Ashgrove Renewables » Energy Saving Tips

Upgrade Your Heating System Controls (Grant Available)

Pat Buckley — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:57:16 +0000

“What difference do controls make?”; “What are the best types?”

Controls have come a long way in the past ten years and they afford an excellent way to improve comfort conditions and save energy.

Controls have two primary functions:

Deciding when the heating system comes on and goes off. It is a good idea (and a requirement for new installations) to divide the house into zones (eg living areas and bedrooms) and to have separate timeclock control over each zone.

Maintaining a pleasant comfort level in the rooms. The most cost effective way of achieving this is by fitting thermostatic valves to radiators. These valves automatically regulate the radiator heat output to provide a constant temperature in the room.

It’s generally much cheaper and more CO₂ friendly for your boiler to provide your hot water needs instead of using an electrical immersion. Most modern boilers can supply heat to the hot water cylinder and the space heating circuit (e.g. radiators/ Underfloor Heating) independently. This means that when you need hot water in warmer weather your boiler does this without having to heat the radiators at the same time.

Where possible it is desirable to have independent control over space and water heating. And now, with the new Home Energy Savings scheme, you could even get a grant to help cover the cost of upgrading your heating controls. (See: www.seai.ie/hes)

To speak to one of our technical staff regarding possible upgrades for your system, and the grants available to you, please Call: 1890 626 626

Changes to the Home Energy Saving Scheme

Pat Buckley — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:49:58 +0000

From 8th June 2010, a Building Energy Rating (BER) is an integral part of all grant applications under the Home Energy Saving scheme, whereby homeowners must undertake a BER on their home after grant aided works have been completed. This will give homeowners a thorough and objective assessment of the energy performance of their home following upgrade works, including a rating on an A-G scale. The first such BER assessment will attract grant aid of €100. SEAI has also developed a smart online Home Energy Self Survey to help homeowners decide which upgrade works might be most suitable for their home.

Online Home Energy Self Survey

The smart online Home Energy Self Survey will only take minutes to complete, taking homeowners through a number of simple steps to identify the current condition of their home and guiding them towards the most suitable upgrade works. This new survey will be offered to all applicants at the start of the online application process and will also available in hard copy on request from the SEAI call centre.

What is the HES scheme?

The Home Energy Saving (HES) scheme provides grants to homeowners who are interested in improving the energy efficiency of their home in order to reduce energy use and costs as well as greenhouse gas emissions. The scheme is open to all owners of existing houses built before 2006. The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland administers the scheme.

Assistance will be provided by way of fixed grants towards the costs of implementing upgrade measures. The types of measures currently eligible under this scheme are roof insulation, wall insulation, high efficiency boilers and heating control upgrades.

To complete the online self survey, visit www.seai.ie, or if you would like to speak to one of our technical staff regarding heating control upgrades, please call 1890 626 626

Hot Water Heating Tip

Pat Buckley — Mon, 31 May 2010 09:19:27 +0000

Use the timer on immersion heaters. This should supply you with enough hot water as and when you need.

Heating hot water account for 64% of energy consumption in the home: you should be thrifty in its use.
90% of the energy consumption of washing machines goes on heating the water.

Wash clothes whenever possible in cold or cool water.