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Feature on Boilers

Following the introduction of the April 2005, Part L Building Regulations there has been much written about minimising the effects of boilers on the environment. Reducing boiler emissions of green house gases (carbon dioxide and oxides of nitrogen) is now a key consideration. Bill McConnell, Technical Director of Continental, Underfloor Heating argues that reducing these emissions is directly related to the type of heat emitter chosen to accompany the condensing boiler and proposes that underfloor heating is a more environmentally friendly option than radiators.

The Government changed the UK Building Regulations Part L1 in April 2005 and stipulated that all boilers installed in homes in England and Wales should fall into the SEDBUK band A or band B categories - high efficiency/condensing boilers (excluding oil fired boilers until 2007). A condensing boiler is a high efficiency modern boiler that incorporates an extra heat exchanger so that the hot exhaust gases lose much of their energy pre-heating the water in the boiler system. When working at peak efficiency, the water vapour produced in the combustion process condenses back into liquid form, releasing the latent heat of vaporisation.

The Government’s thinking behind the enforcement of condensing boilers is related to the general rule that, the lower the return temperature of water onto the boiler, the more environmentally friendly the boiler will be. Historically, many commercial systems were designed to keep the water return temperature at a high level to prevent condensing, so it is clear that the introduction of new regulations will require significant industry changes to be made.

As condensing boilers become more commonplace, this will in turn have a knock-on effect on the design of the rest of the heating system and the heat emitter chosen. Previously, when condensing boilers were not compulsory, radiators had been the most commonly used heat emitter. However there is now an issue about the return flow temperature and the size of the emitter.

Traditionally, radiator heating systems have a water flow temperature of 82ºC and a return of 71ºC. This has kept the return temperature high and above condensing temperature, allowing for smaller sizing of pumps and pipework with a slight increase in radiator sizing.

Underfloor heating on the other hand typically has a flow temperature of 50ºC with a return temperature of 43ºC. This is well within the condensing range of a modern gas boiler, which ultimately results in a reduction of green house gases and makes the entire system more environmentally friendly. Continental Underfloor Heating offers the most comprehensive range of UFH systems in the UK and has an expert technical team on hand to provide customer advice.

Email: info@continental-ufh.co.uk

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