One of Europe’s largest heating technology manufacturers has just celebrated the production of its one millionth high efficiency condensing boiler. The milestone of 1,000,000 Vaillant ecoTEC plus was reached at the company’s factory in Belper, Derbyshire.

And the one millionth boiler to be produced for the UK market was a Vaillant ecoTEC plus 831 high efficiency combination boiler. This model had recently picked up the accolade of ‘Best Buy’ from the consumer magazine Which? Read our Vaillant boiler page for more information.

To celebrate this impressive manufacturing achievement, Vaillant is giving away £1000 worth of holiday vouchers to the householder who actually gets the one millionth boiler, shared equally with the installer.

The lucky winners will be identified once the owner of the Valliant ecoTEC plus 831 boiler registers the guarantee either by phone, internet, or by post.

Jim Moore, Regional Director of Vaillant Group UK and Northern Europe Jim Moore said:
“It is extremely pleasing to know that as we sell our one millionth Vaillant ecoTEC boiler in the UK, many thousands of householders are enjoying savings of over a third on their heating bills, whilst significantly reducing their carbon footprint. This is certainly an achievement worth celebrating. Vaillant’s credentials have been further supported by the recent Which? consumer survey where, in addition to receiving Best Buy status for our ecoTEC plus 831 and 824 models, consumers also gave us the highest scores for both product reliability and overall customer satisfaction.”

Vaillant Group’s Plant Director Marc Döerpinghaus said:
“Everyone is joining in the celebration. This is a significant milestone for our dedicated production team at Belper, many of whom have been here since the first ecoTEC boiler made its debut, so their efforts have contributed to this excellent achievement from start to finish. The Belper factory has also been acclaimed for its efficiency and innovation within manufacturing circles and recently won both the ‘Best Engineering Plant Award’ and the ‘Energy & Environment Award’ in the Best Factory Awards 2010. Vaillant has long been at the forefront of heating technology development, thanks to a commitment to on-going investment, including £1million investment in air testing of every appliance as part of its stringent quality control process. It has also instigated innovative one-piece flow lines, and adopted ‘poka yoke’ principles which deploy a barcode system that only allows an operator to progress to the next stage of production once the previous operations have been fully completed.”

The two accolades from the Best Factory Awards 2010 are supported by the famous Cranfield School of Management. The factory of the Vaillant Group UK produces over 400,000 high efficiency boilers every year.

And the lucky winner of the £1,000 in holiday vouchers for choosing the one millionth vaillant ecotec plus will no doubt be shortly revealed.

Guest Article by Neil Camp 

The Chester and District Housing Trust is trialling Baxi back boilers in a scheme which sees it updating its housing stock to meet the Decent Homes standards. Part of the ambition is to try and combat fuel poverty for the house holders.

The Baxi Bermuda BBU HE is one of the few true high efficiency boilers on the market at the moment. Their back boilers are designed to offer all the benefits of a modern boiler, together with all the advantages of a traditional back boiler.

The Chester and District Housing Trust has over 1,000 of its properties fitted with standard efficiency back boiler units. The challenge was to select and install an affordable alternative.

Hamish Laird, The Chester and District Housing Trust M&E Surveyor, said:
“Back boiler units cleverly fit into a property’s existing fireplace. However, when it comes to replacing a standard efficiency BBU siting a boiler alternative elsewhere can prove difficult, especially in small homes.”

The first property to get an installed Baxi Bermuda BBU HE was a 1950s bungalow in Melrose Avenue, Chester. It was chosen because being a one-bedroomed property, it had very limited wall space and would be a challenging site for a traditional condensing boiler.

The contractor to install the boiler was PH Jones, a national property maintenance company and Chris Jones, Social Housing Refurbishment Director at PH Jones, said:
“The installation of the Baxi Bermuda BBU HE went very smoothly. We connected the unit to the existing pipe-work, renewed all radiators and incorporated an expansion vessel to upgrade to a pressurised system with Y plan control and a new hot water cylinder, working closely with the XDHT to minimise disruption to the tenant.”

Mr Laird went onto say:
“The Baxi Bermuda BBU HE offered Melrose Avenue a high efficiency solution as a direct replacement to its existing BBU, without needing to re-site the boiler. The tenant living in the property has found the BBU unit easy to use and should now benefit from significant fuel savings.”

Hi-efficiency Baxi back boilers have become more popular when consumers bear in mind that since 2003, there has been a whopping 114% rise in gas prices. This has brought a new priority to throwing out old, inefficient boilers, and installing new ones. When compared to an old Band G boiler, says the Energy Saving trust, a Band A boiler will use a third less fuel in providing the same amount of heat.

Baxi reckons that there are around two million old back boilers still being used today and designed the Baxi Bermuda BBU HE, which is Band A rated and has an output of 15kW, as a suitable replacement.

Guest Article by Neil Camp 

Boiler manufacturers Worcester Bosch are one of many manufacturers getting steamed up over a disagreement about boiler energy efficiencies.

Worcester Bosch, like the rest of the UK’s heating industry, have been angered by plans drawn up by the European Commission to instil vigorous new targets on particular boilers. The Commission believes that every boiler up to 70kW must conform to a seasonal energy efficiency target of 75 percent; a target that will be in place by January 2013.

