With Christmas just around the corner it’s a good time to start thinking about boiler breakdown cover, with engineers becoming busier in the colder months it’s all the more important to have a boiler service contract on hand to ensure you and your family are covered in the event of an emergency boiler or central heating breakdown.

Boiler service contracts range in cover from just your boiler up to and including drains, plumbing, central heating pipes & radiators and also electrical care. British Gas HomeCare offer all of these via their boiler insurance product right up to British Gas HomeCare 400 which covers every aspect of  your homes utilities, what’s more until the 31st December they’re giving away 1 month free – it’s very rare for British Gas to provide discounts or vouchers on the HomeCare product so make sure you sign-up before the offer expires.

In today’s modern world, we are often reminded about our impact on the environment with not just green charities and seemingly faddish green energy devices being thrust into our lives, but also the Government passing new laws and rules on how we consume energy in our homes. But, apart from the environmental benefits, why should you or I strive for higher energy efficiency – what are our bonuses for an often expensive choice?

The answer is in energy efficiency – the more efficient our boiler system is in our home, the cheaper our energy bills become, and with the steady rise in gas, oil and electricity prices we are all experiencing, investing in a boiler that is more efficient is the answer.

But what is a high efficiency condensing boiler – and how do they work?

The Basics

The condensing process that occurs on high efficiency condensing boilers are what gives them their name. Condensing occurs in the most efficient types of boilers, inside using a larger or a secondary heat exchanger – this means that more of the energy that is created by the boiler is extracted to the exchanger to heat the water while the boiler is in use, and reduces the amount of energy that is wasted. Normally, this heat would escape up the flue of an average boiler, but in a high efficiency condensing boiler the heat of the flue area is lower, reducing the temperature of the flue gases and producing condensate.

When it comes to energy efficiency, a high efficiency condensing boiler is the most efficient type of boiler available on the market today, converting more than 86% of all the fuel consumed into heat. Most conventional boilers only manage around 78%, with older boilers and back boilers managing even less.
High efficiency condensing boilers are not just efficient with their energy, but also in the amount of materials used in their construction, and ultimately, their size. Depending on the work-load of the boiler needed, the size will vary, but many will fit snugly into a standard kitchen cupboard space. This can be much smaller than many other boilers on the market, especially when you factor in the energy efficiency – a less efficient boiler may need to be larger to create the same output as a high efficiency condensing boiler.

Types of High Efficiency Condensing Boilers

There are three main different types of high efficiency condensing boilers on the market today, these include:

Regular Boilers – A heat only or regular boiler provides hot water straight to your radiators. The system needs a storage cylinder for supplying hot water to taps and showers.
System Boilers – Requiring a separate hot water cylinder for storing heated hot water, but not requiring a roof tank like some types of boiler.
And
Combi Boilers – Requiring no tank, a combination boiler will heat up hot water on demand and circulate it where required. These are the most popular type of modern boiler, as they take up considerably less space.

What are the Negatives of a High Efficiency Condensing Boiler?

A high efficiency condensing boiler will suffer from an effect called ‘pluming’, which occurs in all types of condensing boilers. Pluming is a side effect of the condensing method, and looks like steam or gas escaping from the boiler and is much more noticeable in colder weather as it has an average temperature of 54°C. This plume of wet steam vapour will condense on a cold surface into small droplets of water, similar to when breathing on a window, and for this reason it is advised that all high efficiency condensing boilers are situated away from windows or cooler surfaces, as well as walls or internal corners where the damp may be trapped.

Summer is upon us at last, and while things finally start to heat up outside, we can all take advantage of the financial perks that come with hot weather – i.e., no heating, and getting washing dried outside on washing line.

However, British Gas boilers are determined to remind us that winter fuel bills are just around the corner!

It is not all doom and gloom though, as customers have just over a month to take advantage of the latest boiler offer from British Gas. Which they are claiming that you could save up to £852, if you buy a new boiler from them before the 25th July 2009!

Customers who take British Gas up on this offer will also receive a one year aftercare service, called HomeCare 200, that even also applies to radiators and pipes that are already existent in their property!

Included in the estimated £852 savings, are the installation of six ‘free’ radiator controls – a saving that amounts to a staggering £248!

British Gas also claim that a new boiler bought from them, that is energy efficient, could make you a humongous saving in the region of £275 a year off your heating bills!

