For the 3.9 million UK households not on the mains gas network, the default position is often to heat their homes with electricity.

As one of the most expensive ways to heat a home, the bills from this type of system can be crippling, with householders paying on average £1,968 per year, compared to just £736 with a gas boiler.

Of course, the very best way to tackle expensive electric heating is to change the system you’re using.
Installing an oil or LPG boiler could save you £1,000 a year or more, but this in itself requires a large investment, which many people just can’t afford.

If you’re stuck with storage heaters, convector radiators or other types of electric heating, here’s how you can get your spending under control.

Probably the most important piece of advice we can offer is to stop the heat that you’re paying for being wasted. Insulating the loft and cavity walls is very affordable and could even be free of charge under government schemes. Draughtproofing, investing in heavy curtains and closing them at dusk can all avoid the heat loss that will cause your heaters to work overtime.

There are so many fuel suppliers out there now, there’s no need to stick with any of the big brands. Known as the ‘big six’, the major energy suppliers have a track record of charging more than many of the smaller companies out there, and a simple switch to a different provider could save you on average around £262 a year.

If you’ve been with your supplier for some time, chances are you’ve been put on a standard tariff and are paying way more than you need to.

If you have night storage heaters in your home, you will probably be on an Economy 7 or similar type of tariff, normally split into a day and night rate or peak and off-peak.

This will allow you to get cheaper electricity overnight, normally midnight till 7 am when you are asleep.

What many people don’t realise is that this type of tariff on the day/peak times is much more expensive and can be up to an extortionate 60% or even 70% more expensive than a standard single tariff rate.

Shockingly these times are when you are awake and using all your electric appliances!

Controlling your heating

The problem with old night time storage heaters is that the heat output can be very difficult to control.

Often these heaters are limited to simply an input and output dial, which are ineffective in terms of control and often don’t work that well anyway.

They usually belch out heat early in the day, just when you don’t need it, and have run out of charge by late afternoon, leaving you to rely on expensive secondary heaters on a high rate tariff to stay warm in the evening.

If this sounds all too familiar to you, upgrading to a newer alternative could help you take control of your heating needs.

Upgrade your heating

If you’re spending a fortune on old, inefficient storage heaters, you could save a packet by upgrading to a modern alternative.

New German Electric Heaters have the ability to heat individual rooms to whatever temperature you desire. Once your room reaches the desired temperature the thermostat will maintain an even heat using a high-efficiency trickle charge.

Each heater has an individual timer meaning that you are in full control of heating each room at the times you need the heat.

This is a way for you to stop wasting energy and money and have a lovely warm comfortable home.

Certain electric heaters from Germany can be a cost-effective alternative to night storage heaters.

In tests, these heaters only drew energy for a maximum of 12 minutes per hour of supplied heat and heated to full capacity within just seven minutes.

This exciting technology can be supplied to UK households straight from the factory and could see you keeping warmer for less.

If you’re living with an older, non-condensing boiler, you might be wondering whether it’s worth your time and cash investment to upgrade to a new, efficient model.

After all, if your boiler is still working well, why would you want to change?

When you consider that around 55 per cent of what you spend on energy bills is down to your heating, it makes sense to look for ways to reduce this cost.

Things like insulating the house and using heating controls well can help, but if your boiler is failing to produce the heat efficiently you could be spending unnecessarily.

Here’s what you need to know about condensing boilers:

What is a condensing boiler?

Modern boilers are all classed as condensing, marking a step change in technology that had a massive influence on the ways we heat our homes.

Non-condensing boilers which are well maintained may still be working as efficiently as they can, but a certain portion of your heat is inevitably lost via the flue in the hot gasses. A condensing boiler stops this waste.

Using a heat exchanger, a condensing boiler traps these hot gasses and recovers the heat from them, reusing them to heat your home and water.

Sometimes they cool the flue gasses so well that the water vapour contained in the gas condenses out, which is why they are called ‘condensing’.

