Baxi has announced that they are providing a 5 year guarantee on all of its boilers that feature their new innovative THINK combustion management system. This covers all models of the Neta-tec, Duo-tec and Megaflo System Compact high efficiency condensing boiler ranges.

The THINK combustion management system is designed to help improve the efficiency of the boiler by monitoring the boilers gas consumption and air intake and modulate this to adjust the boilers output. By adjusting these parameters the boilers can more efficiently maintain the temperature of the hot water generated and cut fuel consumption helping the user reduce their annual fuel bills and carbon emissions.

Now with this new offer of a 5 year guarantee households that opt for a Baxi Neta-tec, Duo-tec or Megaflo System  Compact not only have a highly efficient and reliable boiler but the peace of mind that if a problem occurs they are covered. This offer only applies to Neta-tec, Duo-tec and Megaflo System Compact boilers purchased and installed between the 5^th September 2011 and 31^st December 2011.

For more information and the terms and conditions of this offer visit the Baxi website.

Baxi are a leading UK based manufacturer of heating products including Gas Boilers, Solar Systems, Gas Fires and Biomass Boilers. Baxi began life back in 1866 and since have grown to become leading players in domestic heating systems. In 1966 Baxi launched its most popular heating product the Baxi Bermuda a highly reliable gas back boiler which shortly after its release accounted for around 80% of all new back boiler installations at the time.

Today Baxi offer a wide range of award winning gas boilers including the Baxi Duo-tec & Baxi Neta-tec range of combination boilers. Baxi’s latest combination boilers are all equipped with the THINK combustion management system which boasts cutting edge technological features such as:

• Gas adaptive control which continually monitors and optimises combustion by adjusting the gas and air mixture delivering maximum efficiency for the life time of the boiler.
• Automatic configuration to either natural gas or LPG.
• A wider modulation range which automatically adapts the boilers output to heating demands reducing gas consumption, fuel bills and carbon emissions.
• All of the new Baxi combi boilers use common parts making installation and maintenance simple and cost effective.
• Service due indicator reminding householder to arrange the annual service for their boiler.

The Baxi Megaflo range of compact system gas boilers is as available in a range of outputs and also comes with the THINK combustion management system making this a high efficiency system boiler helping households save on gas bills and carbon emissions.

Baxi in recent years has also moved into the area of renewable heating systems with the Baxi biomass boiler range and Baxi solar system range. Baxi Biomass boilers including the Baxi Bioflo, Baxi Innova and Baxi Multiheat run on a renewable fuel called biomass, a renewable energy source derived from biological material from animal or plant matter. Commonly biomass fuel is plant matter grown specially for generating electricity or to produce heat by incineration. Biomass fuels such as wood pellets and wood logs are a carbon neutral fuel as they absorb the same amount of CO2 when it was growing as it releases when burnt. Baxi Also have a range of solar collection panels and evacuated tube panels which take advantage of free and readily available solar energy from the sun. All of these new technologies are designed to help households reduce their heating costs as well as helping to reach the governments targets in reducing carbon emissions.

Baxi offer both excellent pre and post sales service and Heateam from Baxi have a huge network of engineers located across the UK on hand to offer service and maintenance advice. Baxi’s after sales support is acknowledged as one of the best in the industry.

Biomass is a renewable fuel source derived from biological material from living or recently living organisms such as wood, waste and alcohol fuels. Commonly Biomass is plant matter specifically grown to generate electricity or to produce heat and the energy stored within the plant matter is released by combustion.

Typical sources of biomass fuels include waste, wood, landfill gases, and alcohol fuels, however most common Biomass Boilers in the UK use logs or wood pellets. Wood pellets are made from waste wood such as sawdust from saw mills and other wood waste from manufacturing processes. The wood pellets are very dense, uniform in size and have a low water content which means that when they are burned they release heat energy very efficiently. On average the energy output of wood pellets is approximately 4.7-4.9 MWh/tonne. Biomass fuels such as Wood Pellets are classed as ‘carbon neutral’ because they absorb as much carbon when they are growing as they release when they are burnt.

At BHL we offer a range of Biomass boilers from a leading boiler manufacturer, Baxi. We supply in a range of outputs the Baxi Bioflo wood pellet Biomass Boiler, the Baxi Multi-heat wood pellet Biomass Boiler and the Baxi Solo Innova wood log Biomass Boiler. The Baxi wood pellet and wood log biomass boilers work essentially in the same way for example:

• Wood Pellet Biomass Boilers work by feeding wood pellets on top of the boiler unit into the combustion chamber. The wood pellets are then burnt evenly and with great efficiency, the wood pellets high efficiency is due to their uniform size and shape. Wood pellets are then gradually feed into the combustion chamber to maintain the desired programmed temperature controlled by a thermostatic controller. Heated water is then supplied to the central heating system and the hot water cylinder.

