This page explains which cookies and similar technologies are used on boileranswers.co.uk, who sets them, and how you can control them. It should be read together with our privacy policy.
What cookies are
A cookie is a small text file that a website stores in your browser. It lets the site, or a third party whose code runs on the site, recognise your browser on later visits or on other websites. Cookies can be first party (set by the site you are visiting) or third party (set by another company whose service the site uses). They can be session cookies, deleted when you close your browser, or persistent cookies, which stay for a set period.
UK law (the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, PECR) requires us to ask for your consent before setting any cookie that is not strictly necessary for the site to work.
Cookies Boiler Answers sets itself
None for visitors. Our own visitor statistics work entirely on the server and do not use cookies, local storage or any similar identifier. You can read how they work in our privacy policy. We do not have accounts, comments, preferences or a newsletter, so there is nothing for a first-party cookie to remember.
The only cookie our own software sets is an admin login session cookie, which exists solely for our staff when they log in to the administration area. Ordinary visitors never receive it.
Third-party cookies
The table below lists the third parties whose cookies may be set while you use the site. Cookie names change from time to time; we describe them generically and link to each company's own documentation, which is always the authoritative list.
| Set by | Purpose | Example cookie names | Consent needed? | Typical lifetime |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google consent management platform | Remembers the choice you made in the consent banner, so you are not asked again on every visit | FCCDCF, FCNEC | No - strictly necessary to record your choice | Up to 13 months |
| Google AdSense / Google Ads | Serving adverts, limiting how often you see the same advert, measuring advert performance and, with consent, personalising adverts | __gads, __gpi, IDE, test_cookie | Yes - set only after you consent in the banner | From the length of your session up to 13 months |
| Awin | Attributes a purchase on a partner's site to Boiler Answers after you click one of our affiliate links | Awin cookies on the awin1.com domain and on the partner's site | Set only when you choose to click an affiliate link | Typically 30 days |
| Boiler Answers (admin) | Keeps a staff member logged in to the administration area | Session cookie | No - staff only, strictly necessary | Deleted when the browser session ends |
Google consent management and AdSense
We use Google's consent management platform to ask for your consent and Google AdSense to show adverts. If you accept, Google may set the advertising cookies above and use them to show you personalised adverts across sites and to measure them. If you decline, those cookies are not used for personalisation and Google may show non-personalised adverts instead. Google's own documentation describes the cookies it uses in detail: Types of cookies used by Google and How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services.
Awin
Our affiliate links go through the Awin network. Nothing is set until you click one. When you do, Awin records the click and sets a cookie so that, if you buy from the partner within the tracking window (typically 30 days), the sale is credited to Boiler Answers. Awin explains its cookies, and how to opt out of its tracking, in its privacy policy. More about how our affiliate links work is in our affiliate disclosure.
How to manage your consent
On this site
When you first visit, a consent banner asks whether you accept advertising cookies. You can accept, decline or adjust your choices. You can change your mind at any time by using the privacy and cookie settings link in the footer of every page, which reopens the banner. Declining advertising cookies does not restrict any part of the site.
In your browser
All modern browsers let you view, block and delete cookies, either for all sites or for specific ones. Look for "Cookies" or "Site data" in the privacy section of your browser's settings (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge and others all offer this). Blocking all cookies may stop some websites from working properly, although Boiler Answers itself will work normally without any cookies.
Google and advertising opt-outs
You can control how Google personalises adverts for you in Google's Ads Settings, and you can opt out of interest-based advertising from many companies at once through Your Online Choices. These settings are stored by those services, not by us.
Changes to this policy
We will update this page when we add or remove a third-party service or when the cookies described above change. The "Last updated" date at the top shows when it was last revised.
Contact
Questions about cookies on Boiler Answers can be sent to hello@boileranswers.co.uk. Details of the company that operates the site are on our about page and in our privacy policy.