In calculating this target, the Commission used the Ecoboiler interim model, which has been designed to give some power to the Commission’s drive for the design and manufacture of energy efficient boilers. There have been problems already, however. In laboratory testing, best-in-class oil-fired condensing boilers struggled to meet the 75 per cent target in minimum seasonal efficiency levels.

“As it stands, the Ecoboiler model would, overnight, make all of the highly efficient oil-fired condensing boilers, currently available in the UK, obsolete,” says Martyn Bridges, director of the marketing and technical support at Worcester Bosch Group, “In order to comply with the Directive, as it stands, manufacturers would have to fast-track R&D and make significant extra investment which would only increase costs for installers and householders”.

In response to the Commission’s planned demands, the European Heating Industry (EHI) has come up with its own set of ideas. The EHI have suggested an initial boiler-only approach; after this other heating types are added, for example boiler management systems and solar.

Using this approach, the 75 percent target can be achieved and even surpassed, as it combines boiler and room temperature controls.

Martyn Bridges adds: “In effect, there is a stand-off at the moment between the Commission and manufacturers. We, as manufacturers, believe it is possible to deliver the boiler efficiency that the Commission wants but via a different approach.
Boiler management controls can do the job, but until we get a decision on the acceptability of the proposed EHI model, we remain in limbo.”
It is the disagreement over which of these models should be used that has left Worcester Bosch and others in the heating industry waiting and wondering.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

Energy giant is offering three thousand large for Britain’s oldest boiler.

The hometeam at nPower is offering the prize of £3,000 for Britain’s oldest boiler after its engineers discovered numerous ‘antique’ systems during the previous Government’s hugely successful boiler scrappage scheme.

The owner of Britain’s oldest boiler will get the £3,000 as payment towards the cost and installation of a brand new boiler; one that carries the latest “A” rate.

The inspired nPower hometeam are determined to find Britain’s oldest boiler and have started a nationwide hunt.

The head of sales for nPower hometeam, Richard Cotton, said:
“If your boiler is particularly old – perhaps the same age as your grown-up children, or has been in the house longer than you have been married – you could be the owner of Britain’s oldest boiler.”

Although nPower is on the lookout for Britain’s oldest boiler and the scrappage scheme has disappeared, the energy provider is still providing grants – up to the value of £400 for people who qualify under the old scheme criteria – to replace old boilers. The £400 grant represents almost a third of the cost of a typical boiler installation.

nPower understands all too well that there can only be one winner of its Britain’s oldest boiler scheme, but that should not stop people who still have old boilers – “G”, “X”, or unrated – from getting them replaced as a priority.

So householders would do well to check their heating devices, just in case they might quality for the accolade of owning Britain’s oldest boiler and being able to claim £3,000 towards the cost of a new one.

And the likely replacement for Britain’s oldest boiler is a condensing “A” rated boiler; one which is termed ‘high efficiency’ because of its ability to exploit the heat not only from the combustion process, but also the exhaust process. Indeed, building regulations now stipulate that all boiler replacements should, if possible, be “A” rated as regards the SEDBUK tables.

So get down into the cellar now and see if you own Britain’s oldest boiler.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

Two new developments in Bury St Edmunds have, by using a comprehensive Baxi heating and hot water solution, secured Code for Sustainable Homes Level 3 rating.

The Baxi Group heating and hot water solution features renewable solar thermal technology.

The developments belong to the Havebury Housing Partnership and were completed last December. The first, known as Out Westgate, is a £3.7 million development of 30 new affordable dwellings on a brownfield site.

The other development – 26/26a Bloomfield Street – is made up of two ground and first floor flats. They were built for people with learning difficulties.

Both developments have been equipped with Baxi SolarfloT in-roof panels, together with a Santon Premier Plus Solar twin coil, hot water cylinders and a Potterton Promax SL heat only boiler.

This comprehensive Baxi approach is all about providing a low carbon footprint for the two developments. Indeed, Baxi claims that the system generates enough solar power to heat up to 100% of each property’s hot water in the summer and approximately 55% over the year.

James Mann, Architectural Services Manager at Havebury Housing Partnership, said:
“The Baxi SolarfloT panels have proved instrumental in achieving our Code Level 3 goal. They are easy to fit and link up well with the Santon storage cylinders and Potterton boilers to provide a complete system.

“They are also excellent for the environment and, of course, our tenants who can now look forward to substantially reduced heating bills. I’d recommend the Baxi Group approach to any housing association keen to access a single, efficient solution from one supplier which will cut the carbon emissions from their housing stock.”

The Baxi SolarfloT panels absorb heat from the sun which is transferred to a thermal fluid. This fluid then circulates to a solar coil in the base of the Santon hot water cylinder. The water then absorbs the heat and the fluid re-circulates back to the panels.

The boilers, which are used to provide the central heating and additional hot water, are Potterton Promax SLs and are fully modulating according to heat demand to ensure maximum energy efficiency. The Potterton Promax SL is a slim-line boiler which is rated ‘A’ in the SEDBUK scheme. It has a choice of five different outputs.

Guest Article by Neil Camp