• Log Burning Biomass Boilers work by stacking logs within the combustion chamber and lit. The temperature is then controlled by a thermostatically controlled fan that draws air into the flame tunnel producing a partial vacuum, which ensures efficient combustion. Water that is heated is then stored in a buffer tank where the central heating system draws its heat from. Once the temperature within the buffer tank drops below around 45°C the boiler is then ready for another combustion cycle.

For more information on the range of Baxi Biomass Boiler visit the Baxi website and BHL.co.uk for information, Prices and Delivery.

EcoBuild is over for another year. This year EcoBuild 2011 was held at London’s Excel Centre and is billed as the world’s largest event for sustainable design, construction and the built environment and the UK’s largest construction event of any kind. EcoBuild featured this year over 1300 exhibitors displaying their wares which included over 100 new product launches.

This year the staff of BHL visited, keen to learn about the latest Eco Plumbing, Eco Heating and Eco Building Products

Grant UK, perhaps best known for their range of Grant Oil Boilers displayed on their stand an impressive range of renewable products including the Grant Duowave Solar Cylinders, Grant Aerona Air Source Heat Pump, Grant Monowave Heat Pump Cylinders and Grant Solar PV Panels.

In amongst the many exhibitors (which included Worcester-Bosch, Baxi, Glowworm, Ideal Boilers, Fernox, Grundfos, Morso, Vaillant, Biasi, Albion, Alpha Boilers, Myson and Stelrad) EcoBuild also hosted many seminars on topics ranging from ‘Future Energy’, ‘Refurbishing Britain’ and ‘Sustainable Architecture & Design’. EcoBuild also boasted it’s own ‘Fringe’ as well as various conferences. Even Prof. Brian Cox made an appearance, as well as this giant, floating pink tap!

Worcester-Bosch displayed their range of high efficiency boilers including the Worcester Combi Boiler range as well as a selection of their renewable products including the Worcester Greensource Heat Pump, Worcester Greenskies Solar and Worcester Greenskies Hot Water Cylinders.

The Biasi stand had a mix of Biasi Boilers, Hot Water Cylinders, Radiators and Renewable products including the impressive Biasi Hydras cylinder, below.

While on the subject of Hot Water Cylinders, Kingpan displayed some of their popular Unvented Hot Water Cylinders models including the Albion Ultrasteel and Range Tribune. Both of which are available as either standard or twin coil solar cylinders – see below.

Be sure to check back soon for further reports from BHL’s trip to EcoBuild 2011.

The BHL team recently visited EcoBuild 2010 at Earls Court, London. The exhibition was massive with hundreds of exhibitors and thousands of visitors.

EcoBuild displays the latest energy efficiency and renewables products and materials from the leading manufacturers within the building industry. Many manufacturers use the exhibition as an opportunity to launch new and innovative products.

We wanted to see the Plumbing and Heating stands and be the first to learn about some of the new and exciting developments within the industry. It was also interesting to see all the other disciplines within the construction industry on display.

Worcester Bosch, as you would expect from one of the UK’s leading heating manufacturers had a large and impressive stand displaying their wide range of products including Worcester Bosch Boilers, Worcester Bosch Heat Pumps and Worcester Bosch Solar.

EcoBuild 2010 featured over 1000 exhibitors displaying a wide range of products and materials including Boilers, Solar Panels, Flooring, Green Walls and Wind Turbines

Kingspan had a large presence at EcoBuild and displayed a wide range of their products including Range Tribune Cylinders and Albion Ultrasteel Cylinders.

The Guardian’s Architecture and Design correspondent Jonathan Glancey in the EcoBuild 2010 Arena Lecture.

The New Albion Aerocyl Unvented Hot Water Cylinder and Aerocyl Buffer Tank on display for one of the first times.

The impressive Remeha (Broag) range of Avanta Boilers on display and showing off their build quality and use of top quality parts.

Glow-worm Clearly Heat Pumps on display at EcoBuild.

Worcester Bosch Underfloor Heating System which as the sticker suggests is new for 2010.

EcoBuild’s most impressive structure was Cityscape, an imposing 8 metre high cube clad in the very latest living wall technology.

