A new boiler for winter: sensible investment or waste of money?

As the cold winter months approach, you may be thinking about how you are going to keep warm in the low temperatures. After a summer that has seen relatively little sunshine, we in the UK are well aware of the issue of keeping warm and in many homes it is a worrying problem.

The simple fact is that with the current price hikes in energy, heating the home is expensive. From boiler costs to running the central heating on a daily basis, it is difficult to cut costs and make keeping warm more affordable.

The issue becomes even more of a bother when your boiler seems to be playing up. If you don’t have boiler insurance, replacing your boiler is going to be costly. In these economic times, it is a cost we could all do without. A broken boiler in winter is never a good thing, and if it seems your boiler is on its last legs, it may be time to purchase a new one.

To buy or not to buy?

But don’t splash out on a new boiler straight away. There are a number of elements to be considered, and quite frankly if you can avoid buying a new boiler, you should.

First things first: check with your central heating provider that you are not financially covered for boiler damages. Many include boiler insurance as standard. If not, you should at least check what special deals they have available to you as an existing customer. This is often the cheapest way in which to find a new boiler. They have none? Switch to a new provider today.

It is also worth checking to see if your current boiler can be fixed. If the problems with it are only minor, it is probably still in working condition. Repairs are a great option for when you are looking to save money, and this option should be explored before boiler replacement is pursued. You may even be willing to accept a minority of problems if it will save you the cost of purchasing a new boiler.

In some cases it may be that your boiler truly is kaput. In these circumstances, you will need to buy a new boiler in time for the winter. It is set to be a cold one, and you and your family will freeze without the use of central heating. Try your best to find a deal with your current energy supplier and have it replaced as soon as possible. This is a necessary investment that will pay off during the cold months.

Where to find a new boiler

If your current energy provider isn’t willing to offer a discounted boiler, your next action should be to look online. A number of Internet suppliers offer boilers at low prices, and will complete the installation process for you. Always choose a retailer you know you can trust, and watch out for hidden charges such as labour and transport.

Guest Article by Connor Sephton

In the past the majority of UK homes would have had their hot water supplied by an open vent boiler.

This type of boiler relies on the household having two water tanks in the loft and a hot water storage cylinder in the airing cupboard. The principle of the boiler is to provide hot water and central heating using a heat only boiler and cold water using the cold water tank located in the loft.

The main advantage of these types of boiler systems is that they allow you to have access to hot water all over your house at once. Therefore, you can have taps running as well as radiators being heated and you shouldn’t experience any drop in water pressure even though they are working simultaneously. The systems can also be very economical in relation to their running costs due to the fast response nature of the hot water being pumped around the system.

Also, if your home already uses an open vent system boiler and it needs to be replaced or updated, installation costs will be low because the upgrade should only require a replacement of the boiler with a newer and more efficient model. This therefore means greater convenience for the household as installing a replacement boiler is easier and quicker than installing another type of boiler system.

However, there are some disadvantages associated with this type of boiler. Many people see the space requirements needed by the water tanks in the loft and the hot water cylinder in the airing cupboard as inconvenient and a waste of space. There is also the fact that once you have used all the hot water in the water tank that you will need to reheat the water by using an immersion switch and this will take time for hot water to become available again. Also, if you want to install this type of boiler in a house that previously didn’t have this system it will be expensive as the plumbing costs associated are higher due to the greater complexity of installation.

With the recent growth in installation of combination boilers within households it has felt like the open vent system boiler was being pushed out the market, especially as combination boilers have been promoted as the most energy efficient and most practical boiler solution for the future. However, with the advancements in technology there is still a place for open vent system boilers as these systems have been made are much more energy efficient than they were in the past.

It should be noted that open vent system boilers can also be green because they work well when powered by renewable energy sources such as solar panels; and it is felt that the control systems on open vent boilers used in conjunction with how renewable energy is set-up happens to be more accurate and therefore more cost efficient.

Guest Article by Sarah Wain

Many large house builders are now leading the way in creating sustainable homes but it’s not impossible to incorporate some of those features into your own home making it more energy efficient and saving you money on your energy bills.

An entire retrofit of your home at first may seem daunting but by making your home more energy efficient you can expect a realistic target energy saving of between 50 and 70 percent in the coming years. Fitting a new efficient boiler plus floor and roof insulation, a solar hot water system, ground source heat pumps, a heat recovery system, photovoltaic solar panels as well as a rainwater harvesting system can seriously reduce your home’s environmental impact and save you money. You may have seen projects undertaken by house builders to showcase these retrofits but, with planning and shopping around, you could undertake many of these projects yourself.

Firstly, do I need a new boiler you ask? Well many boilers in the UK operate at only 75% or even 50% efficiency meaning that half the energy they use is wasted. Installing a Band A high efficiency boiler will significantly reduce your household energy bills and your carbon dioxide emissions. Look out for systems which re-use flue gasses giving you further savings. These are called ‘Gas Savers’ and are best fitted alongside the installation of a new boiler. Invented back in 2002 these ingenious devices capture escaped heat, using it to pre-heat the water entering the boiler which in turn reduces even more the amount of gas required by the boiler to do it’s job. The initial cost of these top boxes are not usually covered under any grant scheme but the savings it generates means that within a few years the full cost of the unit can be recovered.

So check today what type of boiler rating you have and whether it makes sense to upgrade your boiler for a more efficient one. SEDBUK, or the Seasonal Efficiency of Domestic Boilers in the UK, is the rating system used and is expressed as a percentage.