As a result, they are much more efficient than conventional boilers and can save you a packet on your energy bills.

Just how efficient are they?

Condensing boilers run at around 94 per cent efficiency.
This means that for every pound you spend on fuel, you’re getting out 94 pence worth of heat for your home.

In contrast, a non-condensing boiler runs at between 53 and 79 per cent efficiency, although poorly maintained and older models may be much less.

Pros of condensing boilers

If you do decide to invest in a new condensing boiler, you could unlock a whole raft of advantages, including:

• Increased energy efficiency: Up to 35 per cent increased efficiency means you’ll spend less to heat your home.
• Smaller carbon footprint: A condensing boiler could save up to 1,200kg of CO2 per year, reducing your carbon footprint as a household.
• Safer: In a condensing boiler, combustion happens at a lower temperature; around 55 degrees C compared to 180 degrees C in non-condensing models. They are also perfectly sealed to ensure heat insulation, which means there is no risk of toxic substances entering the home.
• Smaller: Condensing combi boilers are very compact, and can easily be stored in a kitchen cupboard.

It’s important to gain a balanced view on condensing boilers, so as well as all these advantages it is important to be aware of the drawbacks associated with changing over, such as:

• Require an external pipe: The need for an external pipe means these boilers must be fitted to an external wall. This could be a problem if, for instance, your old system is located in your airing cupboard.

As a general rule, changing to a condensing boiler is almost always the best option when thinking about how to heat your home. If your old boiler still works well and you’re happy with it, there’s no harm in using it until it begins to give you problems. However, the sooner you upgrade, the sooner you can enjoy cheaper energy bills.

How much could you save?

Depending on the age and condition of your existing boiler and your current fuel bill, you’ll be able to save of up to £425 per year on your fuel bills.

The smaller your home and the more efficient your old boiler is, the less these savings will be.

In addition to your savings, some installers are offering scrappage scheme discounts for an old boiler when you upgrade to a new boiler plus energy efficient one.

by Susie McArthur | May 23, 2021 | Energy

There are probably houses in your own street with this technology fitted to the roof. Thanks in part to the Government’s Feed-in Tariff, the UK now boasts over 12,000MW of installed solar capacity, compared to just 31MW at the beginning of 2010.

Is your home solar panel & battery storage suitable?

No doubt you’ve heard plenty about solar panels, but could you own them yourself? What questions should you ask to determine if your home is suitable, and what are the consequences for your investment if your home isn’t exactly right? Let’s find out.

The way your roof faces can make a big difference to its suitability for solar. In an ideal world, you would have a pitched roof facing due south, ready to catch the maximum amount of sunshine throughout the day, but how many of us live in a house that is so perfectly orientated? As a general rule, if you have a surface which faces south-east or south-west, that’s fine. You can even install panels on a roof which faces due east or west and you will only incur approximately a 15 per cent drop in energy output.

Unlike solar thermal (hot water panels) which is not much bigger than a radiator, solar PV (electricity panels) require a larger amount of space. As a rough guide, you’ll need an area of about the size of a parking space for a typical array, although the precise size will depend on the capacity of the system you are installing.

Heavy shading is bad news for solar panels. Take note of any tall trees, chimneys and other buildings nearby, and decide whether they are likely to cast a shadow on your solar system at any point during the day.

Most modern roofs will be able to accommodate the weight of solar panels, no problem. However, it is important to work with an installer who carries out structural assessments to ensure your roof is not damaged. An old or weak roof doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t have PV, only that you’ll need to take steps to strengthen it first.

Still Not Sure If Solar Panels Are Right For You?

The ideal angle for a solar panel is between 30 and 45 degrees, which isn’t a million miles away from every type of angle you’ll normally see on a pitched roof. It is possible to install panels with pitches as shallow as 15 degrees up to 50 degrees, but outside of that range, the efficiency would start to reduce significantly. You can have solar PV installed on flat roofs using a frame to angle them perfectly, but you’ll need to make sure that the flat roof can take the weight.

