Santiago Villaescusa, Technical Director at Rointe, provides a guide to choosing the right heating system for your client.
Heating and domestic hot water is a basic necessity in the UK which accounts for nearly 80% of the energy consumption of an average house. There are 9 million obsolete boilers which need renewing at the moment in the UK and nearly 2.5 million homes which don’t have access to gas.
Electric heating can mean an easy way to give comfort to the end user but, for their benefit, the installer should have a good knowledge and understanding of the different systems on the market so that they know they are selecting a high-quality, reliable product for their client.
This means that a heating system installation should be designed, calculated and installed by professionals who recommend the best systems and brands rather than the traditional, known products or brands which may appear cheaper to buy but in reality are not efficient and may cost more in consumption which the end user will discover in their electric bill. This may also cause a loss of confidence in the installer who recommended these products.
What should you look for in a heating system?
Traditional wet systems cover the entire heating and domestic hot water needs by way of a boiler. Alongside these systems also come numerous inconveniences such as breakdowns, flues with gases, heat loss via old pipes which are full of dirt and lime scale.
The main thing an installer should look for in an electric heating system is that it should be a true and complete system, covering all rooms via radiators and towel rails as well as domestic hot water via water heaters. With all of these products controlled by one application, you have a truly complete system that is an efficient and reliable alternative to a traditional wet system.
The installers should also pay close attention to the brand they choose to ensure they are getting what they pay for. Manufacturers that endorse the performance of their products by way of independent laboratory tests, and manufacture using high-quality materials, are far more likely to backup the technical details that appear on their marketing materials than cheaper, less transparent brands.
What do your clients want?
Cutting to the chase, the only thing your clients really want when the hard winter months arrive is a heating system that is reliable, provides comfort and warmth and doesn’t produce a bill at the end of each month that will break the bank. To meet these demands I would recommend researching the products in the market and identifying the pioneering electrical heating brands that regularly invest in improving the reliability and efficiency of their heating systems.
I would especially keep an eye out for the incorporation of true consumption measuring systems in the latest products. This technology calculates the value of consumption and provides real time data that the end user can see. This means your client can budget better, as they know what they will be paying at the end of the month, and can also adjust their heating system to suit their requirements.
If you are dealing with a client who is more accustomed to “smart” systems that connect products in the house to the internet, you should recommend products that can be controlled remotely via smartphones or tablets. The most convenient systems are those which have Wi-Fi incorporated within the product itself rather than those systems which have to rely on additional equipment to connect via gateways. Some of those systems may also have limitations on the number of zones and the number of radiators which can be connected.
The most technologically advanced products count on native applications designed for the large platforms such as Android, IOS or web. They also have specific menus to calculate the efficiency of the whole heating and domestic hot water system.
We can see the daily, monthly or annual evolution of the temperatures as well as the consumption of the heating system in KWH or in Pounds using these menus.
Choosing the right electric heating system can be very easy if you research the products beforehand and understand their capabilities. With the correct information you can offer reliable, efficient systems that provide controllable comfort for your clients.
