When asking yourself how do I know if my boiler is inefficient, there is an easy way to find the answer.

Now, lets assume your boiler is happily chirping away and the heating seems to work okay and there seems plenty of hot water. Your house is well insulated, but the bills, well the bills just keep going on up.

Now, all fuel bills have risen throughout 2008 as oil, gas and electricity became extremely valuable commodities. Oil has bounced back down again, but gas and electricity still remain expensive, and who knows what will happen next? The gas companies have signalled price falls in the year, but with the former Soviets playing Russian roulette with the Ukrainians and switching off some European gas, who knows? And as electricity is still generated mainly by burning expensive to acquire fossil fuels, there may not be any significant price drops there.

But one thing is for sure: we are all at the mercy of the power suppliers and the best thing to do, is to ensure that you try and save as much power as possible.

So, taking a quick look at your boiler and guessing how it’s doing, is not really going to work.

Rather, the best thing to ask yourself is, is your boiler a condensing boiler? If it is, then you most probably have about as efficient a boiler as you are going to get. And as long as it’s working properly and is serviced once a year (very important that), then you don’t have much to worry about.

You see a condensing boiler is the most efficient around. At 90% efficiency, it puts older and more conventional boilers in the shade, as some older models can struggle to achieve more than 60%.

The reason why a condensing boiler is so efficient, is that it effectively has two grabs at the available energy provided by the burning of the fuel source. So, the boiler heats the water from the energy produced from the burning fuel and from the energy in the exhaust gases, which can add an extra 20 to 30% efficiency.

And everyone is so keen on these boilers as a way of bringing down the costs of heating and saving the planet with less CO2 emissions, that they are now a part of the Building Regulations. So if a new house is built, or you have a boiler replaced, it should be of the condensing type. There are a few exceptions (mainly to do with the type of property you live in), but it’s now the law.

The only downside with the condensing boiler is that they are more expensive. They have for example two heat exchangers instead of one and they require a fan in the flue (as the second heat process has changed the flow dynamics and a fan is needed to help withdraw the exhaust gases).

The flue also has to be on an outside wall, because a drain system has to be installed to rid the flue of fluid that is created with the second burning process. This is the reason why some properties can’t have condensing boilers. Certain properties cannot have a boiler and flue on an outside wall, so they have to be fitted with a conventional boiler.

So there you have it. Take a look at what type of boiler you have. If it’s not a condensing boiler, then think about getting one, as it will help save you money in the long run.

Guest Article by Neil Camp