Ideal Heating displayed a wide range of products including the Ideal Gas Boiler and Stelrad Radiator range. Ideal also sported their new corporate logo.

Baxi Ecogen, from Baxi is a combined heat and power appliance (CHP) generates electrical power and useful heat from the single source. The model displayed above explains it all. Baxi also displayed the Zenex built GasSaver, which I discussed in a previous blog post, Save Money with a Boiler Gas Saver.

Be sure to read our blog in the coming weeks when we will report on our findings in more detail including further details of the exciting Glow-worm Clearly Hybrid, which, according to Glow-worm is the first totally practical hybrid renewables solution that looks after the earth and your pocket.

We at BHL are always trying to keep abreast of the latest developments happening within the plumbing and heating industry.  The buzz word at the moment is renewables – and there has been tremendous growth and interest in renewable technologies recently.

BHL will be visiting this years EcoBuild 2010 at Earls Court, London. EcoBuild is the country’s largest exhibition for the sustainable building sector and it offers the opportunity to view the latest energy saving and renewable products including Solar Water Heating Panels, Solar PV Panels, Ground Source Heat Pumps, Water Harvesting and High Efficiency Condensing Boilers, as well as developments in sustainable design, construction and the build enviroment.

All the leading names from the industry will be displaying their latest products at the conference including Worcester Bosch, Vaillant, Glow-Worm, Baxi, Grundfos, Bristan, Biasi, Ideal Boilers, Pegler Yorkshire and Cistermiser.

Amongst the manufacturers displaying new lines at EcoBuild is Worcester Bosch who will showcase a selection of new products, including  the new Worcester Greenfloor underfloor heating system as well as the Worcester Micro CHP unit – which is due for release in 2011. Worcester are also launching MVHR (mechanical ventilation and heat recovery) which will be displayed as part of a model house.

To find out about our visit to EcoBuild and the products we discovered, be sure to follow our blog in the next few weeks.

Rarely do Central Heating Boilers make the front pages but the governments recent Boiler Scrappage Scheme initiative changed all that, certainly for a day or two.

The Boiler Scrappage Scheme has been mooted for some time and is inspired by the successful Car Scrappage Scheme. The campaign for the Boiler Scrappage scheme was started by Mick Williams and I have followed and supported the scheme for some time now.  Chancellor Alistair Darling announced the Boiler Scrappage Scheme in his pre-Budget report in December.

The new Boiler Scrappage Scheme enables homeowners to get £400 off the installation costs when you scrap an old and inefficient G-rated boiler replacing it with a new, high efficient A-rated condensing boiler (and even renewable heating technologies) – Not sure if your boiler applies? Well if it has a pilot light it probably does. Need further clarification? Click here

There are currently 3.5m homes in England with the most inefficient type of boiler. The government is offering households (albeit only 125,000) £400 towards the cost of upgrading their old boiler.

It would be pretty obvious to most that an old boiler is not going to be that efficient, certainly not the 90% or better that a new A-rated boiler can boast. A new condensing boiler will use less fuel resulting in lower CO₂ emissions and running costs. Renewable options, including heat pumps do not burn fossil fuels, thus ticking all the green boxes.

To apply for the scheme the boiler you are replacing must be in full working order. You yourself must be under 60 and living in England. If you are over 60 you can still apply even if the boiler does not work. The scheme is not currently available in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

If you want to apply for the Boiler Scrappage Scheme you must first get quotes from different installers. Once you have chosen an installer you will need to get a quote in order to register for a voucher. Remember, installations must be carried out by Gas Safe, Oftec or Microgeneration Certification scheme registered installers.

Once you have received your voucher, you can then proceed with the installation. You will need to pay upfront for the new boiler and installation before you can then claim back the £400 by sending the voucher and invoice to the Energy Saving Trust. Payment will be issued within 25 working days of receipt of the voucher and invoice.

If you are interested in taking advantage of the scheme you’d better act fast. With 3.5m G-rated boilers but only funding for 125,000, some will be disappointed. But before you consider signing up, consider this. If your boiler is trouble free and operating effectively, is it worth replacing it? Sure, a new boiler will be more efficient but it probably wont last as long as your existing, cast iron appliance. However, should you decide to apply it is worth buying your boiler boiler directly, from a supplier like BHL rather than through your installer. BHL have a wide range of A-Rated Boilers at low online trade prices from leading manufacturers including Baxi, Worcester Bosch, Vaillant and Glow-Worm.