Government Endorses New Retro Label On Boilers By The Heating And Hotwater Industry Council
Government minister Baroness Neville-Rolfe recently endorsed the HHIC’s label scheme ‘Retro Boiler’. Being the minister of the department that oversees Energy, Business and Industrial Strategies in the state makes it relevant for the baroness to make such endorsement in an exhibition for Plumbing and Heating held on November 16 in Chelsea. Big companies such as Glow Flow Ltd are encouraged to utilize the said labeling. This is in line with other electrical products who already have established energy labels which aid consumers on the products efficiency and operational cost, and boilers should also start complying.
The way it will work is that every time a gas or heating engineer visit a home for servicing, maintenance or installation, they are required to issue a label indicating energy efficiency. For instance, if an engineer visits a home for servicing, he is also required to assess the boiler in order to administer the correct labeling. A professional in reputed companies such as Glow Flow Ltd is required to make assessments, to make sure it is correct. This ‘retro boiler’ label is required to be issued on non-condensing boilers with pilot lights that are permanent. The goal is to increase the homeowner’s awareness and knowledge on the efficiency of their own boiler. That being said, the homeowners are then encouraged to replace non-efficient boilers, but not forced to do so.
HHIC director, Stewart Clements, said that their organization estimates about nine million boilers in the UK are inefficient. The majority of these are homes who have not replaced their boilers for over 20 years and are still using outdated equipment. These legacy boilers are often called ‘zombie boilers’ because they don’t totally stop working, they still run but is highly inefficient. This will cost homeowners so much in terms of utility bills. In the environment, inefficient boilers produce more carbon emissions. Regarding the welfare of the homeowners, these ‘zombie boilers’ produce poor air quality.
The government minister and HHIC hope that everyone will comply with this new development until it becomes a rock-solid standard across the UK. HHIC will provide retrospective labels to these companies for their engineers to always carry in a house visit.