Band A  90% and above
Band B  86% – 90%
Band C  82% – 86%
Band D  78% – 82%
Band E  74% – 78%
Band F  70% – 74%
Band G  Below 70%

The recent Boiler Scrappage Scheme saw many of the older G rated boilers upgraded so if your boiler is over 15 years old then it is most likely in need of replacement. The Energy Saving Trust can help you in choosing a more energy efficient boiler. You could save yourself up to £300 annually but be sure to make sure that you have made your home as insulated as possible as well. In my next blog about our energy efficiency retrofit I shall look at how you can insulate your home.

Guest Article by Caz Williams

Buying an energy efficient new boiler is an important decision. Heating accounts for about 60% of the average UK household’s energy bills. A gas boiler can also cost thousands to buy and install and last around 12 years, which is quite a commitment.

Do I really need to buy a new boiler?

If you own an old G-rated boiler it could be costing you up to £225 more a year to heat your home than if you installed an A-rated condensing gas boiler. To put this into perspective a G-rated unit is usually less than 70% efficient at converting energy into heat, where as an A-rated boiler is over 90% efficient, that’s at least a difference of 20% in efficiency! Even if you have a D-rated unit you can still save around £65 per year and cut your carbon emissions to do your bit for the environment.

When considering the cost of buying and installing a new boiler you have to take a few things into account. The type of boiler, how it will be installed and associated remedial work will all have a heavy impact on the price. In this instance get a couple of quotes, for example,  British Gas offer free quotes and a qualified heating adviser will visit your home and tell you exactly what system you need and how much it will cost.

Before you get a couple of quotes it’s important to have a general idea about various types of boiler available and which one may be suitable for you. As of 2005 all installed new boilers must be high energy efficient A-rated condensing boilers, unless it is too difficult or expensive to do so.

What’s so good about condensing boilers?

Condensers have what is known as a condensing mode whereby they can actually extract water vapour which normally escapes from older less efficient boilers and change it back into water, this is called condensate. This use of latent heat makes them around 12% more efficient than non-condensing boilers and much more energy efficient than old G-rated boilers.

Two types of condensing boilers

Currently there are two types of condensing boilers. A combi boiler provides heat for your radiators and instant hot water. These units are often used in smaller households where hot water requirements are less. Open vented or system boilers also provide hot water to radiators but need a hot water tank to store it for later use.

System vs combi boilers

System boilers use large tanks, this is useful if you need hot water for multiple taps at the same time. They are also relatively easy to install if you already have a system boiler. Combi boilers on the other hand don’t use a separate tank so less space is needed and you don’t need a timer to pre-heat. However, a combi boiler cannot deliver hot water to multiple taps at the same time, which is not ideal for large families.

Whenever you get a new boiler installed it is very important the installation engineer is fully qualified. The previous official body for gas safety in the UK was Corgi. Now all boiler installers by law have to be registered with Gas Safe.

Guest Article by Louise Goldstein

Producing new boilers is the main occupation of manufacturers Baxi and Worcester-Bosch, but both companies like to express their opinions as to Government initiatives and plans regarding the heating industry.

But both put thoughts of new boilers to one side for a moment as they responded to the Government’s recent publication of its Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) policy document. This sets out how the £860 million ear marked within the scheme will be spent and allocated over the next few years. The aim is to provide financial support, for the long term, for renewable heat installations and this, believes the Government, will further encourage the greater uptake of the technology.

Baxi has, in their words, “…broadly welcomed…” the policy document.

Simon Osborne, the company’s Specification Channel Manager, said:
“We are encouraged by the main thrust of the RHI documentation. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has clearly learnt the important lessons from the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) framework and created an approach which will ensure technologies can be assessed in real life installations. The £15m funding could create around 25,000 installations under the Renewable Heat Premium Payments which will demonstrate the benefits renewable heat can deliver by 2015.”

Mr Osborne continued:
“However, there is still clarity needed on key areas. We are disappointed that the definitive tariff levels for the domestic sector have not been revealed and we look forward to the publication of this information in May 2011. We also need detail on how dwellings will be assessed as eligible and whether the RHI tariff will be metered or deemed.

“On the plus side, we are pleased to see that a clear link between RHI and the Green Deal has been expressed. Whilst there is a delay with implementation, the Government has honoured the commitment that installations completed after 15th July 2009 will be eligible for payments from 2012.”

The RHI Policy Document says that until October, 2012 a full system of payments will not be in place, but until that time, up to 25,000 household installations will have a quarter of the budget guaranteed.

The people at Worcester, Bosch – one of the largest manufacturers of new boilers – were a little less enthusiastic about the document, saying that it had created more questions that it had answered.

Head of Government and External Affairs at Worcester, Bosch Group, Neil Schofield, said:
“We welcome any initiative that attempts to bring the benefits of renewable heat generation to greater numbers of people, but today’s announcement focuses very firmly on the industrial, commercial and public sectors. There are a number of questions yet to be answered for the domestic sector which leaves the picture confused.”

He went on to say that:
“The fact that mainstream households will not be able to access RHI until October 2012 has led the Government to try and bridge the gap with the RHI Premium Payment, but we will not get details on this until May 2011. My take on it is that there is going to be some sort of grant subsidy made available for those who want to install now.

“In particular, the information on payments is vague as is the criteria by which a property will be deemed to be of sufficient standard to qualify for the RHI. My suspicion is that it will be Band D properties and above, but we need more information.”

New boilers production will continue whatever the questions being raised, but it appears that the Renewable Heat Incentive has a few hurdles to jump through yet.

Guest Article by Neil Camp