact details on our Contact page; you can use the cancellation form in the schedule at the end of these terms if you wish.

If you ask us to install within those 14 days and we do, you lose the right to cancel once the work is complete. If you cancel part-way through, you pay a fair amount for the work done and materials used up to that point.

If you cancel after equipment has been ordered for you, we refund everything you have paid less any cost we cannot recover from the supplier, which we will show you. If you cancel more than 14 days after the order confirmation and before we start, we may charge for equipment we have bought and cannot return, and for any survey visit already made.

We may cancel the order and refund you in full if, on seeing the property or photographs, the equipment turns out to be unsuitable or the work cannot safely be done, or if you do not accept an additional cost under section 4.

7. Before the installation

Someone at home. An adult (18 or over) who can make decisions about the work must be at the property when we arrive and when we finish, and reachable during the day.

Access. You give us safe access to the property, the rooms we are working in, the loft or cupboard where the equipment is, the outside wall, the gas meter, the consumer unit and the stopcock. Please clear the working area, move furniture and valuables, take down anything fragile near the work and keep children and pets out of the rooms we are in.

Parking. We need to park a van close to the property. Where parking is restricted, please arrange a permit or visitor’s pass for the day, or tell us in advance so we can plan for it. Parking charges we have to pay are added to your invoice at cost.

Services. You provide electricity and water for the day. If the gas or electricity supply to the property is not adequate for the new equipment we tell you what is needed; the supplier’s work is your responsibility and cost.

Permissions. You are responsible for any permission the work needs from a landlord, freeholder, management company or the planning authority, including listed building consent, and for telling neighbours where the Party Wall Act applies. Most air conditioning installations on houses in England are permitted development if the outdoor unit meets the size, position and noise conditions; flats and listed buildings usually need consent. If you are not sure, ask us before you book.

Asbestos. If we find or suspect asbestos we stop work in that area. Removal by a licensed contractor, and a clearance certificate, are your responsibility before we can continue, and the date may have to move.

Flooring and decoration. Please lift carpets or floor coverings where pipework runs under floors, or tell us so we can allow for it. We protect floors and use dust sheets, but the work involves drilling, lifting boards and running pipework, and some marks are unavoidable.

Your existing system. We connect new equipment to your existing pipework, radiators, wiring, gas supply and drains. We are entitled to assume they are in reasonable working order unless you tell us otherwise. Please tell us about leaks, cold radiators, low pressure, previous flushes, sludge, electrical faults or anything else you know about.

Existing plumbing, gas and electrical faults. We are not responsible for faults that already exist in your property, whether or not they were known about: leaking or corroded pipework, seized or passing valves, blocked or undersized pipes, faulty radiators, a gas supply that leaks, is undersized or fails a tightness test, an electrical supply or consumer unit that is unsafe or not to current standards, or drains that do not run. If we find a fault like this we will tell you. Where it has to be put right for the installation to be completed safely, or where you ask us to fix it, that is extra work outside your fixed price, which we quote for and charge separately under section 4. A gas leak or unsafe electrical installation must be made safe before we can commission the new equipment, and we may have to isolate the supply until it is.

8. On the day

We normally work between 8am and 6pm. Most boiler swaps and single splits take a day; conversions, multi splits and relocations can take two. If we need to work later we ask you first. If a job runs over we come back on the next available day at no extra cost, unless the delay was caused by something in section 7 not being in place.

If we cannot get in, or the property is not ready (no access, no permit, area not cleared, asbestos found, no adult present), we may charge a reasonable call-out fee for the lost day and re-book you on the next available date.

Our engineers will stop and leave if they are treated abusively or threatened, or if conditions at the property are unsafe. The job is then re-booked or cancelled under section 6, and the day is charged.

How the work is done. All gas work is done by Gas Safe registered engineers and all refrigerant work by F-Gas certified engineers, to the current Building Regulations, the manufacturer’s installation instructions and the relevant British Standards. New pipework is surface-mounted and clipped unless your quotation says otherwise; we do not chase pipes into walls or box them in. Where pipework has to cross a room we route it as neatly as we reasonably can and agree the route with you.

Making good. We seal and fill holes we make through walls for flues, pipes and cables, and make good around our work to a sound, paintable finish. Redecoration, plastering, tiling and floor repairs are not included unless they are in your quotation. If our negligence damages your property we put it right at our cost.

