Research from consumer organisation Which? found that nearly one in three of all new boilers will break down within their first six years of operation, with repair costs often running into hundreds of pounds.
For example, according to website boiler-care.co.uk , to sort out a problem with a heat exchanger, which transfers the heat from the hot gases to the circulating water and is one of the most common breakdown problems, would cost around £325.
You should also bear in mind that if you have a new boiler, this sort of cover may not be necessary at all, as you may already be covered for breakdowns by a warranty.
You should also check with your household insurer that emergency breakdown isn't already covered by your home policy, although often even when it is, cover limits tend to be relatively low.
Some insurers include it as standard in their buildings cover. For example, Legal & General includes home emergency cover of up to £150 to cover call-out fees, labour costs and materials.
Prudential also automatically includes home emergency cover in its home insurance policies. This covers call out fees, parts, labour and materials up to £250 per call-out for emergencies relating to the main source of heating in the home.
It also covers emergencies relating to electricity supply, internal plumbing and drainage, as well as locks, doors and windows.
If you are claiming benefits, then paying for cover could again be unnecessary, as you may be eligible for a Warm Front grant of up to £3,500 to cover you for boiler repairs or replacement.
People aged over 60 who don't qualify for a grant may still be able to get a £300 rebate on work carried out on a system that is inoperable. For more information, visit the website www.warmfront.co.uk , or telephone 0800 316 2808.
full article
Thursday 7 January 2010
Wednesday 6 January 2010
Does my boiler need replacing?
If you have a G-rated boiler or below, the chances are it's less than efficient. That's why British Gas is ready to help you replace it now with our £400 boiler scrappage discount. Combined with the government's new £400 boiler scrappage allowance, you will be able to claim £800* towards the cost of getting a new energy-efficient boiler installed.
You can use our guide below to establish your boiler's rating and to see how much money you could save by replacing your boiler.
What do I do next?
* 1 - Do a check on our tool below to see if you have a G or X rated boiler with an efficiency rating of less than 70%.
* 2 - Call us now to arrange a free consultation with one of our experienced heating advisers.
* 3 - Contact the Energy Savings Trust on 0800 512 012 to claim your £400 allowance from the government.
Please note that the Energy Savings Trust will not issue a voucher without confirmation that you have a quote for a new boiler.
HOW EFFICIENT IS MY BOILER?
You can use our guide below to establish your boiler's rating and to see how much money you could save by replacing your boiler.
What do I do next?
* 1 - Do a check on our tool below to see if you have a G or X rated boiler with an efficiency rating of less than 70%.
* 2 - Call us now to arrange a free consultation with one of our experienced heating advisers.
* 3 - Contact the Energy Savings Trust on 0800 512 012 to claim your £400 allowance from the government.
Please note that the Energy Savings Trust will not issue a voucher without confirmation that you have a quote for a new boiler.
HOW EFFICIENT IS MY BOILER?
Tuesday 5 January 2010
Is my boiler G-rated?
A government scrappage scheme that gives people £400 off on the price of a new boiler has been launched today.
Up to 125,000 households in England could benefit from the £50million scheme, which was announced in the pre-budget report as an incentive to install greener heating.
Energy firms including British Gas and NPower have already pledged to match the payment, creating households a £800 discount on new boilers.
According to the government, a new boiler could cut a family's heating bills by about £235 a year.
In total, the scheme would cut as much carbon as taking 45,000 cars off the road and would help secure about 250,000 jobs of boiler makers and installers, the government said.
To qualify, a household must have a working boiler of the lowest efficiency G rating.
There are about 3.5million homes in England with such boilers, although the scheme is only open to the first 125,000 who apply.
The old devices must be replaced with top efficiency A-rated boilers or renewable heating systems like biomass boilers or heat pumps.
The price of a new boiler is about £2,500, most of which would still be paid by the householder.
Only home owners and landlords who privately rent out homes qualify.
The scheme does not apply to Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales, as their devolved authorities have to decide whether to run it.
Is my boiler G-rated?
The Energy Saving Trust said a boiler is likely to be G rated if:
* If it has a permanent pilot light;
* If it is gas fired and over 15 years old; or
* If it is oil fired and over 25 years old.
