What You Need To Know About Boiler Efficiency

You’ve probably noticed the stickers on white goods such as washing machines and dishwashers, showing you an energy rating guide.

The information is crucial when you’re shopping for a boiler as it is for large appliances. Being mindful of our energy use and reducing gas emissions is becoming increasingly important. In 2009, the ERP Directive was signed, bringing positive change to improving energy efficiency.

What is ERP?

ERP (or Energy Related Products Directive) is a piece of European legislation which applies to all products that consume energy, including within their manufacturing process. This Directive includes domestic heating products such as boilers, water heaters and other electrically powered products.

The ERP’s Directive is to encourage manufacturers to offer products that are better for the environment by reducing harmful gas emissions. It’s the manufacturer’s responsibility to ensure that their products are ERP compliant and products are only sold if they meet the requirements.

What is boiler efficiency and why is it important?

Boiler efficiency is worked out by evaluating the fuel it converts into usable energy and how much fuel is wasted throughout the process. Depending on the percentage, the product will receive a rating, in the form of a letter, which will help you to identify which products are more energy efficiency.

Heating up your home is a large percentage of your energy bills, so having an efficient boiler is a must. The better your ERP boiler rating, the cheaper your energy bills will be. The Energy Savings Trust estimates that installing a new boiler could save the average household up to £200 every year on their gas bill.

New boiler regulations from 2018 ensure that any boiler installed from April onwards must have an ERP rating of least 92%. This was put in place to help stabilise climate change. It’s important to consider the ERP rating before buying a new boiler to make sure you’re doing your bit to help the environment as well as lowering your heating bills wherever possible.

It’s now also a requirement (post-April 2018), for all new boilers to include programmable timers and thermostats. This enables you to control your heating times, temperatures and to make sure your boiler is only used when needed.

How efficient is my boiler?

Modern condensing boilers are potentially 89-94% efficient whereas a boiler that is more than 20 years old can be as little as 60% efficient.

a boiler’s efficiency is the percentage of the total energy used by the boiler to provide useful heating. For example, a boiler which is 94% efficient will have 94% of the energy used going towards heating the home and only 6% is ‘lost’.

You’ve probably seen efficiency ratings of A-G on other domestic kitchen appliances and boilers are the same. Modern boilers must be A rated and this will be shown on their literature.

• A: 90% and above

• B: 86-90%

• C: 82-86%

• D: 78-82%

• E: 74-78%

• F: 70-74%

• G: below 70%

Things to consider

• Combi boilers can reduce energy by heating water on demand. This means you’ll never pay for water to be heated which may go unused. This is often a much more energy-efficient solution, especially in a smaller household. You can find out more about the different boilers available by reading our blog post, Types of Boilers and Fuels Explained.

To find out more about our boiler with central heating cover and how our other types of cover are here to solve your home emergencies, including plumbing and drains and home appliance cover, contact our friendly team on 0330 09 48 301. You can also get a free quote online in minutes!