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Heating and Hot Water: Saving Energy At Home

Installing a high-efficiency condensing boiler could save you hundreds of pounds per year on your heating bills*. Having an energy efficient boiler, combined with correctly set heating controls and insulated hardware, is a must if you want to significantly reduce your heating bills and greenhouse gas emissions.

Installing a high-efficiency condensing boiler could save you hundreds of pounds per year on your heating bills*. Having an energy efficient boiler, combined with correctly set heating controls and insulated hardware, is a must if you want to significantly reduce your heating bills and greenhouse gas emissions.

Energy Saving Condensing Boilers

Modern condensing boilers are the most energy efficient, widely available boilers available for home heating and hot water. An A-rated boiler is often 90% efficient, compared with the 78% efficiency of standard, modern boilers*. Home appliances are rated from A-G for their energy efficiency. An A-rating is the highest rating possible at present.

How Condensing Boilers Work

Condensing boilers work by retaining and reusing as much heat as possible. This heat is usually lost to the atmosphere outside the house. As a result of this process, the gasses released from the flue into the atmosphere emerge at a temperature of 50-60 degrees Celsius, as opposed to 120-180 degrees Celsius with a standard boiler*.

Save Energy And Money With A Condensing Boiler

Replacing your old boiler with a high-efficiency condensing boiler, with heat controls, can save you a third on your heating bills*. This also translates into a saving of a third of the greenhouse gas emissions that result from heating your home.

If your boiler resides in your kitchen, and you are thinking of replacing your kitchen, you may want to consider replacing the boiler at the same time, to save you money and further disruption.

Condensing boilers are available that operate using gas or oil as a fuel. Ensure that your boiler is installed by a qualified engineer. Gas-fired boilers should be installed by a CORGI registered engineer. Oil fired boilers are regulated by OFTEC.

Heating Controls

Heating controls are also important parts of your heating system. They allow you to control the temperature of your home and hot water, as well as the times of the day and night when you want the heating and hot water to be switched on. These controls are often computerised, allowing complete control over the amount of energy your boiler uses. Remember that reducing the temperature of your home by 1 degree Celsius on the thermostat can reduce your energy consumption by 10%*.

Water Tank And Pipe Insulation

Giving your hot water tank a nice thick jacket will help keep your hot water warm for much longer. This can, in turn, save over 75% of the energy you use to heat your hot water*. If you already have a jacket installed, consider buying a newer, thicker jacket for greater insulation. They are very cheap to buy and pay for themselves in months.

Pipe insulation, otherwise known as 'lagging', is another very cheap and easy way to save energy. Insulating your hot water pipes prevents heat from escaping as the hot water travels around your house.

Fitting insulating jackets on your water tank and insulating your hot water pipes will probably cost you less than £20 in total*, is a simple DIY job and will pay for itself in energy savings in a very short space of time. This is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions.

* Source: The Energy Saving Trust - www.energysavingtrust.org.uk