FAQ
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Having a more energy efficient boiler can lower your energy costs as well as your carbon footprint. Age, type and the controls connected to your central heating system all affect your boilers performance. Regular boiler servicing and clean central heating water also affect the efficiency.
Combi boilers are the most popular boiler type in the UK as they combine your central heating system into one unit, which is great for saving space. As they do not store hot water they become for efficient to run as hot water is only produced on demand.
Central heating boiler have become very complex and with that in mind repairs can be costly. It is advisable to repair before replacing, making the judgment call is down to your own personal decision based on the correct facts & figures given to you. Bear in mind the age of your boiler, cost of repair, likelihood of another breakdown against cost of new and manufacturers guarantee, piece of mind.
It is standard within the industry to service your boiler annually not just to clean but to make sure its safe. If the boiler has a guarantee/warranty, then just like your car it will need to be service to maintain it.
Older standard efficiency boilers emit hot exhaust gases from the flue when they are operating. A condensing boiler transfers much of this wasted heat to the water in the boiler, before it reaches the flue outlet. An excellent idea, which saves on fuel use and therefore operating costs. During normal operation, condensing boilers lower the temperature of their exhaust gases below 100 degrees, at which point plumes of water vapour can be seen coming from the flue outside. For this reason, condensing boiler flues should be sited sensitively. Whilst there are gas consumption savings to be made from a condensing boiler, their actual efficiency is dependent upon the system design of the heating circuit.
Yes, as we are a local company we are here to help and appreciate when things don’t work how distressing this can be. Please ring the telephone numbers or email, leave a message and we will contact you to help.
Please contact us first to see if we can help or contact the manufacturer direct for advice.
We work on all types, natural gas boilers, LPG boilers, Oil boilers and in all forms like; combi boilers-system boiler-heat only boilers. We work with Wet central heating systems either using radiators or underfloor heating.
We cover Craven District, Harrogate District, Wharfdale District in towns like, Skipton, Settle, Grassington, Pateley Bridge, Ripon, Knaresborough, Harrogate, Otley, Ilkley, Addingham and surrounding villages.
As we are “Worcester Bosch” & “Nest smart thermostat” approved contractors we use their fixed timer with radio frequency room thermostat controls and their smart mobile phone controlled timer/thermostat.
The installation cost of a heat pump will differ from house to house and from size and type of heat pump chosen. As a rule of thumb, an air to water heat pump will cost around £8k to install and a ground source heat pump could be anything up to and around £20k. This though is very dependent on the site and as to whether the existing heating system can be used and the position of the equipment etc.
There are grants available to assist in the investment, sometimes locally and regionally, as well as The Boiler Upgrade Scheme, a government incentive that will assist with the upfront cost of upgrading your heating system with one of our air to water and ground source heat pumps. In addition, there is now no VAT on heat pumps – reducing the cost even further.
The servicing requirements of a heat pump are not as onerous as a boiler however, there are disagreements as to whether the homeowner can undertake this or a service engineer is required.
With a Ground Source heat pump the requirements are more of a check than an activity, the closed loop collection system needs to be checked for the correct levels and efficacy as the fluid also serves as an anti-freeze. The heating system water pressure needs to be maintained and, if the installation has a mains pressure unvented hot water storage cylinder, the servicing requirements of that needs to be considered.
An Air Source heat pump requires the external unit to be kept free of leaves and debris, any filters within also need cleaning or replacing as specified by the manufacturer. And similar to a Ground Source heat pump, any unvented, mains water pressure cylinder needs to be serviced to the manufacturer’s instructions
The running costs of a heat pump will vary from house type to house type. A well-insulated house built to new building regulation standards will generally be less expensive to run than a gas or oil fired boiler system providing the heating system flow temperatures are kept relatively low, ideally around 40ºC.
A heat pump will be less efficient and more costly to run when generating higher temperatures, either because the house isn’t well insulated, the radiators are insufficiently sized for the lower temperatures or when generating higher temperatures to produce hot water.
TESTIMONIALS
Mark provides a very friendly, helpful and no frills service. He is very knowledgeable with heating and boilers systems.
Very honest, reliable and good workman.
We would definitely recommend Mark, he came when he said he would, really reliable, and fantastic knowledge. Pinpointed the problem and fixed it straight away.
We had our gas fire serviced within 2 days of initial contact with Craven Home Heat and at a time that suited us. Friendly and professional service, would definitely recommend.