As a general rule, it doesn’t matter where you live as the more recent panels work on daylight and not direct sunshine. However, the more daylight you get, the better your panels will perform.

Investing in renewable energy should be one of the last things you do once everything else is taken care of. If you haven’t insulated well, haven’t ensured your heating system is efficient and are not using your appliances efficiently, all the savings you’ll be making from solar PV will become diluted by the wastage still happening in your home. More importantly, in order to qualify for the Feed-in Tariff, you must have taken steps to improve the efficiency of your home and should be rated at least a D on your Energy Performance Certificate (EPC).

If you’re thinking about installing solar, considering these questions can help you to understand whether your home is suitable or not, but you should not base your decisions on this alone.

An installer will be able to conduct a free home site survey to establish for sure whether solar is the best technology for you, and what you could expect from your system by way of a return.

Air source heat pumps (ASHP) have exploded onto the eco heating scene over recent years. Similar in technology to other types of heat pumps, these products require no digging, no water source and can be fitted to pretty much any home. Despite their rise in popularity, we often hear objections to this technology, many of which are simply not true.
Do You Qualify For A £12,400 Government Incentive?

Likened once to a ‘refrigerator running backwards’ (now that sounds expensive, doesn’t it?) understanding the technology behind ASHP can help you make a more informed decision about the right technology for you. Here are four of the most common myths about air source heat pumps, and the reasons why you shouldn’t believe them.

Back when heat pumps were first introduced, the noise from the external unit was somewhat significant. In terms of noise level, they reached around 76 dB, which to put in context is similar to traffic driving past or an alarm clock going off. It’s no wonder then that, for some people, they’ve garnered a reputation for noise.

However, modern heat pumps are designed to work much more quietly. Typical noise outputs from the external unit are in the region of 40 – 50 dB, which is quieter than your dishwasher and the sound of the rain. Also remember that this unit will be on the outside of your home, so it’s unlikely you’ll hear anything when you’re inside at all.

Air source heat pumps work by taking the heat out of the outside air and boosting it to a higher temperature using a compressor. It’s understandable to be concerned about the cold weather and confused as to whether your heat pump will still work. The good news is, it will, and very well too.
Air source heat pumps Heat pumps have been tested to function effectively at temperatures as low as minus 20. Here in the UK, temperatures rarely plunge that low, so although your heat pump might have to work a little harder in cold temperatures, you can be confident that it will still produce heat for you and your family.

An investment in a heat pump is not insignificant, however, it’s important to remember that this is a replacement for your boiler, and if you were buying a new boiler, that too would also be a substantial investment.

Are Air Source Heat Pumps Right For You?

In terms of savings, figures published by the Energy Saving Trust suggest that, depending on what fuel type the heat pump is replacing, could save you from £300 to £1,090 per year. In addition to this, there is a Government incentive called the “Renewable Heat Incentive” (RHI). This incentive would pay you up to £12,400 over the next seven years. The payment is also index linked meaning it will also rise with inflation over that period, making heat pumps, as an investment, much more attractive.

Heat pumps have gained a reputation for working best with underfloor heating, due to the fact the heat output is a little lower than that of a conventional heating system. Whilst they certainly work well with underfloor heating, you are not constrained by this in any way, and can absolutely choose to connect your ASHP to a typical radiator system in your home.

We do recommend that your home has a decent amount of insulated before investing in a heat pump, so that you can keep in all that low carbon heat you’re generating. In some situations, it could be beneficial to increase the size of your radiators to ensure a good heat output, but if you don’t have the wall space, there are specialist low flow radiators that will ensure you’re as warm as toast.

 

So, there you have it,

four of the most popular myths surrounding air source heat pumps busted just for you! For more information and to find out if you qualify, simply complete the details below: