British Gas has announced its latest product looking to make your home smarter. Boiler IQ is a monitoring system that will allow compatible boilers to self-diagnose problems long before you know something is wrong.

Available as an upgrade to existing Worcester Bosch boilers, Boiler IQ is a monitoring system that will detect problems as they happen, meaning you can be alerted to boiler faults sooner, rather than discovering you have a problem when the shower is cold.

The data is sent to British Gas, as part of the company's HomeCare package, meaning that the engineer sent out to fix the problem will already know what's going wrong. British Gas claims that in trials, Boiler IQ detected the problem 19-24 hours before the customer knew there was anything amiss. 

Boiler IQ has been developed by the Connected Home team at British Gas, and is based on the sort of technology that's used to diagnose aircraft faults.

There is a cost, however. The component will cost £49 for installation (and you need to have a compatible boiler) and then there's a £3 monthly fee added to existing HomeCare contracts.

Home Care is maintenance and repair service that British Gas offers, covering a wide range of domestic systems for a monthly fee. 

British Gas says that in the future, Boiler IQ will hopefully identify potential faults before they happen.