Boiler efficiency

Your boiler is at the heart of your central heating system and unfortunately is responsible for a large percentage of the carbon emissions produced from your home, as much as 68% for your boiler alone. As such the Government have made amendments to the Building Regulations part L to state that any new boiler as part of a new system or replacement system must be of a condensing type with efficiency rating of band A or B.

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SEDBUK

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Seasonal Efficiency of Domestic Boilers (SEDBUK)

is the preferred and most recognised method for measuring the seasonal efficiency of a boiler installed in typical domestic conditions within the UK. SEDBUK is also used in SAP assessments and the Building Regulations. The SEDBUK ratings of practically all boilers, LPG, natural gas and oil can be found on the website www.sedbuk.com.

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SAP (the Government's Standard Assessment Procedure for energy ratings of dwellings) is used for calculating home energy ratings. It is a reliable way of calculating the energy efficiency performance of dwellings. The index is a number from 1 to 100, where the higher number equates to improved efficiency. All new homes in the UK are required to have a SAP rating to comply with the Building Regulations.

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How efficient is my boiler?

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Your boiler is responsible for on average 84% of your energy consumption within your home, there are a number of factors to determine the efficiency of your boiler.

• Fuel
• Boiler type and design
• The system controls
• Flow and return temperatures
• Installation and commissioning
• Regular servicing and maintenance
• The load on the boiler due to weather
• Whether the unit includes automatic or permanent pilot ignition (gas only)
• The type of burner control, i.e on/off, gas modulating or air/gas modulating
• The sizing of the boiler and radiators relative to the design heat load

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Links for further reading

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