Budget Announcements

[Paulh_Boats]

Guess what - we have an Apollo 65% grade G boiler !  

However..... with frugal use, 30 tube panel, cavity wall and loft insulation, thick jumpers, careful draught reduction and healthy activity in 2008 we used 685 m3 of gas, or 7630 kWh for heating and cooking.

I just took a reading...and in the last 12 months we used 628 m3, or 6991 kWh (at 11.133 kWh per m3).


Which proves, once again, its all about lifestyle and insulation.  



Quoting from the BBC report Ted highlighted:

 "Early adopters of green technology in the home would also be rewarded."  

[petertc]

those are good figures,

mine are great at present since May we have used 14M^3 ( meter has stopped working  ).
After a few calls and emails they are coming out on the 21st Dec to change it.

my wife was a star when they phoned they gave the normal some time during the day my wife said well i do the school and the school crossing ( lolly pop lady) , you'll have to wait until the children break up for holiday  .

If they had contacted us in August we i first spoke to them it would have been done a dusted a while ago

[Paulh_Boats]

Next year the competition is getting hotter (or cooler?)    - I have just invested in a Grade A boiler ( 90.3% seasonal efficiency ) thanks in part to a ScrewFix 10% discount for web sales. (600 squid for boiler and flue)

Our CO2 footprint should plunge - 65% to 90.3% means a 29% saving in gas. Payback time 4 years at today's gas prices

Paul.

[dhaslam]

A grant scheme that makes  replacement items dearer rather than cheaper must be a good  candidate for a chocolate  teapot award.     

There was a problem on Ireland with prices for heatpumps and wood pellet boilers, caused by the grant system, but it seems to have eased a bit.   When you buy an approved product  you can employ an approved installer separately.  For the last two years  new houses could only claim a grant for one item so  it meant picking the one with the biggest benefit from the grant. 

[petertc]

I will be interested to see how the gas usage turn out with the new boiler.

[Paulh_Boats]

I will be interested to see how the gas usage turn out with the new boiler.

Peter, et al

I have meter readings going back a couple of years so during 2010 we should see the improvements.


Reading about seasonal efficiency - its computed from efficiency at 15%, 30% and 100% because efficiency drops under light loads:

Seasonal Boiler Efficiency = 0.5*(Eff15%) + 0.20*(Eff30%) + 0.30(Eff100%)

from http://www.cibse.org/pdfs/seasonalboilers.pdf

So solar thermal systems will give even better results because the boiler is not used during the summer under light loads - it is only used in the winter with a 100% load when it performs best.  Perhaps old boilers perform much better with solar thermal for this reason??

[KLD]

I would have thought that boiler efficiency in summer was actually not too bad. The boiler runs only for a short period, but at full blast. No cycling, no modulation.OK, maybe at too high temperatures, so it won't condense.

Klaus

[langstroth2]

Those are good figures Paul, can't match those. Even so, this was our first full year with Solar HW , that plus lifestyle "tweaks" has added up to gas use dropping significantly compared with last 2008. We had a new boiler in late Sep to replace 30yr old one so our figures are looking better for Oct/Nov aswell even though solar input isn't contributing much any more.

Black line = 2008. % are difference by month compared with last year.