Boilers

Archive for the ‘Gas Boiler’ Category

Most of us will be aware that the majority of heat loss takes place through the loft, the walls, and through the windows.

That being the case those are the key places to fit proper insulation.

Once that`s done, however, where should you turn to eliminate other sources of heat loss?

We will start with the hot water cylinder, which is one of the simplest and easiest ways to save energy and money. Fitting a British Standard ‘jacket’ around your cylinder will cut heat loss by over 75 percent. If you already have a jacket fitted, check its thickness, as ideally it needs to be at least 75mm thick.

Remember that heat will escape through metal into a colder environment.

By having tank and pipe insulation it will keep your water hotter for longer by reducing the amount of heat that escapes.

A new, thick hot water cylinder jacket will cost around £14, and the savings in a year would be £45. Pipe insulation costs £12, and energy savings are around £12 a year. This means a cylinder jacket more than pay for itself within 6 months, and pipe insulation will pay for itself after a full year.

These figures assume you do the work yourself. If you have to pay someone to do it for you then the costs will increase, and the time for the insulation to pay for itself increases.

Next, consider floor insulation.

If your floors are timber they can be insulated by lifting the floorboards and laying mineral wool insulation supported by netting between the joists.

Fill gaps between floorboards and skirting boards with a regular tube sealant, such as silicon to stop draughts. Never block under-floor airbricks in your outside walls. Without adequate ventilation your floorboards will rot, creating expense for you sometime in the future.

Insulating underneath the floorboards on the ground floor will cost you about £90, and energy savings are around £55 a year. Thus it will have paid for itself after 2 years. Filling gaps will save you around £30 a year on your heating bills. The cost of doing it yourself is around £25 so in one year it has paid for itself.

Finally, draught proofing can save up to 20 percent of the heat which is lost in your home.

Draught proofing is an easy, cost effective way to reduce heating bills. Most materials such as brushes, sealants, foams etc, are available from stores. Check the quality of the products, that they conform to the standard BS 7386. Inferior products don`t do the job as well, and your energy savings will be lower.

The energy savings amount to £32 a year. The cost of draught proofing is around £95 so it takes 3 years to recover the cost.

Most of the sealant strips are self-adhesive and fitting brushes to doors or letterboxes is not too difficult.

Don`t go crazy though on sealing everything in sight!

If you have solid fuel fires, gas fires or a boiler with an open flue you must have adequate ventilation.

In kitchens and bathrooms consider fitting an extractor fan in these areas if condensation is a problem.

If necessary open windows to release condensation or steam if cooking, or drying clothes.

Getting the balance between insulation and ventilation is not always easy, but is essential to living in a comfortable home, helping take care of the environment, and saving money on fuel bills.

Geoff Cummings
http://www.articlesbase.com/diy-articles/diy-home-insulation-made-easy-723565.html

I had water leaking from the back of my boiler and had to have a plastic jug propped up until he got here to my home. He said I’d a ‘burnt seal’ and he fixed it. However, it is still leaking with water, in fact, even worse than before. I have had to call British Gas again and they’re sending someone round today. I thought B.G. were good?
This is the second day I have had to take time off work and I don’t get paid!

That doesn’t surprise me for crazy reason
I wouldn’t trust anything about any part of B.G. and the ‘engineer’ obviously did NOT ‘fix it’ or they would not have to be coming back.
I also can not see a ‘burnt seal’ occurring in a Gas Boiler simply because of the way they are designed.
I can see some other reasons and the most likely ones are.
1) A faulty valve on the expansion tank.
2) A faulty bleeder valve/mechanism on the pump.
3) A rusted expansion tank.
4) Simply a loose joint which was probably never tightened correctly.
5) A bad seal on the ball valve which is used to fill the system with water (external to the actual boiler).

I have nothing against the employees of B.G. but I do with the organisation.
Also I would just like to say that the original engineer may actually have made an honest mistake!
Hey we are all humans after all.
I hope they sort it out for you this time.
Good Luck!

Edit: I think Tony P is absolutely ’spot on’!
You should question the so-called ‘fix’ and not let him leave this time unless you are completely satisfied that the leak is repaired.

Those of you who want to improve the energy efficiency of the building you need an energy performance certificate. The epc represents a part of the measures introduced all across Europe which has as a purpose the diminishing of carbon emissions of the building. In order to receive a convenient epc you need an energy performance certificate assessor you can count on. He will assess the energy efficiency of the building and at the same time he will offer advice on how to improve the energy efficiency of that building in order to save some money on energy bills.

If you need an epc, you’d better start looking for an assessor who can generate an accurate report regarding the energy efficiency of your building. The internet is a good place to start because you can find several assessors who are more than willing to offer their services. Nonetheless, try to do some research before hiring an advisor and verify the following information: see if he is accredited, if he has been in the business for a while and if he comes with good recommendations. The epc is not that expensive so you shouldn’t worry about the cost.

In order to obtain an accurate report, the assessor should have unrestricted access to the following areas of the property: all storeys, roof void, main heating boiler, gas meter, electricity meter, heating programmer and room thermostats. Usually the inspection made by the epc assessor takes about an hour in the case of normal properties, taking a longer time in the case of complex properties. The inspection should be made during daylight hours because the assessor must take photographic evidence.

Make sure that your energy assessor is accredited, because accreditation schemes are the ones which ensure that the assessors are competent and possess the necessary skills for the assessment. The epc assessor is responsible for the energy assessment on your building and for the recommendation report. He is also the one who will enter the certificate onto the national register. The certificate must be issued only by individuals with an approved qualification in order to protect consumers and the assessors must be suitably qualified to produce these evaluations.

The commercial epc advisor will carry out main tasks related to this new energy efficiency measures and this includes issuing certificates and inspecting the air conditioning systems. Although there are many organizations that provide energy assessment services, the commercial epc may be produced only by the accredited assessor. The assessor must have: energy assessor qualification, which demonstrates technical competence to produce a certificate and energy assessor accreditation, which allows you to produce certificates on an ongoing basis.

The commercial epc advisor might have certain qualifications which are meant to cover only specific areas of energy inspection and he may conduct inspections only in the areas covered by their accreditation system.  The qualifications of a person who can produce a commercial epc may be limited in several ways or they may require the supervision of the assessor during a probationary period.  As you can see, there’s more to choosing an adequate assessor than most of you think and hopefully you will make the smartest decision.

Jhoana Cooper
http://www.articlesbase.com/real-estate-articles/how-to-choose-a-commercial-epc-assessor-712527.html