Post written by Allen Scott: With winter temperatures in the northern hemisphere easily dropping to freezing levels, it is crucial for homes, offices, and any kind of building to have solid heating solutions to keep the place hospitable. In the past, people relied on in-door furnaces and even steam boilers to keep warm. Today, we have newer and more efficient ways. While wooden furnaces and steam boilers are still good solutions, they are expensive to both operate and maintain. Since they are falling out of popularity these days, if you had one and it was to break down, it would cost quite a bit to get it fixed. If you want to save on a repair bill and you want to reduce your energy expenditure, you should look into these modern boilers.
1. Standard Boilers
If you live in an older house, chances are that you are using a standard boiler. These generally use oil, gas, or coal and are quite good at what they do but they aren’t very efficient. If you have a very good boiler you might be getting around 50% efficiency, but with age, this number does tend to fall. The other problem is that these are difficult to upgrade as the entire plumbing is designed specifically for that kind of boiler. However, you can still upgrade to a modern standard boiler which will give you a higher efficiency of around 70%-80%. These boilers only heat water for heating the radiators in the home and have a basic design with separate hot and cold water tanks.
2. System Boilers
System boilers try to reduce the moving parts in a standard boiler and they incorporate a lot of the machinery within a single unit. With standard boilers, you will have pumps, valves, and many other little bits and pieces. For effective operation, you will need a boiler fitting and installation guide to install everything correctly. In fact, most people can’t even do it themselves because it can be a lot of work and can get quite technical depending on the type of plumbing in your house. On the other hand, a system boiler is just one unit. When you bring it home, you only need to connect the hot and cold water pipes, plug in the fuel source and you are good to go. Repairing system boilers are a little more complicated adjustments because you have to open up the entire unit to diagnose the problem and reach the faulty parts.
3. Combi Boilers
This is a slightly more modern innovation and the main change from the regular boiler is that it is able to provide both heat and hot water. This way, you don’t need an extra water heater and you are able to use residual heat to heat your water. This significantly reduces the expenses of getting hot water. Also, you have fewer water pump problems since the system uses gravity and water pressure to carry the water around the house, much like a water heater. If you have a multi-story house or the boiler is installed in the basement then you might still need a pump. These can be slightly more expensive but they save you money on fuel and you don’t need a separate water heater.
While in the process of purchasing a boiler, consider how expensive its maintenance will be in relation to the efficiency and comfort it will bring into your life. Also, consider whether this will be something that you can install and repair yourself or if you will need help whenever it breaks down. Boilers often last decades, so it actually costs far more to run them than it does to buy them.
By investing in a high-quality boiler, you can save yourself from high long-term costs just by investing a little bit more upfront. Also, the safety of these devices is very important. They operate at high temperatures and high pressures; to keep your family and yourself safe, you should opt for the safest option out there.
Maintaining the lifespan and efficiency of your boiler
After spending out on a new boiler and installation, it’s essential to ensure that you get the best performance from it for years to come to reap the benefits. Having your boiler serviced annually by an accredited company is a must to help avoid costly repair bills, check it’s performing efficiently and keep up with the warranty, especially as some brands cover you for more than 10 years. Another good tip if you live in a hard water area is to install a non-electric water softener. Using a softener will remove the minerals in the water that causes limescale to build up in your heating system, as this can significantly impact the efficiency and lifespan of a boiler. To put this in perspective, just 1.6mm of limescale build-up can reduce the efficiency of your heating system by up to 12%. With energy costs rising all the time, it makes sense to protect your investment.