Mr Central Heating talks EU boiler energy confusion.

The world is moving very fast nowadays and legislation is forever changing as we find better ways to do things and technology makes more of an impact on our everyday life. It is good to keep up to date and Mr Central Heating always has his ear to ground to make sure that we are offering what you want.

The boiler in your home is really important and in most cases gives you heating and hot water from one appliance. This is the core of your house and we know how frustrating it is when it does not work. As with cars we now want it to be more energy efficient and less polluting but the problem is that the goal posts keep moving. A few years ago there was the introduction of condensing boilers and these re-use the exhaust gases to heat the water so making the boiler more efficient. As time has gone on condensing boilers have become more efficient and now are deemed to be Band A. This is great and over the years we have been led by you, as you have actually demanded more efficient boilers. In the UK we have always followed EU legislation and are probably one of the only members that do.

In the UK now all boilers sold are band 'A' and condensing, which is not the case in a lot of the EU. Europe is now adopting a greener more efficient path and we have the biggest boiler replacement market in the EU, more than Germany.

There are approximately 14million non-condensing boilers and these all need to be replaced. If new boilers are not as efficient as we are lead to believe then we need to get on and replace those really old ones, improve the technology and get training new plumbers. There is at present not a viable solution to change the way we heat our homes and as we have found in the EU, there is not a one size fits all solution.

Here in the UK we like our own mortgaged home with our own room stat to control. The emphasis on saving energy and becoming more efficient has really struck home because of increased energy costs. The pressure of getting an energy efficient boiler is already in the mind-set and another stimulus should not be confusing or resisted as it is a good thing to clear out the old and put in the new. Updating your boiler now and more frequently is the best way to get the most efficient boiler and we need to stop neglecting our central heating and stop taking it for granted.