Keeping your family warm doesn't have to cost the earth

by Unknown - 21:43

Our heating is playing up again. When we moved into the house almost 3 years ago one of the methods to improve our energy efficiency rating was to replace the boiler. It is certainly on our to-do list but we just keep putting it off. I am guessing we are not alone in this. Spending a few hundred pound here and there to replace parts, call out charges and fix the issue. In some ways this is very much false economy.

Most of the parts for our boiler are now obsolete which means we have to go to specialist places for parts. This increases the costs associated with our boiler even more and I am guessing it is only a matter of time before we can no longer source parts. What interests me is that we have been really energy efficient in other areas. We have individual thermostats on each radiator, so we can control individual room temperatures, we have fitted a wireless control system so we can control the boiler remotely ensuring the heating or hot water is under our control and we have even installed solar panels in a bid to be more energy efficient. Our loft and cavity wall insulation have also been done, so why therefore have we not replaced the boiler?

I guess one of the main reasons is that initial upfront expenditure, although we could always look into finance options like the ones from Eco Energy. When you break down the finance it could cost us as little as £7 per week for a new boiler with no interest. This certainly does make it very appealing. I have been looking further into replacing our boiler and am slowly coming to the conclusion that it could actually be cheaper to replace with a new energy efficient boiler, rather than keep repairing it. Let me explain why.

According to the energy savings trust website around 55% of my energy bill is the boiler. I would imagine ours to be more as other than the gas hob we have no other gas appliances. They also estimate a saving around £340 a year to replace my old boiler with an A rated condensing boiler. A new energy efficient boiler would save me money on my bills, help the environment by reducing co2 emissions and create a reliable warm house. New energy efficient boilers also come with guarantees so I would not have repair costs for a few years.

Within 4 years, and probably still within guarantee, a new boiler would have paid for itself with savings. A new energy efficient boiler really is a cost effective solution and certainly the benefits of replacing our boiler are becoming clearer. Now all I need to do is persuade the other half.

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