Heating

• Heating costs
• Replacing a gas boiler
• Heating controls
• Hot water

Once you have fully insulated your home it is time to consider upgrading your heating system. For most people the most efficient and cost effective means of heating a home is gas central heating with a good heating controls package and a condensing boiler. If you live on your own in a small house or flat this might not be the best option - a gas fire might be sufficient. A great deal depends on how many rooms you have and how much time you spend at home.

Heating costs

Gas heating is always less expensive than electric heating. Also, electric heating is responsible for higher carbon dioxide emissions than gas, and therefore makes a greater contribution to climate change. The following gives an idea of the typical annual cost of heating a three bed semi detached house:

• gas central heating with condensing boiler: £628
• gas central heating with conventional boiler: £752
• house-coal central heating (open fire with back boiler): £803
• Economy 7 night storage heaters + immersion heater (for hot water): £820
• on-peak electric heaters + immersion heater: £1,537

Plymouth City Council produces a leaflet that gives details of the cost of running different types of heating, contact the energy team (details on right) for a copy.

Tip: do not have the heating on when windows are open - your money will just be keeping seagulls warm! If you like to air the house, open the windows in the morning for half an hour or so and then switch the heating on if needed.

Replacing a gas boiler

If you are replacing your gas boiler, Building Regulations require an energy efficient condensing boiler to be installed. In rare circumstances it may not be possible to install a condensing boiler, in which case your heating engineer must complete an 'assessment form' which explains why a condensing boiler cannot be installed. Boilers have energy ratings similar to those found on electrical appliances, and are rated 'A' (best) to 'G' (worst). An 'A' rated boiler will be 90% efficient or above, whereas a 'G' rated boiler will be less than 70% efficient. For more information on boiler efficiencies, and a list of all boilers available in the UK, go to Seasonal Efficiency of Domestic Boilers in the UK website.

Tip: if you are thinking of installing a solar hot water system in the future, do not buy a combi boiler. Solar hot water systems require a hot water cylinder to store the water. It is possible to operate a solar hot water system with a combi boiler, but this is rare and can be expensive.

Tip: you should get your gas appliances checked once a year by a CORGI registered heating engineer. This will ensure that your heating appliance is safe and not giving off carbon monoxide, which can cause ill health and even death. Landlords are required by law to undertake such checks every year.

Grants are available towards the cost of heating systems and heating controls, see the Grants page for more details.

Heating controls

Different heating systems have different heating controls. For example, if you have gas or oil central heating, you should have the following:

• a timer/programmer - this enables you to control when the heating comes on and off; it should enable you to have different times for weekdays and weekends (for example); you should be able to control the heating and hot water separately
• a room thermostat - this would normally be in your living room or hallway, and should be carefully located; you set the temperature and the thermostat will turn the heating off when that temperature is reached
• thermostatic radiator valves (TRV's) - each radiator should have one of these except for the room which has the room thermostat; TRV's allow you to adjust the temperature in each room - for example, most people prefer bedrooms to be cooler than living rooms

Providing a full heating controls package will cost roughly £200 and will pay for itself in around 3 to 4 years in reduced heating bills.

Tip: if you are thinking of buying a timer/programmer, consider an electronic (or 'digital') programmer rather than a mechanical one. These give much greater control over the heating system.

Tip: set your room thermostat to 18-21 degrees Celsius - these temperatures are adequate for most healthy people. It is common to have temperatures of up to 21 degrees in the living room and 18-19 degrees in other rooms. People with certain medical conditions might need higher temperatures up to 24 degrees Celsius.

If you have electric night-storage heaters each heater should have its own controls. Most will have two dials - one is often labelled 'input' and the other 'output'. The 'input' or 'charge' control determines the amount of heat that goes into the heater during the night. The higher the setting the more heat is stored - and the greater the cost. The 'output' or 'boost' dial controls the rate at which heat is released during the day. It is worthwhile practicing with these controls until you get it just right for you. For example, if you set the 'output' dial too high, you may release all the heat during the day and have little left over for the evening.

Hot water

Those of you with a gas central heating system will get your hot water from the same boiler that provides the heating. If this is a 'system' boiler you will also have a hot water storage cylinder, often in an airing cupboard. If you have a 'combi' boiler you will not have a separate hot water storage cylinder, as the water is heated instantly by the boiler.

Other possibilities include hot water storage cylinders heated by a room heater with a back boiler or by an immersion heater. Some homes still have 'instantaneous' heaters, often referred to as 'oversink' heaters. A common form of instantaneous electric heater is a shower.

If you have a hot water cylinder it should have a thermostat. This should be set to 60 degrees Celsius.

Modern hot water cylinders have 50 to 80mm of factory-applied 'spray foam' insulation. If your cylinder does not have insulation - ie bare metal - you should fit a jacket. The jacket should be at least 80mm thick and will cost between £10 and £20.

Tip: if you have an electric hot water cylinder with an immersion heater, replace it with a dual immersion heater and make use of off-peak electricity - this will save you money.

As with heating systems, gas is always cheaper than electricity.

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