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A new boiler is likely to be one of the most expensive household purchases that any homeowner will make. So, it’s important to make sure that you choose a reliable brand of boiler that is suitable for your home and within your budget. The good news is that getting rid of an old boiler and replacing it with a new, modern condensing boiler can improve the energy efficiency of your home’s central heating system by at least 30%, enabling you to save a great deal of money on your heating bills.
What Type of Boiler Do You Need?
When purchasing a new boiler, the first question to ask is, which type of boiler is best for your household? Generally speaking, there are three types of boilers to choose from – combi, system, and conventional boilers. Most UK households have a gas heating system and a gas boiler, however, there is an average of 4 million households not connected to the gas network in the UK, in which case you will need to find an alternative option. Oil boilers, wood-burning stoves with back boilers, and LPG boilers are some common alternative options.
If you have a gas heating system, your options include:
Combi boiler: This is the most common and often the most efficient type of boiler, which provides heat on demand for hot water and radiators.
Conventional boiler: Also known as a heat-only boiler, these boilers come with a large cold-water feed tank and a hot water storage cylinder. Typically, they are stored in the loft.
System boiler: These boilers work in a similar way to heat-only boilers but without the cold-water storage tank.
Boiler Efficiency
When choosing a new boiler, it’s important to consider how efficiently it is going to run. If your home has a gas central heating system, the boiler accounts for a huge 60%, on average, of your home’s CO2 emissions, which is why your choice of boiler is very important if you want to reduce your carbon footprint and cut down your energy bills.
Replacing an oil fashioned, non-condensing boiler such as a back boiler with a modern combi-boiler can boost efficiency by around one-third, and you’ll enjoy much smaller energy bills. However, choosing the right type and size of boiler for your home is key to ensuring maximum efficiency.
Choosing the Boiler Size
Choosing the right size boiler is essential for efficiency and comfort, so it’s worth checking reliable boiler size guidelines to understand what output your home actually needs. This can help you avoid overspending on a unit that’s too large or struggling with one that’s too small.
Boiler sizing includes both the heating and hot water storage capabilities of the boiler, if applicable, and the physical size of the boiler itself and whether it is going to fit into the designated space in your home. The size of the boiler that you choose will depend on your unique home requirements, including a number of factors such as the size of your home, whether or not you have a suitable loft space, how many bathrooms you have, and how many people you live with. You can use Boiler Central to help you determine the right size of boiler for your home; read their article on new boilers and determine which new boilers are going to be the best options for you with a handy finder quiz that makes suggestions to you based on some answers to simple questions about your home and household.
Heating Controls
Boilers have improved massively in recent years, and we’ve also seen a lot of advancement when it comes to boiler controls. Instead of a traditional, single thermostat, modern boilers offer intelligent zoning controls that enable you to set different temperatures in different rooms of your home and avoid heat empty rooms by setting timers. Some boilers are also compatible with apps like Hive where you can control and monitor your energy usage using your smartphone.
It might also be worth looking into getting a boiler that includes weather compensation controls, which can often boost the efficiency of a condensing boiler system by up to 15%. This comes in the form of a small sensor that is fitted to the outside of your building, which tells the boiler when to increase or decrease the temperature of the central heating system based on the temperature outside. Weather compensation controls can be fitted on any property as long as the boiler’s operating gradient is set correctly. You will typically get better results with this system if your home is well insulated.
Getting the Right Boiler for Your Budget
A new boiler is likely to be the single biggest expense you will have as a homeowner, so it makes sense to set a firm budget before you begin and ensure that you get the best boiler for you at the right price. Spend some time shopping around, reading reviews, and comparing different boiler options to determine which one is likely to be the best fit for your home before you decide. It’s also worth considering the installation cost; if you already have a combi boiler and want to upgrade to a new one, installation may not be as pricey as replacing an old back boiler with a combi boiler, for example. Get some quotes for the installation of various types of boilers to determine which is the best option for your price range when calculated together.
Determining the boiler replacement cost and other expenses will certainly narrow down your options when you’re looking for a boiler. Some boilers are more expensive than others, and it’s very easy to overspend on a boiler replacement. That’s why you should do your homework before going out to buy one.
A new boiler is likely to be the single biggest expense you will have as a homeowner, so it makes sense to set a firm budget before you begin and ensure that you get the best boiler for you at the right price. Spend some time shopping around, reading reviews, and comparing different boiler options to determine which one is likely to be the best fit for your home before you decide. It’s also worth considering the installation cost; if you already have a combi boiler and want to upgrade to a new one, installation may not be as pricey as replacing an old back boiler with a combi boiler, for example. Get some quotes for the installation of various types of boilers to determine which is the best option for your price range when calculated together.
Remember that paying top-of-the-range prices for a new boiler does not always guarantee the best reliability and dependability, which are two of the most important factors to consider when looking for a new boiler. In some cases, cheaper boiler brands can run just as well if not even better than some of the more expensive options out there, which is why it’s important to read reviews and do your own research. Your gas engineer can be a very useful source of information but bear in mind that many gas engineers are paid to promote certain boiler brands, so you might not be getting a completely unbiased viewpoint from them if this is the case.
There are many factors to consider when choosing a new boiler for your home, and with this expense being one of the greatest for many homeowners, it’s important to fully weigh up your options and invest money in the boiler that works best for your home.
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