Householders can also check the Energy Saving Trust's scrappage scheme guide for more information.
How do I apply?
Once you have established that you qualify:
1. Get several quotes for the installation of a new boiler. Suppliers must visit your home for this and give a proper quote on paper.
2. Apply to the Energy Saving Trust (EST) with your name, address, details of your old boiler, the type of new boiler you want, quote prices, supplier details and confirmation that the installer visited your home.
3. You will then recieve a cashback voucher from the EST. Wait until you get this voucher before you start the installation, or you will lose the money.
4. Pay the installer in full.
5. Send the invoice and voucher to the EST, who will then refund you £400.
full article
Up to 125,000 households in England could benefit from the £50million scheme, which was announced in the pre-budget report as an incentive to install greener heating.
Energy firms including British Gas and NPower have already pledged to match the payment, creating households a £800 discount on new boilers.
According to the government, a new boiler could cut a family's heating bills by about £235 a year.
In total, the scheme would cut as much carbon as taking 45,000 cars off the road and would help secure about 250,000 jobs of boiler makers and installers, the government said.
To qualify, a household must have a working boiler of the lowest efficiency G rating.
There are about 3.5million homes in England with such boilers, although the scheme is only open to the first 125,000 who apply.
The old devices must be replaced with top efficiency A-rated boilers or renewable heating systems like biomass boilers or heat pumps.
The price of a new boiler is about £2,500, most of which would still be paid by the householder.
Only home owners and landlords who privately rent out homes qualify.
The scheme does not apply to Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales, as their devolved authorities have to decide whether to run it.
Is my boiler G-rated?
The Energy Saving Trust said a boiler is likely to be G rated if:
* If it has a permanent pilot light;
* If it is gas fired and over 15 years old; or
* If it is oil fired and over 25 years old.
Householders can also check the Energy Saving Trust's scrappage scheme guide for more information.
How do I apply?
Once you have established that you qualify:
1. Get several quotes for the installation of a new boiler. Suppliers must visit your home for this and give a proper quote on paper.
2. Apply to the Energy Saving Trust (EST) with your name, address, details of your old boiler, the type of new boiler you want, quote prices, supplier details and confirmation that the installer visited your home.
3. You will then recieve a cashback voucher from the EST. Wait until you get this voucher before you start the installation, or you will lose the money.
4. Pay the installer in full.
5. Send the invoice and voucher to the EST, who will then refund you £400.
full article
Saturday 2 January 2010
Precious metals that could save the planet
Baotou was of little interest to the outside world for millennia. When one of the first visitors reached its walls in 1925, it was described as "a little husk of a town in a great hollow shell of mud ramparts". Some 84 years later, this once barren outpost of Inner Mongolia has been transformed into the powerhouse of China's dominance of the market in some of the globe's most sought-after minerals.
As a result, Baotou has rapidly become of great interest to the outside world. China, which by accident of geography holds about 50 per of the world's rare earth deposits and currently produces 97 per of global supplies, has made no secret of the nature or scale of its ambitions, summarised by former premier Deng Xiaoping when he said: "The Middle East has oil. China has rare earths."
In 1999, President Jiang Zemin went further on a visit to Baotou when he summed up Beijing's strategy as being "to improve the development and applications of rare earth, and change the resource advantage into economic superiority".
In the intervening decade, demand for rare earth elements (REEs) has ballooned from 40,000 tonnes to a predicted 200,000 tonnes by 2014. The reason is that the particular properties of luminescence, magnetism and conductivity of rare earths have been increasingly harnessed by scientists to create a vast gamut of technologies from fibre-optic cables to advanced X-ray machines; flat television screens to the movable fins on guided missiles; and filters for viruses to navigation systems.
Above all, they are an integral part of the technologies that politicians are relying on to try to avert the worst effects of global warming. From the generators of wind turbines to catalytic converters, and the batteries on hybrid cars to alloys that dramatically reduce leakage from overhead power cables, rare earths are at the heart of the green revolution.
As one senior delegate at a recent international conference on REEs put it: "There is hardly a day that goes by that a new application for rare earths isn't found in Baotou; they are almost entirely related to low-carbon tech. Ironic isn't it? The world's greatest polluter by volume is in pole position when it comes to the raw materials to save us from global warming."
