To most of us the boiler and heating system that keeps us cosy during the long, cold winter months and delivers hot water through the tap on demand is a mysterious set of clever components and operations that is best left to the experts.
When your boiler engineer chats to you about your oil-fired boiler, perhaps you nod and smile without really understanding how this vital appliance does its job. To help you fathom out how your boiler operates we’ve put together this “plain English” A-Z Glossary of Oil Boiler and oil-fired heating system Terminology:
Bio-liquids are renewable fuels made from recycled cooking oil or plants. When blended with mineral heating fuels like kerosene they are used to power oil boilers and furnaces, burning more cleanly than pure heating oil or gas.
This is the outer shell which contains a single skin oil storage tank. The bund is there as a safeguard against pollution if there is an oil spill or leak from the tank.
The burner is the oil boiler component that provides the heat, by combusting oil with air or oxygen.
This is a type of boiler which delivers hot water instantly on demand from taps, or for heating purposes. Suitable for small to medium homes.
This is a light, low-sulphur, clean-burning oil which is used in most types of domestic oil heating and cooking appliances. It is also known as 28 second, Class C2 oil to BS2869. By contrast Gas Oil, which is used for large, non-domestic boilers, is thicker and gives off more soot and emissions.
This is a time-activated switching device that regulates when the boiler turns on to deliver heating and/or hot water. It can vary from a simple time switch to a device with multiple functions to allow full control of the heating system.
Remember when boilers were rated with letters – A, B, C, D, E etc – to designate their energy efficiency? Well, nowadays they are rated according to a percentage score, and this is known as a SEDBUK (Seasonal Efficiency of a Domestic Boiler in the UK) efficiency rating. The top rating is 90% plus. Legislation requires all newly installed boilers to be at least 88% efficient.
These nifty valves enable you to control the temperature in various rooms. You’ll find them fitted on the side of your radiators. They are self-regulating valves that work by changing the flow of hot water into a radiator. When the room temperature changes a capsule in the head of the valve contracts or expands, moving a pin in the valve body which causes it to open or close accordingly. They work particularly well as part of a smart heating system, and can produce significant energy savings.
By making use of various thermostatic controls you can institute zoned heating in your home, so that you can set different temperatures for different rooms, ensuring energy efficiency.
I hope you find our web site useful, should you have any questions please feel free to call me on: