As with most things, the older your boiler is, the less efficient it will be.
As parts wear out and technology improves, the gap between your 20 year old boiler and your neighbour’s brand spanking new one widens.
Few people would argue with this fact, but no one likes unnecessarily shelling out their hard-earned cash. This often leads to ancient boilers left trundling away until they give up the ghost entirely and break down causing a costly emergency. Usually in the dead of winter.
The thing is, these antiques have been slowly but surely sapping your money year after year too, because the less efficient a boiler is the more expensive it is to run.
It therefore follows that a new boiler can actually save you money in the long run. The question is, how much?
Increasing Efficiency
Are you ready for this?
Replacing an old boiler with an A+ rated new one could save you between 20%-30% in your annual fuel bills. That’s huge. Plus, it’s an annual saving, not a one time saving. So a new boiler essentially pays for itself over time.
There are a number of reasons for this.
The most modern condenser boilers have a secondary heat exchanger which reduces the amount of waste gases escaping through the flue and even reuses them. This is where the efficiency rating comes from.
Older boilers can be as low as 60% efficient, which means 40% of the gas you burn and pay for goes straight out the flue into the street. You are only getting the benefit of 60p in every pound spent. It’s literally burning money.
A+ rated boilers are 90%+ efficient, so an awful lot more of your expensive fuel is being used to directly heat your home. They can do it quicker too, so less gas is wasted waiting for the water to heat up.
Plus, many new boilers are compatible with smart tech that allows more precision when heating your home. This means you can save even more money by only heating the rooms you are using, or only heating the house when you are going to be there. A timer function is useful, but it’s not as precise as smart tech.
New boilers are often future proofed too. I have seen hydrogen ready boilers come into use over the past few years, which means should the push for greener energy accelerate, your new boiler will be able to cope with it and won’t need replacing before its time.
All of this means a new boiler is also better for the planet, if you are someone who thinks about these sorts of things.
Reducing Repair Bills
It’s not just the monthly fuel bills that should reduce once a new boiler has been installed.
Do you know how much money you have spent maintaining and repairing your old boiler? New parts, call out fees, labour costs – this stuff can go into the hundreds of pounds.
Even a single call out a year could leave you a few hundred pounds out of pocket in heating engineer costs. You can add that onto the money wasted through inefficiency.
Not to mention the inconvenience of arranging a repair and other associate costs.
For example, how long did you spend calling tradesmen to get quotes and book someone in? How many days off work did you need to take to make sure there was someone home when they called? These things may not seem like they cost you anything, but they really do.
A new boiler shouldn’t need any maintenance, and in the unlikely event that it does, it should be under warranty. This is another way a new boiler can save you money, and often a lot more than you might realise.
Tips for Buying a New Boiler
Despite everything I have just said, not all new boilers are created equal.
A cheap new boiler might well be better than something that has been slowly rusting in a kitchen cupboard for the last two decades, but by today’s standards, it could be awful.
With that in mind, here are a few tips for choosing a new boiler that will save you as much money as possible.
- Look for a boiler that has an A+ efficiency rating. This means they use 90%+ of the fuel they burn.
- Make sure it’s a condenser. These boilers recover and reuse lost heat for added efficiency.
- Boilers have different kw outputs – get the right size for your home. Too low and it won’t heat your home properly, too high and it will cycle on and off too frequently and waste energy.
- Buy a recommended brand. Research the most trusted boiler suppliers as these will make the best quality products and be less likely to break down.
- Check the warranty. The longer the better. It means if there are any issues you are covered, and won’t have to waste time and money getting them fixed.
You may need to spend a few hundred pounds extra to get a top quality boiler, but with 20%-30% savings in your annual energy bills, that’s quickly recouped.
Think about it. A £200 per month bill is £2,400 per year. Knock 30% off that and you have saved £720! Multiply that by the 10-15 years a boiler is supposed to last, and you have saved a lot of money.
