Re: The energy crisis
 

It's more efficient than having to get a new boiler every few years.

Re: The energy crisis
 

That's for me too with my 25 year old boiler, I had mine fixed rather than pay £3000+, I know if I stay in this house I will need to change it before they stop installing them as I'm not having a heat pump as a boiler, heard some bad stories for how useless they are and how expensive to run.

Re: The energy crisis
 

You need to stop listening to the man down the pub. If they’re installed properly, heat pumps are extremely effective. The problem isn’t the heat pump, it’s the British attitude to building and insulating houses, thanks to something like 400 years of extremely cheap energy. It has always been easier to chuck more coal on the fire, or latterly just turn the thermostat up a notch, than to think seriously about retaining the heat.

They are widely used in far colder places than the UK and the technology is always improving - today you can get the same results from an air-source unit that 20 years ago you would have to have installed a hundred metres of pipe underground to get.

Re: The energy crisis
 

I think they are going to be banned from 2030 and they say that the average boiler lasts about ten years, so we will all have to eventually move over (unless they are as lucky as you've been with your boiler)!

There's currently a Government grant towards heat pumps of £5,000- but that still means paying out about £7,000.

That's not economic for my expected lifespan. With the passage of time though, as all homes will have alternative systems, this will becom less relevant.

I think it would be prudent of the Government to increase the level of grants available to mature people, paid for by possibly cutting or withdrawing grants to younger people who will have the chance to make a profit after installing them.

Re: The energy crisis
 

You may not have thought that statement fully through…

Re: The energy crisis
 

Boilers are not going to be 'banned', but they will eventually run on hydrogen.

10 years ? Where on earth do you get that low figure from ?

Make a "profit" ? How, exactly :confused:

Re: The energy crisis
 

I’m pretty sure I’ve heard that figure bandied about

(Googles …)

Yes, lots of places say to consider replacement after 10-15 years due to reduced efficiency. Lots of places want to sell you a new boiler though.

I’ve only ever lived in one house more than 10 years that had a gas boiler though, and when I left after 18 years the original was still installed and going strong.

Re: The energy crisis
 

Boiler=gas boiler.

The profit relates to when the cost savings have repaid the extra costs of a heat pump over and above a gas boiler, then people are making a profit by changing until the heat pump reaches the end of it's life.

My last gas boiler was a relatively cheap one that was provided free due to me being disabled.and failed after 10 years.

I now need another one, which will be another gas boiler as, perversely this is all that they offer.

When they came to inspect it, I said it had only lasted 10 years and was told that this was about right.

Re: The energy crisis
 

Does anyone know if existing gas boilers can run on hydrogen or be converted to do so?

Will the existing gas supply be changed to hydrogen or will we need a storage tank in a similar fashion to those that use oil?

Re: The energy crisis
 

I think it's a bit of a pipe dream and all very theoretical at the moment.

Re: The energy crisis
 

https://www.hellohydrogen.com/?gclid...xoCWmMQAvD_BwE

Re: The energy crisis
 

On the contrary, the first village-sized trial will begin in 2025, either in Redcar or Whitby, near Ellesmere Port in Cheshire. A new ‘hydrogen ready’ standard for boilers installed in UK homes has already been drawn up and should mean that by 2025 at the latest, all new installations will be able to burn hydrogen.

https://utilityweek.co.uk/redcar-and...rogen-village/

Conversion ought to be possible also, and has been done before. Our national gas infrastructure progressively switched from town gas to natural gas in the mid 20th century. It takes a fair bit of logistics and a lot of home visiting but it can be done.

The idea is to replace methane with hydrogen in the public supply, but given the immensely complicated task of ensuring all domestic boilers can burn hydrogen and the local network (not to mention domestic pipes) can distribute it without leaking, this is not going to happen any time very soon.

Re: The energy crisis
 

Re: The energy crisis
 

What the actual heckery are you talking about? Terrorists?

I’m ignoring the rest of it because it’s obvious bolleaux in any scenario where appropriate professional standards of installation are employed, as they already are amongst properly licensed gas fitters working in the UK.

Re: The energy crisis