Is it time for a new boiler installation? This is a question that we often receive from our customers. In this blog, I’m going to demonstrate how you can look at the numbers to determine whether it’s worth investing in the latest and most energy efficient boiler!
There are two pieces of information to complete this. The first is the quantity of gas in kWh that you consume each year. Your utility company will be able to supply you with this information and it could be listed on your bill for gas.
The second thing you have to consider is determining the efficiency of the boiler you have. It’s a fairly straightforward process if you determine the manufacturer and model number of your boiler.
Near your boiler there is the annual SAP2009 efficiency rating This will provide you with the efficiency score of your boiler.
It might surprise you to find out it is the European Union are still messing about establishing an benchmarking process across Europe to evaluate the effectiveness of boilers. Therefore, we must refer to the SEDBUK ratings for boiler efficiency (which are far more sensible since they are simply A-G instead of having A+ A++, A+, as well as A +++).
The table is located on the right hand side. your boiler ought to be somewhere in that range. Now, when someone talks about replacing a ‘G’ rating boiler, you know exactly what they are talking into consideration.
Do I need to change my boiler right now?
Now that you have how efficient your energy is (both numerals and bandsed letters) and also the use and you are able to do easy math to determine what savings you could make installing an entirely new boiler. I will walk you through a working example that uses the following 3 assumptions:
Annual gas consumption 15,000kWh (slightly less than the average for the nation)
The boiler that was old: the Baxi Combi 80e – D rated at 78.6 percent efficiency
A new boiler has been installed: Baxi Avanta Plus 39c Combi A rated operating at 90.8 percent efficiency
Look below to see how you can see how the numbers compare for you!
Step 1: Determine how much heating units my boiler currently produces each year.
So , my boiler currently in use will transform 15,000 kWh from gas into 11790 units efficient heating (simply done by multiplying the number of units times 0.786).
Step 2: Determine the equivalent number of kWh of propane my brand new boiler will need to consume to generate the same amount of heat that is useful.
11 790 times 0.908 = 12,984 kWh gas.
Step 3: Determine the amount of gas you’re using by installing a new boiler
15,000 minus 12,984 = 2016. kWh or less gas units required
Step 4: Multiply the amount of gas saved by the cost average of gas (4.5p per 1 kWH)
2016 kWh * PS0.045 is PS90.72 per year.
The average cost for a boiler is approximately PS2,500 for purchase, and the lifespan for an average boiler is 12 to 15 years. Even if you replaced this now, you’re only getting a savings of the sum of PS1,088 in 15 years by having it replaced, and based on the consumption of energy.
What would happen if you consumed 27,000kWh of gas , does that justify the cost of changing the boiler?
Old boilers produce 21,222 units of usable heat
The new boiler requires 23,372 kWh of gas in order to create the same amount heat
New boiler helps save 3627 kWh of energy per year.
3627 kWh divided by 0.045 equals PS164.24 per year savings
Remember that an average boiler is PS2500 to replace. Likewise, replacing an existing D-rated boiler with one described above could yield around PS1970.88 in savings for the following 12 years (without including any rises in energy costs over this period). It is now clear the benefits of this worthwhile to consider it!
The problem becomes more evident when you are required to pay a monthly amount to maintain your boiler. If you’re paying PS200 annually to have an engineer to install a plaster over your boiler in order to help it get through another winter, could be an even more attractive option.
The most important thing is to test this calculation yourself to determine whether it’s worth doing.
Hope that this blog can help you to make a decision on whether it’s worthwhile to replace your boiler with a more energy efficient model. Like I said earlier, we did not take into consideration any fuel price increases instance, which means that in the event that gas prices continue to rise at 10% per year then your savings will rise substantially.