Existing damage to the building. We are not responsible for damage to the building that was there before we arrived or that results from its condition: cracked or loose plaster and tiles, damp, rot, woodworm, loose or damaged brickwork or render, movement or settlement, weak or damaged floorboards and joists, cracked or blown render around an old flue, or decoration that is already in poor condition. Drilling and lifting boards in areas like these can make existing damage worse, and where we can see a risk we tell you before we start. Repairs to existing damage are not included in your price.

Old equipment and waste. We remove and dispose of the equipment we replace, including the old boiler, cylinder and tanks on a conversion, and old air conditioning units with their refrigerant recovered. We take our own packaging and waste away. Hazardous materials such as asbestos are not included.

9. Boilers

Flues. The new flue must terminate where the Building Regulations and the manufacturer allow. Where the existing flue position no longer meets those rules — too close to a window, door, vent, boundary or below 2 metres over a path — we move it or fit a plume management kit, and price that under section 4 if it was not in your quotation.

Controls. Every boiler is fitted with the controls needed to meet the Boiler Plus rules. Your existing thermostat and programmer are reused where they are compatible; where they are not, replacements are quoted.

System cleaning. Every installation includes a flush of the system with clean water, a magnetic system filter and inhibitor. The optional MagnaCleanse is a light clean of the system while it is running; it is not a power flush and does not remove hardened sludge, scale or debris from pipework and radiators. We are not responsible for faults, blockages, cold radiators, noise or damage to the new equipment caused by sludge or debris already in your system, whether or not a cleanse was carried out. Where a system is heavily contaminated we will tell you and may recommend a power flush by a specialist, or replacement of affected pipework or radiators, at extra cost.

Water pressure and showers. A combi boiler and a sealed system depend on your mains water pressure and flow, which we check on the day. We cannot guarantee that an existing shower, pump or appliance will work in the same way after the change from a tank-fed to a mains-fed system, and shower valves that are not suitable for mains pressure are your responsibility.

Changing from low pressure to high pressure. A combi conversion, or a change from an open-vented system to a sealed system, takes your pipework and radiators from a low-pressure, tank-fed system to a mains-pressure, pressurised one. Joints, valves, radiators and pipework that held at low pressure can leak once they are under higher pressure, and old radiators can fail. This is a known consequence of the change, not a fault in our work, and we are not responsible for leaks or damage that result from it. We will tell you about anything we notice, and repairing or replacing existing pipework, valves or radiators that leak after the change is extra work that we quote for and charge separately.

Registration. We notify the installation to the local authority through Gas Safe Register and you receive the Building Regulations compliance certificate from them by post. We complete the Benchmark record in the boiler’s handbook and register the manufacturer’s guarantee in your name within 30 days.

10. Air conditioning

Sizing. The tool sizes indoor units from the room sizes you give us and matches the outdoor unit to them. It is your responsibility to give accurate room sizes. Where a room is unusually sunny, poorly insulated or open to another space, tell us; we may recommend a larger unit at the confirmation stage.

Outdoor unit. It is fitted on a wall bracket or floor feet at the position agreed from your photographs. It must have clear air around it and should not be enclosed. Noise levels are as published by the manufacturer; positions close to a neighbour’s window are best avoided and we will say so.

Pipework and drains. Refrigerant pipework runs in white trunking on the outside wall and is insulated. Condensate drains by gravity to outside where it can, and by a condensate pump where the indoor unit is on an internal wall; the pump is quoted separately.

Electrics. A dedicated electrical supply and isolator are included. Where your consumer unit has no spare way or is not to a safe standard, we tell you what is needed and price it under section 4.

F-Gas. Systems are pressure tested, vacuumed and commissioned by an F-Gas certified engineer, and you receive an F-Gas record with the handover paperwork.

Supply. Air conditioning units are subject to availability from the manufacturer. If a unit is delayed we tell you as soon as we know, offer the first date we can guarantee, or an equivalent unit of the same or better specification at no extra cost, and you may cancel for a full refund if neither suits.

11. Radiators and extras

New radiators are supplied in the nearest stocked size to the size you ask for, and the size we will fit is shown on your quotation. A like-for-like replacement uses the existing pipe positions; moving a radiator includes the new pipework agreed in the quotation. Radiator valves, TRVs, scale reducers and filters are supplied and fitted as listed in the quotation.

12. Servicing

A boiler service (£99 including VAT) is a visual and operational inspection of the boiler, a flue gas analysis, a check of the gas rate, working pressure, safety devices, condensate trap and seals, cleaning of the components the manufacturer specifies, and a written service record. An air conditioning service (£120 per system including VAT) is a clean of the indoor filters and coils, a check and clear of the condensate drain, an inspection of the outdoor unit, a check of running pressures and temperatures, and a written record.

