ECO4 grants offer several types of central heating systems, such as gas boilers, electric boilers, biomass boilers, etc. Each boiling system comes with its own specific features and is installed according to the requirements of the homes.
In the following blog post, you will read about what the heating system is, how to get free of cost central heating systems and free boiler grants from ECO4 grants, and what are the top central heating systems funded by ECO4 grants.
What are the Central Heating Systems?
The central heating systems are composed of boilers, radiators, pipework, and thermostat. The boiler will heat up the water and the pump will push the water into the pipework. Through these pipes it will reach the radiators installed in different rooms. The radiators will emit the heat energy present in the water. In this way, the central heating systems heat up the whole building.
The central heating system is composed of several parts, such as the following:
- Boilers
- Radiators
- Pipeworks
- Pumps
- Thermostat Radiator Valves
- Programmer
- Water Tank
What are ECO4 Central Heating Grants?
The Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) is the UK government-backed scheme which provides free of cost central heating systems to low-income households through ECO4 central heating grants. However, they provide these free of cost services only to eligible households. The ECO4 central heating installation involves the following steps:
Eligibility Check
First, they check the eligibility by considering the following criteria:
- The household must have annual income lower than £31,000. Any of the family members should be the receiver of government benefits, such as pension credit, child tax credit, jobseeker allowance, universal credit, etc.
- Their homes should be energy inefficient and have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating lower than D.
- The applicant should have the ownership of the home. If tenants want to apply, they should have approval from the owner.
- The homes of applicants should have a boiler older than 15 years. They should be inefficient, broken or degraded.
Only eligible applicants can move to the next step.
Assessment of Home
The eligible households will ask the assessment team to check the conditions of their homes. They will not only check the conditions but also explain the energy requirements of your home. Moreover, they will suggest the most suitable heating system for your home.
Documentation
In this step, the home owners will submit all the required documents to the team of ECO4. These documents include the following:
- Ownership proof
- Income proof
- Energy bills
- Government benefits documents
- Property information
- Identification documents
- Heating system details
Installation of Heating System
When they have checked documents and approved the application, they will send a timeline for the installation process. In this process, they will install a suitable boiler for your home. After installation, they will handle all the details of your heating system and guide you about its maintenance.
Which Central Heating Systems are Provided by ECO4?
The ECO4 scheme provides different types of central heating systems, such as the following:
Gas Central Heating Systems
In gas central heating system, the core component is gas boiler which consumes the natural gas to heat the water. The hot water will move through the pipes into the radiators. The radiators have coils to emit the heat energy from the hot water into the rooms. The thermostat will control the temperature by switching the boiler on and off.
Air Source Heat Pumps
The Air Source Heat Pump consists of mainly two units, outdoor and indoor units. The outdoor unit will absorb the heat from the air and the indoor unit will spread this heat inside the home. There is a pump that will push the warm air into the pipeworks that will reach the radiators.
These systems are considered as the most efficient ones as they consume very little electricity. They are a very environmentally friendly source of heat as they don’t result in carbon emissions. Moreover, their source of heat is renewable air.
Biomass Boilers
The biomass boilers are also installed by ECO4 grants. These boilers heat up the water through the burning of biomass. The biomass includes the wood logs, pellets, and chips. The hot water in the boiler will move into the radiators. These radiators will raise the temperature inside the home.
The best thing about the biomass boilers is that they result in CO2 which will be balanced by the plants absorbing biomass. However, the ash and smoke produced through the combustion of biomass will need to be cleaned.
Electric Boilers
In electric boilers, the electricity is consumed to warm the water. This water will in return raise the temperature of the home. These boilers occupy very small space and don’t need extra storage. This will be silent and don’t use combustion processes. There will be no carbon emissions. In this way, they don’t need extra maintenance and cleanliness.
Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) Boilers
These boilers use LPG as a source of fuel. This is stored in tanks and the boilers consume them according to their needs. The only difference between natural gas boilers or LPG boilers is their source of fuel. The rest of the design is the same in both boiler types.
Benefits of ECO4 Central Heating Systems
The ECO4 central heating systems make the homes energy efficient. They consume less fuel and produce more heat. This will reduce the energy consumption and their bills. At the same time, they reduce carbon emissions. In this way, they become environmentally friendly systems.
The home’s value is increased due to the high quality ECO4 central heating systems. Every buyer wants to invest in homes which are not only comfortable but also energy efficient which can save their energy bills.
Conclusion
The heating system installed through ECO4 grants are of very high quality. However, you have to choose the system which is suitable for your home. For this purpose, you should consider the size, number of rooms, and location of your home.
Moreover, you can consider your routine while considering the type of heating system. If you can’t make the right selection, you should take the help of any expert for this purpose.
