High Efficiency Replacement Boilers

High efficiency boilers
If you have an existing gas or oil-fired boiler that is a few years old, then the chances are that it’s not as efficient as it could be, and a new direct replacement boiler may therefore be well worth considering.

Despite the increase in the cost of fossil fuels over the past few years, swapping to a modern high-efficiency condensing boiler is often the single most cost-effective heating solution for most home owners today.

Within your boiler, the gas or oil is burnt to generate heat, and in older boilers some of this heat is wasted as very hot gases are released straight into the atmosphere from the flue. Modern condensing boilers recover some of this waste heat and then use it to pre-heat the water going through the boiler, making them 92% efficient or more - conventional boilers by comparison being around 78% efficient, with older models sometimes even as low as 55-65%.

Boiler efficiency explained
Imagine for a moment that one unit of fuel potentially contains enough energy to heat your home for an hour, then burning that fuel in a boiler that is 100% efficient would then heat your home for an hour.

Burning that unit of fuel in a boiler that is 90% efficient would only give you enough to heat your home for 54 minutes, an if the boiler was 60% efficient you’d only get 34 minutes of heating per unit

So, the lower the efficiency of your boiler, the more units of fuel you need to burn in order to keep your home at the right temperature

Boiler controls
A modern condensing boiler is the major factor in your high efficiency battle, however proper controls will also be required in order to maximise things and keep the boiler in its optimum condensing mode. As a result UK building regulations now require a minimum standard of heating controls consisting of the following;

• Programmer – to adjust the heating so that it switches on/off through the day to suit your needs.

• Room Thermostat – to sense the internal space temperature and keep it at your preferred level.

• Thermostatic radiator valves – to allow other rooms such as bedrooms to be reduced individually in temperature for a more comfortable and living environment.

Please note though, that these are the minimum requirement for controls, and we ideally recommend weather compensation controls for our installations as these will add another 4-5% to your system efficiency as well as offering you improved comfort levels within your home.

Increased efficiency results in ££££-savings – please contact us today to see if we can save you money!