55% of what you spend every year on energy bills, is due to your boiler. Replacing your boiler with a new energy efficient boiler will save you a significant amount of money.
How will a new boiler save me money?
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 larger 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), and even more energy is recovered from the condensing vapour.
What should I consider when replacing my boiler?
To find out which type of boiler is right for you, consider the below factors.
1. Fuel type
If you have mains gas, a gas boiler is usually the cheapest heating system. If you don’t have a gas supply to your home, you can look into getting a gas connection. You should find out which company operates the gas network as they may be able to help with the cost of getting a new connection, and it may even be fully funded. Contact them for more information.
2. Boiler type
Most old gas and oil boilers are regular boilers which use a separate hot water cylinder to store hot water, rather than providing it directly from the boiler. When you replace your boiler you can buy a new regular boiler, and keep your hot water cylinder, or buy a combi boiler that doesn’t need a cylinder.
A regular boiler is more efficient than a combi at producing hot water in the first place, but then some heat is lost from the hot water cylinder, so a combi may be more efficient overall.
3. Your hot water usage
If you have a large family and use a lot of hot water you are likely to be better off with a regular boiler, whereas smaller families using less may be better off with a combi boiler.
4. Space in your home
Combi boilers don’t need hot water cylinders, and so require less space in your home. They are therefore more suitable for smaller homes. A regular boiler could be more suited to larger homes.