Upgrading Your Gas Boiler – When is the Right Time?
Wednesday, May 14th, 2014
Upgrading Your Gas Boiler – One of the key challenges associated with modern living that homeowners need to contend with is that of running an energy efficient home while keeping the cost of utility and fuel bills as low as possible. One of the most costly aspects of any home is its central heating system. This is why it is of the utmost importance to ensure that you’re gas boiler is running as efficiently as possible. Your gas boiler is essentially the ‘heart’ of your home’s central heating system and everybody knows that a healthy heart makes for a healthy body.
A lot of the time, simply ensuring that you gas boiler is serviced regularly is enough to keep it running at the necessary levels of fuel efficiency, with occasional small repairs being implemented when (and if) required. However, in the case of older or particularly run down gas boilers, regular servicing and repair work may simply not be enough to keep the boiler running at a sufficient level of fuel efficiency. In some cases the only truly economically viable solution to your home’s central heating problems is instigating a full gas boiler replacement service.
Is Upgrading Your Gas Boiler Necessary?
Upgrading a gas boiler to a more fuel efficient model tends to be a somewhat more complicated and expensive (at least in terms of the immediate future) undertaking than other, more short term, means of improving gas boiler efficiency. To that end, it is quite important that you are sure that upgrading your gas boiler is the right option for you before going through the trouble of organising one.
Every homeowner’s individual circumstances are different, so there is no single definitive answer as to whether or not a gas boiler upgrade is a good idea. However, there are a few key questions that you should look to answer that will help make your decision an awful lot easier. Ask the following questions of your gas boiler:
How Efficient does my Gas Boiler Need to be?
Much like how the circumstances surrounding different households vary, so too do individual gas boilers. Each different style of the gas boiler from each different manufacturer is unique in terms of both design and its ability to convert fuel into usable heating energy, ranging from those which would be considered quite poor (by modern standards) and those which are considered A-rated in terms of fuel efficiency as well as everything in between.
As a rule of thumb, it is the general consensus that any gas boiler which is graded as being in excess of 80% fuel efficient is referred to as being a high-efficiency boiler. The higher the percentage o fuel which is directly converted into usable heating energy, the higher the gas boiler’s rating. For example, the Worcester Bosch high-efficiency gas condensing boilers which are stocked and installed by DeWAR Plumbers convert over 90% of their fuel into heating energy. To this end, they are considered A-rated boilers.
Generally speaking, once your gas boiler is running at a fuel efficiency rating that is upward of 80%, you shouldn’t be in any major hurry to have it upgraded as it would take a considerable amount of time for the costs saved in terms of improved fuel efficiency to offset the price of having a gas boiler replacement carried out.
However, if your gas boiler’s efficiency rating falls below the 80% mark then serious consideration should be given to carrying out a gas boiler upgrade service. Remember, the lower the efficiency rating of a gas boiler, the more fuel, and therefor money, it wastes on a daily basis.
If you are unsure as to what your gas boiler’s fuel efficiency rating is, you can find it out here once you know its make and model.
How can you tell if Your Gas Boiler is Running at its Full Fuel Efficiency Levels?
Even though a gas boiler is a satisfactory make and model which burns fuel at an efficiency rating upward of 80% out of the factory, that does not mean that the prospect of you potentially needing a gas boiler upgrade service is completely out of the question. Like all machines and household appliances, gas boilers can and will deteriorate over time. This will happen very gradually if you take care of your gas boiler with regular servicing and appropriate levels of maintenance. However, if the correct measures are not taken to ensure that your gas boiler is being properly taken care of, its fuel efficiency levels can plummet dramatically in a relatively short space of time.
The key to keeping a hold on your gas boiler’s fuel efficiency levels is by having your boiler serviced by a registered professional on a yearly basis (at least). They will be able to tell how efficiently (or inefficiently) your gas boiler is operating and, if it is deemed inefficient, they will make a recommendation on what course of action best suits your circumstances. In the best case scenario, you may need to take no action in addition to the annual gas boiler service. Depending on you gas boiler’s condition though, repair works or even an upgrade service may be required.
It is of the utmost importance that anyone that you have to service or doing any work (for that matter) on a gas boiler is fully certified as an RGI (Registered Gas Installer) from the RGII (Registered Gas Installers of Ireland). All of DeWAR Plumbers’ engineers are registered with the RGII.
The typical life span of a home gas boiler tends to be about fifteen years. Even if your boiler is not causing any obvious problems (such as boiler break down) and has been serviced regularly, it will most likely have lost much of its fuel efficiency by the time it reaches this age. It is very rare that a gas boiler this old does not need to be replaced with a more efficient model. It is only natural that a brand new gas boiler would work better than one built more than a decade ago.
Does Your Gas Boiler Ever Break Down?
To put it bluntly, if your gas boiler breaks down at all then you have a serious problem which must be sorted out as soon as possible. Servicing your boiler regularly helps to considerably reduce the likelihood of such a boiler break down in addition to improving the overall fuel efficiency levels of your home’s central heating system. Having a gas boiler breaking down is a stressful experience which can often be time-consuming and expensive to rectify. If this is happening to your gas boiler semi-regularly and the cost of consistently repairing the boiler are adding up it may well be time to consider upgrading your gas boiler as constantly repairing a faulty boiler is not an economically sustainable home central heating system maintenance strategy.
How Much are You Spending on Gas Boiler Repairs?
While a lot of the repairs that a gas boiler will need throughout its lifestyle are relatively quick to perform and not too expensive, things tend to become increasingly complicated as the boiler ages. Not only are older gas boilers more prone to braking down, they are also much harder (and more expensive) to source suitable replacement parts for. If replacement parts are becoming increasingly difficult and costly to purchase then it is probably time to consider having a gas boiler upgrade service carried out, especially if your gas boiler needs to be repaired on a fairly regular basis.
Is it Worth Investing in Heating Controls for Gas Boilers?
There are a great many advantages associated with installing heating controls to be used with your central heating system’s gas boiler. Most notably of all is that gas boiler heating controls put you in direct control of your home’s central heating system, giving you the power to fine tune your heating needs specifically to your own individual requirements. Under proper use, gas boiler heating controls have been shown to help homeowners save up to twenty percent off the total cost of their home’s central heating bills. That’s a massive saving of one euro for every four euros spent on heating bills over the course of the year.
Upgrading your gas boiler heating controls is generally seen as a cost effective means of increasing your home’s central heating system’s fuel efficiency and reducing energy costs (instead of having a full gas boiler upgrade carried out). While this is true to some extent, the best results in terms of making your home’s central heating system more economical are by combining the two. Upgrading your gas boiler as well as having state of the art heating controls will have your home’s central heating system working at its optimum levels of fuel and energy efficiency, generating massive savings for your household when it comes to paying bills.
What Grants Are Available for Upgrading Your Gas Boiler?
If you are looking to upgrade your gas boiler then it is well worth contacting the SEAI (Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland) to see if you are eligible for a grant to alleviate the cost of having your works carried out under their BEH (Better Energy Homes) initiative. Depending on your financial circumstances, grant relief can be obtained for upgrading your gas boiler itself, upgrading your gas boiler’s heating controls or both.
More details on the SEAI’s Better Energy Homes grant scheme can be found here.
If you would like to make an inquiry in relation to having your gas boiler upgraded, feel free to call DeWAR Plumbers on our phone number 01 514 3300. Alternatively you can email us with your questions.
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