Install a new condensing boiler and solar system for massive energy savings

Gas Condensing Boilers

Install a highly efficient top of the range gas condensing boilers to work in conjunction with your solar energy system and you can substantially reduce your energy bills.
High efficiency condensing boilers convert more than 90% of their fuel into heat, compared to 78% for conventional types and 40% to 45% for older boilers. This highly efficient rating will achieve an “A” for efficiency on the Sedbuck Rating Chart.

What are condensing boilers?

Condensing boilers are the most energy efficient Central Heating boilers on the market today. They achieve this high level of efficiency by removing the heat from the fuel it is burning and also cooling the products of combustion, which are normally wasted up the flue, so much so that the water vapour in them turns into liquid. This happens at around 55°C. For a boiler to cool the flue products this much, it has to have a larger, more efficient heat exchanger than traditional boilers. Condensing boilers get their name because they enter what is called “condensing mode” periodically. In other words, they start to extract heat from the exhaust gases that would otherwise escape through the flue, in the process turning water vapour from the gas back into liquid water or condensate.

“One fact that all experts agree on and has been repeated time and time again is that it is always beneficial from an energy saving point of view to fit a condensing boiler”.

Condensing boilers have been widely used on the continent and in North America since the early eighties, but in the UK condensing boilers still represent a small percentage of total boiler sales. Two key issues have been responsible for the delay and are now outdated thinking or myths, resulting in the British consumer paying more for their winter fuel than their European and North American counterparts.

• Boiler Cost
• Lack of awareness and the fear of new technology

High boiler cost

Condensing boilers used to be seen as nice to have but expensive, payback periods and lower running costs were favorable but the price difference has been just too great. So to-date condensing boilers still represent a small proportion of UK boiler sales. However as with all things new the cost of technology reduces over time, the benefits of installing a condensing boiler are now greater than ever. And costs have reduced dramatically. This cost difference is significantly lower than what was available in the past and the savings in fuel running cost will be far more beneficial in longer term.

Lack of awareness and the fear of new technology

Once again time has reduced this barrier to condensing boiler sales. Yet there are still a number of myths about gas condensing boilers, the following attempts to address these issues:

1. Condensing boilers are suitable for replacing most existing boilers, floor standing and wall-hung units are available with extended fluing options if required.
2. Finding a location and installing a condensing boiler is no different to a conventional boiler, the only difference in installation is the requirement for a condensate drain, and consideration of plumbing.
3. They are available as regular or combination boilers and are as easy to install as non-condensing boilers. No changes to the system design are necessary; they can be installed in fully pumped heating systems without the need for any special designs.
4. The system does not need to be designed to condense to achieve the improved efficiency; typically a condensing boiler would have a seasonal efficiency of between 83% and 92% compared with a new non-condensing boiler at 75% and an older boiler type at 55-60.
5. It is not necessary to install oversized radiators, to give a worthwhile efficiency gain.
6. No change should be made to the installation of Condensing boilers when installed as a replacement to an existing system.
7. It is not necessary to install oversized radiators, to give a worthwhile efficiency gain.

Save up to 45% on your heating bills by replacing your boiler and heating controls and combining with a solar thermal hot water system.

Did you know?

If everyone in the UK with gas or oil central heating installed a high efficiency condensing boiler with full sets of heating controls, we would save enough energy to heat nearly 1.9 million homes for a whole year and save around 6.7 million tonnes of CO2.