Of course as you are buying from British Gas, all their engineers will be Gas Safe registered and trained. British gas also will fit your new system with magnaclean corrosion inhibitor, protecting the future of your central heating system.

Full details of this offer are available on the British Gas website, including telephone numbers to ring if you would like a quote, or have any enquiries.

We take a look at a new service from Local Quoter that is designed to find you the best price for home improvement projects.

With rising energy costs it’d be wise to focus on energy efficiency to reduce your bills. One of the services Local Quoter offers is for double glazing, a key home improvement that not only adds significant value to a home but can also reduce heat loss by up to 50%*. Local Quoter can help find you double glazing quotes by contacting 3 vetted suppliers on your behalf and arranging for them to quote for new windows, removing the hassle of finding reliable suppliers you can trust.

The site itself seems easy to use and also covers many other projects such as kitchen and bathroom renovations although we couldn’t find anything for boiler or central heating installations which would be a nice addition. However, our sister site Boiler Guide can offer this service.

Spring is upon us and that means a new boiler offer from British Gas Boilers, this time you can save up to £504 on a new boiler or central heating installation, the breakdown is a follows…

1. £200 off the price of your boiler
2. £100 off if you are a current British Gas customer
3. £204 the value of a year’s British Gas HomeCare 200 taking care of your whole central heating system.

A Saving of £504!

More information can be found here  www.britishgas.co.uk/boilersavings

The ‘Here to HELP’ scheme run by British Gas subsidises home insulation projects such as cavity wall and loft insulation. It’s suitable for the elderly and for those of us receiving benefits, the grant could be worth up to £474 (the cost of insulating your home) and significantly reduce your heating bills by up to £365 per year.

You can find out more at British Gas Insulation

British Gas Boilers today announced an additional discount for new and replacement boiler installations, the new offer which will come as great relief for anyone considering  a new system in these cold months will also benefit from a years worth of HomeCare 200, British Gas’s emergency breakdown service.

The offer which runs until the end of January 2009 offers a £300 discount on new boilers + if you’re an existing HomeCare customer a further £100 off, new systems will also receive the free HomeCare package worth a further £204, a potential saving £604.

You can apply for the offer at British Gas’s website here

Start saving with a new boiler from British Gas.
With a new boiler from British Gas, you’ll save now and could save even more later. Trade in your old boiler and they’ll give you a £200 discount. Plus, if you’re an existing HomeCare customer, you’ll save another £100. You’ll also get a year’s free HomeCare 200 (worth £204) to take care of your boiler and central heating system. It includes unlimited call-outs, plus parts and labour. But that’s not all.

Enjoy long-term saving, too.
You could save up to a third on your heating bills by replacing your old boiler – that can add up
to £270 a year. Add to that your free reward of either thermostatic radiator valves, cavity wall
insulation or loft insulation to save even more. Cavity wall insulation alone could save you a further
£275 a year. British Gas even have a Flexible Heating Improvement Plan available for some customers, so you can pay for your boiler over a period of time. Find out more at British Gas Boilers
on Home Heating Guide or at the following British Gas Links…

www.britishgas.co.uk/tradeinboiler
www.britishgas.co.uk/boilersavings
www.britishgas.co.uk/boileroffers/homeheatingguide

British Gas Priority Response is designed for those customers wanting peace of mind that should their hot water or central heating fail that an engineer is guaranteed to visit the very next day (at the latest), on top of this any repair carried out is charged at a flat fee of £99 (including parts & labour) reagrdless of the size of repair.

But hurry, the £99 flat fee is only valid until 7th November, after that it goes up to £160 for London & £130 for the rest of the country.

You can find more  at Priority Response or call 0845 074 4035.

British Gas have just released a new offer that runs until 25th October 2008. In summary this is as follows and applies to new boiler and central heating installations

• Save up to £604 off a new boiler with British Gas – hurry as the offer ends 25th October!
• £300 off when you trade in your boiler with British Gas, £100 off for existing Homecare customers and save £204 with a year’s FREE Homecare 200 worth £204
• You could save up to 1/3 on your energy bills by replacing your boiler with an energy efficient one
• British Gas have 5,500 Corgi registered engineers that will install your boiler quickly and with minimum interruption

Call 0845 358 2286 to benefit from this great offer or click here to read more about British Gas and the advantages of using them.