Heating Helpline: Useful information

Heating Helpline Tip of the Month

If you have an adjustable thermostat for your hot water you should set it to no more than 60ºC - any higher is a waste of energy and you could be scalded. Much lower and there may be a risk of harmful bacteria forming.

Glossary of terms

The following is a brief explanation of some of the heating and energy efficiency terms (and jargon) you might come across:

Carbon monoxide A highly poisonous gas that has no colour, taste or smell. It can be produced by any appliances burning gas, wood, oil or coal, and can kill without warning in just a matter of hours.
CHP Micro CHP (combined heat and power) units generate heat using gas like a standard boiler, but the waste energy is converted into electricity.
Combination boiler Boilers that heat water immediately, with no need for a hot water cylinder.
Condensing boiler A highly efficient boiler that extracts heat from flue gases instead of wasting it. It can be up to 95% efficient, the remaining flue emissions being released as steam.
Energy efficiency The ratio between the amount of useful heat produced and the energy required to produce it.
Energy performance certificate (EPC) Legal document required in relation to all houses rented or sold, which rates the property's energy efficiency.
Energy Saving Trust (EST) Government-funded organisation which promotes energy efficiency across the UK.
Feed-in Tariff The Goverment deal with energy suppliers that means if you generate elecricity from a renewable source (like solar pv panels) you will be paid by your energy supplier. The supplier pays a set rate for every unit or kWh of electricity you produce. Additionally you sell the electricity you don't use to the National Grid which pays a set amount for every unit sold. See also Dept. of Energy and Climate Change under Directory below.
Gas Safe Register The national "watchdog" for gas safety in Great Britain.
Ground source heat pump Renewable technology that transfers heat from the ground – via a buried pipe, into a building to provide heat (as part of an underfloor system) and, in some cases, hot water.
Heat loss calculation A measure of how well a building holds on to heat, and how much heat/energy must be put into a home to keep it warm.
Insulation Materials used to reduce the rate of heat transfer.
Kilowatt (kW) Unit of measurement of boiler power.
Kilowatt hour One kilowatt hour (kWh) is 1000 watts of energy used for one hour. As an example a 100-watt lightbulb switched on for 10 hours is equal to 1kWh.
Microgeneration The generation of zero or low-carbon heat and power by individuals, small businesses or communities to meet their own needs. (Examples include solar heating, photovoltaics and wind turbines.)
Photovoltaics Devices and equipment like roof mounted Solar PV panels that use energy from the sun to create electricity.
Programmable thermostat Central heating controller that can adjust a room's conditions according to temperature and time of day.
Renewable energy Energy generated from natural resources – such as sunlight, wind, tides and geothermal heat – which are "renewable" (ie, naturally replenished).
R-value A measure of thermal resistance commonly used to characterise thermal insulation materials in buildings.
Storage heaters A heater that works by taking an energy charge during off peak energy times (usually overnight), converting it to heat and releasing that heat throughout the day.
Solar photovoltaic Renewable technology that converts energy from the sun into electricity.
Solar thermal heating Renewable technology that uses the heat from the sun to warm water for use in domestic and commercial central heating systems and hot water supplies.
Thermostat A device used for regulating the temperature of a heating system.
Thermostatic radiator valve (TRV) An individual thermostat fitted to a radiator to regulate the temperature of the room in which it is installed.
U value Used to measure the thermal performance of a building – the lower the U value, the greater the thermal insulation.
Underfloor heating Efficient space heating system that uses either buried hot water pipes or electrical element to provide radiant heat.

Useful information

Heating Helpline Tip of the Month

Glossary of terms

Directory