The result is that the rare earth industry in China is rapidly moving from a role as a provider of rare earth extracts for export, worth a few hundred million dollars a year to Chinese GDP, to a producer of finished REE components worth billions. In response to Chinese reductions in exports, global manufacturers are forced to move factories making rare-earth rich components to China to ensure continued production.
*Cerium (Ce) – catalytic converters for diesel engines
*Praseodymium (Pr) – an alloying agent for aircraft engines
*Neodymium (Nd) – a key component of high-efficiency magnets and hard disc drives
*Lanthanum (La) – a major ingredient for hybrid car batteries
*Samarium (Sm) – lasers and nuclear reactor safety
*Promethium (Pm) – portable X-rays and a nuclear battery
*Gadolinium (Gd) – shielding for nuclear reactors, compact discs
*Dysprosium (Dy) – improves the efficiency of hybrid vehicle motors
*Terbium (Tb) – a component in low-energy light bulbs
*Erbium (Er) – fibre optics
*Europium (Eu) – used in flat screen displays and lasers
*Holmium (Ho) – nuclear control rods, ultra-powerful magnets
*Thulium (Tm) – lasers, portable X-rays
*Ytterbium (Yb) – monitoring equipment for earthquakes
*Lutetium (Lu) – oil refining
full article
As a result, Baotou has rapidly become of great interest to the outside world. China, which by accident of geography holds about 50 per of the world's rare earth deposits and currently produces 97 per of global supplies, has made no secret of the nature or scale of its ambitions, summarised by former premier Deng Xiaoping when he said: "The Middle East has oil. China has rare earths."
In 1999, President Jiang Zemin went further on a visit to Baotou when he summed up Beijing's strategy as being "to improve the development and applications of rare earth, and change the resource advantage into economic superiority".
In the intervening decade, demand for rare earth elements (REEs) has ballooned from 40,000 tonnes to a predicted 200,000 tonnes by 2014. The reason is that the particular properties of luminescence, magnetism and conductivity of rare earths have been increasingly harnessed by scientists to create a vast gamut of technologies from fibre-optic cables to advanced X-ray machines; flat television screens to the movable fins on guided missiles; and filters for viruses to navigation systems.
Above all, they are an integral part of the technologies that politicians are relying on to try to avert the worst effects of global warming. From the generators of wind turbines to catalytic converters, and the batteries on hybrid cars to alloys that dramatically reduce leakage from overhead power cables, rare earths are at the heart of the green revolution.
As one senior delegate at a recent international conference on REEs put it: "There is hardly a day that goes by that a new application for rare earths isn't found in Baotou; they are almost entirely related to low-carbon tech. Ironic isn't it? The world's greatest polluter by volume is in pole position when it comes to the raw materials to save us from global warming."
The result is that the rare earth industry in China is rapidly moving from a role as a provider of rare earth extracts for export, worth a few hundred million dollars a year to Chinese GDP, to a producer of finished REE components worth billions. In response to Chinese reductions in exports, global manufacturers are forced to move factories making rare-earth rich components to China to ensure continued production.
*Cerium (Ce) – catalytic converters for diesel engines
*Praseodymium (Pr) – an alloying agent for aircraft engines
*Neodymium (Nd) – a key component of high-efficiency magnets and hard disc drives
*Lanthanum (La) – a major ingredient for hybrid car batteries
*Samarium (Sm) – lasers and nuclear reactor safety
*Promethium (Pm) – portable X-rays and a nuclear battery
*Gadolinium (Gd) – shielding for nuclear reactors, compact discs
*Dysprosium (Dy) – improves the efficiency of hybrid vehicle motors
*Terbium (Tb) – a component in low-energy light bulbs
*Erbium (Er) – fibre optics
*Europium (Eu) – used in flat screen displays and lasers
*Holmium (Ho) – nuclear control rods, ultra-powerful magnets
*Thulium (Tm) – lasers, portable X-rays
*Ytterbium (Yb) – monitoring equipment for earthquakes
*Lutetium (Lu) – oil refining
full article
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