3 types of boiler & which is best for you?

Choosing the right boiler could make a huge difference for your finances and day-to-day convenience at home. But it’s not always easy to know which boiler is best for you. There are plenty of factors to consider, including the size of your household, how many people are living there and more.

That’s why we’ve put together this easy guide to boilers. Read on to learn all about the main types of boilers in the UK and how to pick the right one for your home.

Combination (combi) boilers

A combination boiler stores all the hot water a home requires, both for taps and for heating, in a single unit. That water is heated when it’s needed, such as when you start the hot water tap running.

So, there’s no storage tank for hot water. As a result, the boiler takes up less space and is more energy efficient, but it can’t provide large volumes of hot water at once, such as when two people are showering at the same time.

A combination boiler might be best for you if…

You have a small home and a small household that doesn’t have heavy needs for hot water. But they might not suit homes that have low water pressure, and since they heat water “on demand,” they don’t work well with solar panels.

Heat-only, conventional or regular boilers

A heat-only boiler, also known as a conventional or regular boiler, handles hot water for radiators and for taps separately. While the boiler supplies hot water to heat the home, hot water for your use is heated ahead of time and is stored in a separate cylinder.

As you can imagine, heat-only boilers take up more space. They can provide more hot water at times of high demand, but they can also run out of hot water when the cylinder is empty. Many heat-only boilers need extra tanks in your loft, such as a tank to hold cold water to feed into the cylinder.

A heat-only boiler might be best for you if…

You have plenty of space in your home and have more than one person showering at once. If your home currently has a heat-only boiler, it may be hard to switch to another option, so you may want to stick with using the same boiler type.

Heat-only boilers can also be good for properties with low water pressure or solar power – combi boilers aren’t great for either of those situations.

System boilers

A system boiler is like a heat-only boiler in that it heats up your hot water ahead of time and stores it in a cylinder. However, this boiler type takes up a bit less space than a conventional boiler as some components that are external on combi boilers are inside a system boiler. Also, system boilers don’t need cold water tanks in the loft.

A system boiler might be best for you if…

You like the benefits of a heat-only boiler, but you need your boiler to take up less space, or you don’t want to have a tank in your loft. System boilers are usable with solar power. However, they’re not ideal for homes with low water pressure.

Turn to Yorkshire Heating and Renewables for your new boiler

Ready to get your new boiler? At Yorkshire Heating and Renewables, we’re here to help. We’ve got over ten years of experience serving satisfied customers in East Yorkshire, and our DBS-checked engineers can advise you to ensure you get exactly the right boiler for your home. To learn more, simply request a no-fee, no-obligation quote.