The condensing boiler is a highly efficient central heating boiler, it works by extracting more heat from the fuel it uses. The standard old boiler wastes around 35% of its fuel through the boiler flue.
Condensing boilers work at around 90% efficiency which, when you compared that to the old boiler is a big saving on those fuel bills.
Since the 1st? April 2005 building regulations state that any boiler that needs to be replaced must be replaced with a condensing boiler. There were a few exceptions at the beginning but these have now been dropped.
All boilers that are produced for the United Kingdom market are of the condensing type.
So what is the difference between the old standard boiler and the condensing boiler?
The old floor standing boiler normally composed of a heat exchanger that was made of cast iron, a burner, thermal coupling, gas valve and thermostat, and that was the boiler.
When these boilers were working the heat exchanger took some time to heat up before the heat was delivered to the radiators and the hot water tank.
The condensing boiler however works in a completely different way, everything is about saving on those energy bills.
The heat exchanger has been designed to extract around 90% of heat from the fuel. When the boiler is in working mode the heat delivery to the radiators and hot water is so much quicker than the old standard boiler.
When a condensing boiler is working it produces a plume of steam from the flue pipe, you may have notice this when you have been out and about. This indicates the boiler is doing what it was designed for.
If you have never seen this before, don't panic, we once had a customer who had just moved into a new property, switched the heating on, then panicked because she thought the boiler was on fire, this is quite normal.
The condensing boiler is controlled by a printed circuit board, which is like an internal computer. There are many different electronic parts and sensors within the boiler all controlled from the PCB.
These parts sense the way the boiler is working and make adjustments if needed to give the optimum efficiency.
Annual Maintenance
The condensing boiler needs to have regular maintenance, they are not like the old boilers where people never bothered to have them maintained until they stopped working.
These boilers need to be checked at least once a year, one of the main reasons is safety.
The condense they produce is acidic and could leak out. Should a leak happen it could leak carbon monoxide into the room? So an annual checkup is essential for safety.
External Controls
The efficiency rating of these boilers is now at its highest point but you could improve this rating slightly by fitting better external controls.
Smart thermostats when connected to the heating system will help reduce the fuel bills. They work through your home broadband and determine the outside temperature and adjust the boiler accordingly. They have many built in functions and when set up properly will help the boiler work to its optimum efficiency.
Thermostatic control valves when fitted to all radiators will also reduce the running costs. They work by censoring the temperature of the room, once they reach temperature they close off the supply to the radiator, as the temperature drops it reopens.
There are many energy saving controls on the market now to choose from, they are all designed to reduce those fuel bills and save energy.
If you are looking to cut down on those fuel bills, upgrading your home heating with a new high efficient condensing boiler could save you around 30% plus.
