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Replacing your boiler
Boilers account for around 60% of what you spend in a year on energy bills, so an efficient boiler makes a big difference.
Replacing an old gas boiler with an A-rated high-efficiency condensing boiler and improving your heating controls will significantly cut your home's carbon dioxide emissions - and could save you as much as £300 a year.
Why are new boilers more efficient?
Modern boilers are more efficient for several reasons, but their main advantage is that they are all condensing boilers. All well-maintained boilers burn their fuel very efficiently, but they inevitably lose some heat in the hot gases that escape up the flue. A condensing boiler has a bigger heat exchanger, so it recovers more heat, sends cooler gases up the flue and is more efficient.
Sometimes the flue gases get so cool that the water vapour in the gas condenses out (hence the name). When this happens, even more energy is recovered from the condensing vapour, and the efficiency gets higher still.
Installing a new boiler
If it is time to change your boiler, then the first thing is to decide what type of boiler you need.
There are three types of boiler Combi boiler, regular boiler and system boiler. Combi boilers provide heating and hot water directly from the boiler. Regular and system boilers heat your central heating system directly and produce hot water for your cylinder.
Which type of boiler best suits me?
There are 3 different types of boiler:
- Combi boiler (or ‘combination’ boiler)
- Regular boiler (often also referred to as a ‘traditional’ or ‘conventional’ boiler)
- System boiler
Combi boilers provide heating and hot water directly from the boiler. Regular and system boilers heat your central heating system directly and produce hot water for your cylinder.
It is important to choose the best boiler to suit your needs and your property type.
Why choose a combi (combination) boiler?
A combi boiler is both a high-efficiency water heater and a central heating boiler, combined (hence the name) in one. You do not need a separate hot water cylinder. You don’t have to wait for the hot water to heat up in the cylinder. A combi boiler is also very suited if you have limited space in the property. Hot water also comes through your hot water tap at the same speed as your cold water. It also takes less time to install! The water is heated on demand instead of storing hot water which can sometimes be wasted.
Why choose a regular boiler?
A Regular boiler is also referred to as a ‘traditional’ or ‘conventional’ boiler. The system includes a boiler, controls and a a hot water cylinder which is normally supplied by a cold water storage cistern located in your loft space. The system also has a feed and expansion cistern in the loft.
The water from the tanks in the loft sends cold water down to the cylinder which is normally located in the airing cupboard. The condensing boiler will heat the water in the cylinder and your pump will circulate the hot water around the pipes and in turn heat the radiators. The system will also have an electric immersion for backup. There are some disadvantages to having this type of boiler it does take time to heat the water in your cylinder and more space is required for this type of system.
Why choose a system boiler?
 
A system boiler heats your central heating system directly and produces hot water for your cylinder. You can have an open vented hot water cylinder or a pressurised unvented hot water cylinder.
Some of the individual components of the heating and hot water system are built into a system boiler and the hot water is pumped from the system boiler through the heating system to the radiators and hot water cylinder. There is no need for a feed and expansion cistern.
There are grants and offers available to help pay for Central Heating including a £400 boiler scrappage allowance. Call us free from a landline on 0800 043 9569 or from a mobile on 0333 577 9569 (calls charged the same as 01,02 numbers and included in bundle minutes) where we will be happy to help.
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