A service is not a repair. If we find a fault we tell you and quote for the repair separately. If a gas appliance is found to be immediately dangerous we are required to disconnect it and will explain why.

Manufacturers require an annual service by a suitably registered engineer to keep their guarantee valid. Arranging it is your responsibility; we are happy to remind you.

13. Guarantees

Our workmanship. We guarantee our workmanship — the pipework, joints, wiring, brackets, flue and fixings we install — for 12 months from the date of completion. If a fault is caused by our workmanship in that time we put it right at no cost.

The manufacturer’s guarantee. The equipment we supply carries the manufacturer’s guarantee, which we register for you. Its length depends on the make and model and on your annual service being carried out; the length that applies to your equipment is shown on your quotation and in the paperwork we leave with you. Claims under it are made to the manufacturer, and we will help you make them.

What the guarantees do not cover. Faults caused by misuse, accidental or deliberate damage, work by anyone else on the equipment or the system, failure to have the annual service, freezing, flooding, fire, power surges, water quality, limescale or sludge, structural movement, or changes in the water or gas supply; consumables and wear items; pre-existing faults in the existing system, including leaks that appear when a system is changed from low pressure to high pressure; and cosmetic damage. Where we attend a call under guarantee and find the fault is not covered, or there is no fault, we charge our standard call-out rate, which we will tell you before we come.

The workmanship guarantee applies to the property where the equipment was installed and passes to a new owner of that property.

14. Delays and things outside our control

We do our best to keep to agreed dates. If we have to move a date we tell you as soon as we can and offer the next available one. We are not liable for delay or failure caused by events outside our reasonable control, including supplier shortages, extreme weather, illness, strikes, road closures, or the discovery of asbestos or unforeseen site conditions. If a delay caused by us means we cannot start within 30 days of the agreed date, you may cancel and receive a full refund.

15. Finance

Where we offer finance, it is provided by a third-party lender under a separate credit agreement between you and them, and is subject to status. Balmy is a credit broker, not a lender. Your credit agreement sets out the amount borrowed, the term, the interest rate and your repayments. Cancelling the installation does not automatically cancel the credit agreement; contact the lender as well as us. Details of the lender and their regulatory status are given in the credit agreement.

16. Refer-a-friend

If you are a Balmy customer and someone you refer books an installation with us, we send you a £200 gift card once their installation is complete and paid for in full. The person you refer must be a new customer and must give your name when they book. One reward is paid per installation, and there is no limit on the number of people you can refer. The gift card is from a retailer on our list at the time, and cannot be exchanged for cash. We may change or withdraw the scheme for future referrals at any time; rewards already earned are honoured.

17. Our liability

We hold public liability insurance. We are responsible for loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breaking this contract or failing to use reasonable care and skill. We are not responsible for loss that was not foreseeable, for business losses, or for loss or damage caused by a pre-existing fault in, or the condition of, your existing system, your gas or electrical installation, or the building (sections 7, 8 and 9). Nothing in these terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else the law does not allow us to limit.

18. Complaints

If something is not right, tell us first and give us a fair chance to put it right. Contact us at info@thermo-hc.uk, on 07886 705217, or in writing at the address above, and we will acknowledge your complaint within two working days and respond in full within ten. If you are not satisfied with our final response you may refer the matter to an alternative dispute resolution provider; we will tell you which one when we give you our final response. Concerns about gas safety can also be raised with Gas Safe Register.

19. Your information

We collect your name, contact details, address and the photographs you send us in order to price, carry out and register your work, and we pass your details to the manufacturer to register your guarantee, to Gas Safe Register to notify the installation, and to the finance provider if you apply for finance. We keep records for as long as we are required to for tax, guarantee and regulatory purposes and we do not sell your information. You may ask for a copy of the information we hold, or ask us to correct or delete it, by contacting us.

20. General

These terms, your quotation or booking confirmation and our order confirmation are the whole agreement between us. We may transfer our rights and obligations to another business, but that does not affect your rights. If any part of these terms is found to be unenforceable the rest continues to apply. These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction.

Schedule — cancellation form

To Thermo Heating & Cooling Ltd, trading as Balmy, 136 St Albans Road, Watford WD24 4FT, info@thermo-hc.uk: I give notice that I cancel my contract for the supply of the following service: [description]. Ordered on [date]. Name: [name]. Address: [address]. Signature (if sent on paper): [signature]. Date: [date].