The condensing boiler review

A condensing boiler is a high efficiency modern boiler that incorporates an additional heat exchanger to enable the red-hot waste air transfer a large proportion of their heat to pre-heat the water in the boiler system. Once running at peak efficiency, the water steam produced in the burning action condenses back into clear water releasing the latent heat of vaporisation.

A fallout results in this water, called condensate, often acidic, needs to be piped away to a waste pipe or soakaway. The boiler should be mounted to a wall and the output gases will go through the flue. Hot water is initially provided by a small-scale storage tank to ensure convenient and rapid hot water .

Can you advise on the right boiler size?

You should keep in mind that when first fitted central heating engineers oftentimes put in boilers that had a higher yield than strictly necessary.. Whilst this meant that there was little probability of the boiler being unable to supply sufficient hot water, irregardless of the winter weather, it also meant that they were primarily running at a part load, and so operating below their maximal efficiency. If you have insulated your household since the last boiler was fitted, it could well be that you will be able to fit a lower-ranking capability boiler than before.

Make sure you get advice from a CORGI installer before buying your next boiler

If I purchase a condensing boiler should I fit big radiators?

The main driver for smaller fuel use from a condensing boiler is because it contains a bigger heat exchanger. Bigger radiators would allow lower return temperatures, and so promote efficiency higher still, but the additional saving is not shown to be cost effective, bearing in mind that the system is is only using a small part of its overall capacity for the bulk of the heating season. Whilst this affirmation is correct householders would plausibly accept this in smaller properties.

The SEDBUK initiative considered these issues, and had a look at the recommendations for condensing boilers. The conclusion was that no new recommendations were demanded, and the test results forthe condensing and the existing boilers share the same SEDBUK calculation.