High efficiency condensing gas/oil boilers
Condensing boilers take their names from the process they go into during operation.
What makes them different from regular boilers is that they also extract heat from the
exhaust gases which would normally be given to the atmosphere.
Through addition of a second heat exchanger in the boiler, returning cooler
water is used to condensate
the water vapour in the waste gas stream.
The temperature of a waste gas is about 150o – 200o C which
means a great loss of energy to the atmosphere.
By cooling down this gas you can gain back the energy lost to the atmosphere.
The water vapour in the waste gas contains 8% of the total fuel energy and
re-gaining this amount is quite a reasonable action.
Thus, you can get more heat from unit amount of fuel.
This will eventually lead to reductions in your fuel bills and also your
carbon dioxide emission will be lower
and so do your contribution to global warming.
In short, high efficiency condensing boilers are cost
effective and greener heating devices for your house.
What does “high efficiency” mean?
Thermal efficiency of a thermal device is the ratio of the amount of energy output to the amount of energy input.
In other words, efficiency of a thermal device, i.e. a boiler, a furnace, etc., means what percent of the energy
in the fuel is converted to heat. In a less technical definition:
Efficiency is the ratio of what you get to what you pay for.
A high efficiency boiler means that you can get most of the energy in the fuel.
In laboratory conditions high efficiency condensing boilers have efficiencies up to 98%.
And actually you can expect about 90% efficiency when compared to old-boilers having efficiencies about 70%,
and sometimes as low as 50-55%.
As a simple guide to efficiency, boilers are labelled with an efficiency band from “A” to “G”. While A level means more than 90% efficiency, G level means less than 70 % efficiency. High efficiency condensing boilers are in the A band.
If they are so useful why aren’t they so common?
Because of the “myths”! With improving technology and expertise, high efficiency condensing oil/gas boilers are becoming more and more common and hopefully they will be installed more as people learn the facts about them.
What prevent people from installing condensing boilers are the misconceptions about them.
The most common ones are:
1. They are very expensive when compared to typical boilers.
False! They were more expensive than the regular boilers in the past because of material costs.
However, just like all improving technologies condensing boilers are getting cheaper in time.
2. It is difficult to install them
False! What makes them different from non-condensing boilers is only a condensate drain. If you contact an expert installer, you would have no problem about the location of the drain.
3. They are not reliable
False! This could be true for the early models but with improved models you will not have any reliability problems.
4. They need more maintenance
False! The only extra maintenance they need drain cleaning.
5. They need larger radiators
False! No change in radiator size is required. In addition to that, they are more suitable to use with under floor heating systems, which is another additional method to reduce your heating costs.
6. They cannot be fitted to existing heating systems
False! They can be replaced with any existing boiler.
In addition to these, current legislation requires new boiler installations to be high-efficiency
condensing boilers wherever possible since March 31st 2008.
A high efficiency condensing gas/oil boiler can save approximately 30% of your fuel costs in a year and their payback period is only 2-3 years. Especially if used together with solar water heating systems and under floor heating systems you will be able to minimise your total heating costs.
Furtua energy is a Registered Gas Installer, you can contact us here.
Call us on 1890 365 465 or complete our free enquiry form here.