FIrst Time Central Heating
Your home must have either no heating at all or one of the following heating systems:
You could benefit from upgrading this to a more energy efficient system, detailed below is more efficient heating measures;
Install New Radiators and Distribution System
Radiators form part of your wet central heating system. Hot water travels from the boiler into the radiators in each room, and the radiators transmit the heat to the air.
Work involved
Radiators should be fitted by a professional plumber or heating engineer, and a complete set of new radiators is a fairly major task. Radiators need some maintenance over time, but you may be able to do this yourself.
Comfort
Central heating with radiators is a good, reliable way to keep your home warm. Ideally, you should have a thermostatic control in every room so you can ensure the temperature is right.
Payback
Installing pipework and radiators throughout your home will be a substantial piece of work for a qualified plumber. If you are having a central heating system installed then the radiators and pipework required to connect them to the boiler may cost in the region of £2,000.
Practicalities
Radiators come with a range of heat outputs – you need to choose the size that’s right for each room. A heating engineer can help with this. The calculation depends on the size of the rooms and windows, whether you have double glazing and the types of walls, flooring and insulation. When fitting new radiators, it is wise to invest in thermostats on each one for more precise control.
The appearance of your home
Radiators now come in a range of shapes, sizes, colors and styles. You can even choose a “designer radiator” to match your interior design! When installing new radiators think about the most space-efficient place to put them to reduce their visual impact.
Why not also consider…
Don’t forget to make sure you have good controls for your central heating system, including a thermostatic valve on each radiator. You could also consider floor insulation, especially if you are going to take the floor up anyway to fit the pipework.
Install a Gas Condensing Boiler
Boilers account for around 55% of what you spend in a year on energy bills, so an efficient boiler makes a big difference. A condensing boiler is more efficient than an old-fashioned non-condensing one because it recovers more heat and sends cooler gases up the flue. A standard boiler is one that has a separate hot water cylinder (unlike a combi boiler). You might choose a standard boiler if you need to use a lot of hot water.
Work involved
Standard boilers are relatively easy to replace in old-fashioned heating systems without too many pipe-work changes. However, they take up more space than a combi boiler would, due to the separate hot water cylinder.
Comfort
Because a standard boiler has a large tank of stored hot water, you can use several taps at once, and these boilers are suitable for larger houses with higher hot water demand. However, the amount of hot water you can use is still limited by the size of your cylinder. For instance you might run a bath, then need to wait for the boiler to heat up the water in the cylinder again before you can run another.
Payback
The costs for replacing a boiler will vary, but a straightforward gas boiler replacement will typically cost around £2,300. The amount you could save depends on how old and inefficient your existing boiler is. A typical household (gas-heated 3 bed semi) could save around £300 per year by upgrading from a G rated boiler, to an A-rated condensing boiler with a full set of heating controls.
Practicalities
The installer must be Gas Safe registered. Your registered installer will ensure that your system complies with Building Regulations and will make sure you get all the documentation to prove this. Keep these documents safe – you will need them if you sell the property. Other types of efficient boiler are also available, including a gas combi condensing boiler. If you need to replace your boiler anyway, it is a very good idea to get the most efficient boiler you can. However, even if your old boiler does not immediately need replacing, this may still be a good option.
The appearance of your home
A standard boiler will take up more space than a combi boiler.
Why not also consider…
Another option to consider alongside a new boiler is to improve your heating controls. The right controls will let you set your heating and hot water to come on and off when you need them, heat just the areas of your home you want, and decide how warm you want each area to be. You could also consider buying an efficient hot water cylinder. These come already highly insulated and ready to be installed. Upgrading your hot water cylinder can save you around £45 a year. Other types of efficient boiler are also available, including a gas combi condensing boiler.
Install a Heat Pump
A heat pump captures heat from outside and moves it into your home. It uses electricity to do this, but the heat energy delivered to your home is more than the electrical energy used to power the system.
Electricity is becoming increasingly low carbon, as more renewable sources are connected to the electricity grid, replacing existing gas and coal power stations. This makes a heat pump an extremely low carbon heating option, and increasingly so as our electricity grid further decarbonises.
Heat pumps are suitable for many homes and may also reduce your energy bills, depending on the system you are replacing.
Tens of thousands of heat pumps have already been installed across the UK, and over 1.5 million heat pumps were installed across Europe in 2020 alone. The UK Government expects that millions of heat pumps will need to be installed in homes over the next 10-15 years to meet our net zero targets.
Chat with our advisors to find out more.