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Knowing which system you have makes every conversation with a heating engineer shorter, because it decides where the hot water comes from, how much space the equipment takes up and what can realistically replace it.

Gas is the part of home heating the law is strict about. The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 say no person may carry out work on a gas fitting unless competent to do so, and that an employer or self-employed person must be a member of a class of persons approved by the Health and Safety Executive. In practice that is Gas Safe Register, the official gas registration body for Great Britain, appointed by the Health and Safety Executive and operating since it replaced the CORGI scheme on 1 April 2009. Only a Gas Safe registered engineer may legally install gas appliances, boilers, hobs, ovens or fires.

The register is easy to check, and checking is the whole point of it. Every engineer carries a Gas Safe ID card with a licence number and a list of the work they are qualified to do, so an engineer competent on boilers is not automatically competent on a gas fire. The Health and Safety Executive points householders to the Check an Engineer service on the Gas Safe Register website, a freephone helpline, and a text service that confirms whether a licence number is registered.

Building regulations are the second layer. In England, installers registered with a competent person scheme can self-certify work such as replacing a boiler instead of applying to building control, and Gas Safe Register is one of the authorised schemes. Scotland and Northern Ireland run their own building control systems, so ask a local installer how the certification is handled where you live.

Incorrectly fitted, badly repaired or poorly maintained gas appliances are a major cause of carbon monoxide poisoning, and can also lead to gas leaks and explosions. That is the reason the register exists, and it is the reason both of these situations are emergencies rather than something to look at in the morning.

If you smell gas, do not switch anything electrical on or off, open doors and windows if you can do so safely, get everyone out of the property, and call the national gas emergency line from outside. If a carbon monoxide alarm sounds, get everyone into fresh air straight away, do not go back inside, and get medical help if anyone feels unwell. In both cases the appliance stays off until a Gas Safe registered engineer has inspected it, whatever anyone tells you over the phone.

An annual service by a Gas Safe registered engineer is the routine that keeps most boiler warranties valid and catches problems before a cold snap does. It is also the visit where flues, seals and ventilation get looked at rather than just the front of the boiler.

If you rent, the duty sits with the landlord. The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 require every gas appliance and flue in a rented property to be checked for safety at intervals of no more than 12 months, the record to be kept for two years, a copy to be given to existing tenants within 28 days of the check, and a copy of the most recent record to be given to a new tenant before they move in. The record has to name the engineer and give their registration number. The Health and Safety Executive applies these duties to anyone letting a property under a lease or licence shorter than seven years. Northern Ireland has its own equivalent regulations, made in 2004, which set the same pattern of annual checks, two-year records and copies within 28 days.

Between services, the small jobs are yours: bleeding radiators that have gone cold at the top, keeping the pressure within the band marked on the gauge, checking that thermostatic radiator valves still turn freely, and keeping the outside flue terminal and any air vents clear. Sludge is the usual reason radiators heat unevenly, and flushing the system or fitting a magnetic filter is work for the engineer rather than a DIY afternoon.

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme in England and Wales helps property owners replace a fossil fuel heating system, such as oil, gas, electric or LPG, with a heat pump or, in limited cases, a biomass boiler. The installer must be MCS certified, applies to Ofgem on your behalf, and takes the grant off the amount you pay, so it shows on the quotation and the invoice rather than arriving afterwards. The installation must go in within 120 days of the application. Social housing and most new builds still under construction are excluded, and biomass is limited to rural properties off the gas grid.

Scotland runs a separate route: Home Energy Scotland, funded by the Scottish Government, offers grants and interest-free loans towards heat pumps and energy efficiency measures. In Northern Ireland the previous boiler replacement scheme has closed, so check what is currently available locally before planning the work.

Your EPC is the other number worth knowing. It rates a property from A, the best, to G, the worst, lasts ten years, is needed when a home is sold, let or newly built, and comes with recommendations for improving the rating. You can look up an existing certificate on the government's Find an Energy Certificate service, which covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland, while Scotland has its own register. Only an accredited assessor can produce a new one.

A boiler that has locked out once and been reset is not a boiler that needs replacing. Repair usually makes sense while parts are still available, the appliance is not leaking, the flue and controls are sound, and the engineer can point at a single failed component. Replacement moves ahead when faults keep repeating, when the heat exchanger has gone, when parts have been discontinued, or when an engineer has classed the appliance as unsafe.

Changing to a heat pump is a different decision, because it changes how the house is heated rather than swapping like for like. Heat pumps run at lower flow temperatures than a gas boiler, so they work best where heat loss has already been reduced and where the radiators or underfloor pipework can deliver enough warmth at that lower temperature. That is why insulation, draught-proofing and radiator sizing come up early in a good survey, and why the honest answer is sometimes to insulate first and change the heating later.

Whichever way it goes, ask for the findings in writing: the heat loss calculation, what happens to the cylinder and the controls, whether pipework or radiators are being changed, and what is being taken away at the end. A quotation that lists only an appliance is not a quotation for the job.

The first visit is the one that matters. An installer should survey the property, calculate its heat loss room by room, measure the existing radiators, look at how much hot water the household uses, and work out where an outdoor unit can sit without causing a noise nuisance to you or your neighbours. Only after that can anyone say what size of unit the house needs.

MCS certification runs through the whole job. Government schemes require an MCS certified installer, and the certificate issued for the installation is the document you will be asked for later, so keep it with the paperwork for the property.

Planning permission is less often the obstacle people expect. The Planning Portal describes ground and water source heat pumps on domestic property in England as normally permitted development, and air source units have permitted development rights subject to conditions. Listed buildings and conservation areas are treated differently, flats have their own rules, and planning is devolved across the UK, so check with your council before committing to a position for the outdoor unit.

LokalMatch is where the hiring happens. You describe the job once — the boiler or system you have, what it is doing, your postcode — and heating engineers covering your area get in touch with you. Pros pay for the requests they receive. LokalMatch does not carry out the work, does not set prices, and does not vet, rank or recommend anyone, so asking to see the Gas Safe ID card and comparing written quotations is still your job.