So how old is old? In boiler terms, anything over ten years old is considered retirement age. If it’s approaching fifteen, it really is time to put it out to pasture! While it may be tempting to squeeze another few winters out if it, the truth is: the older it gets, the less effective it gets.

When shopping for boilers, the overriding recommendation is efficiency. Conventional boilers (even in the prime of their working lives) can be excessively wasteful, simply because they’re unable to convert all of the available energy generated into useful heat.

High efficiency condensing boilers are different and work at least 10% more efficiently. Because they’re fitted with one large heat exchanger or two smaller heat exchangers, condensing boilers make better use of the heat generated by the boiler’s burner and work harder to utilise all the heat at their disposal, including the flue gasses. So much so that by the time they’re expelled from the condensing boiler, the flue gasses have given up their heat too, and emerge at around 130 degrees cooler than from conventional boilers!

Contemporary boilers are more space efficient too. You’ll find they’re neater, sleeker and easier than ever to put in place. And whatever kind of boiler you buy, you’ll notice the savings straight away. You can reckon on a 20% saving on your heating bill for a new boiler; 32% for an energy efficient condensing boiler, rising to 40% if it’s fitted with the optimum heating controls!