[Politics] The Greenshirts of the Boiler Police

[Hamilton]

The UK are hosting the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow next month – a “must win” fixture if ever there was one. Yet our PM isn't exactly committed.

On the plus side, the government are offering (limited) subsidies to replace gas boilers with low-carbon heat pumps. But is Boris keen to persuade people to do this? No, his contribution:

“The Greenshirts of the Boiler Police are not going to kick in your door with their sandal-clad feet and seize, at carrot-point, your trusty old combi."

Yes, let’s deride the environmental movement as a comedy hippie-paramilitary organisation. What an absolute w@nker.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58959045

The guy is an absolute joke. An embarrassment. He is so out of his depth. It just shows how appalling Labour are that they can't land a punch on this fool.

He just talks gibberish.

All that crap about market forces pushing us towards a green economy. It isn't. We will have to make the market adopt this. Air source pumps cost more to run at the moment. The market isn't demanding most expensive energy.

Knob!

 

[Billy the Fish]

As I understand it they do stop working, just below zero. Is that what you have been told? Do you just revert to electric at that point?

The manufacturer says this model will still work at -20 and can still be at max efficiency at -10, we haven't got electric any more so if it stops working we're buggered!

I did ask the installers about it and they said Mitsubishi had made the fan and the heat sink much bigger so it's far more efficient than older models, I'd heard the same thing as you but they were pretty confident.

I'm happy to report back when it gets a bit colder.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

The guy is an absolute joke. An embarrassment. He is so out of his depth. It just shows how appalling Labour are that they can't land a punch on this fool.

BJ's language is undermining the scheme before it's even got out of the starting blocks. Totally shameful to have this clown in charge of a grown-up country

 

[beorhthelm]

And therein lies the heart of the issue. All the eco friendly options are horrendously expensive. The government will have to drive down the costs of purchase and installation of the alternative boiler systems before anybody is going to get that excited.

or we could look at alternative ways to reach the objective. for instance keep gas but make it from renewables, no need to change any infrastucture. the obsession with remove all carbon emitting source of power will end in tears, failure, at a great deal of costs.

 

[Billy the Fish]

But most people who want positive change aren't in that group of protesters, are they?I

It was unnecessarily divisive comment from our leader.

I actually only just followed your link and watched the video and I've got two observations:

1) How charismatic and engaging Boris actually is when he's delivering a speech like this.

2) You omitted a key bit of info in the OP: "Writing in the Sun, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:". He's playing to his audience.


As I said, it triggers all the people who hate him and will always hate him (see this thread). Everyone else will have a mild chuckle, albeit a guilty one.

 

[sparkie]

The UK are hosting the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow next month – a “must win” fixture if ever there was one. Yet our PM isn't exactly committed.

On the plus side, the government are offering (limited) subsidies to replace gas boilers with low-carbon heat pumps. But is Boris keen to persuade people to do this? No, his contribution:

“The Greenshirts of the Boiler Police are not going to kick in your door with their sandal-clad feet and seize, at carrot-point, your trusty old combi."

Yes, let’s deride the environmental movement as a comedy hippie-paramilitary organisation. What an absolute w@nker.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58959045

He is, as you say, a w@nker.

Vote for a clown, get this circus.

Let's hope his mesmerising spell is broken soon.

 

[Fungus]

I actually only just followed your link and watched the video and I've got two observations:

1) How charismatic and engaging Boris actually is when he's delivering a speech like this.

2) You omitted a key bit of info in the OP: "Writing in the Sun, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:". He's playing to his audience.


As I said, it triggers all the people who hate him and will always hate him (see this thread). Everyone else will have a mild chuckle, albeit a guilty one.

Ha, you noticed! I didn't want to put anyone off... but, yes, he has a habit of telling people what they want to hear, so he will tell different stories to different people.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

So i'm having an extension done in the next few months. Everything is getting ripped out anyway so seriously considering a heat pump. Possibly an air or a ground one

If anyone knows of any decent Brighton local fitters and has any comments about their experiences i'd be most grateful

Am vaguely considering solar panels to run the leccy on it, but realise when I see the bill for these two, I guess my idealistic plans will be exposed for the impractical massively expensive pipe dream they are

 

[happypig]

So i'm having an extension done in the next few months. Everything is getting ripped out anyway so seriously considering a heat pump. Possibly an air or a ground one

Am vaguely considering solar panels to run the leccy on it, but realise when I see the bill for these two, I guess my idealistic plans will be exposed for the impractical massively expensive pipe dream they are

I'm having an extension done too and a new boiler is part of the plan. Money isn't unlimited though, so there would have to be a big incentive for me to go down the heat pump route (the cost over the next 15 years would have to make it worth it, or close enough to make it worthwhile). I've already got solar panels which net me more than my total energy costs. Or at least they did until prices went up.

The manufacturer says this model will still work at -20 and can still be at max efficiency at -10, we haven't got electric any more so if it stops working we're buggered!

I did ask the installers about it and they said Mitsubishi had made the fan and the heat sink much bigger so it's far more efficient than older models, I'd heard the same thing as you but they were pretty confident.

I'm happy to report back when it gets a bit colder.

Can I ask how much it costs to install and run please ?

 

[Billy the Fish]

Ha, you noticed! I didn't want to put anyone off... but, yes, he has a habit of telling people what they want to hear, so he will tell different stories to different people.

True, but that's life I'm afraid. It's why 9 times out of ten it's the salesman who runs the company and not the (far more intelligent) R&D guy.

 

[Uncle C]

I had one installed at my house in the summer, a Mitsubishi Ecodan, it's been pretty good so far but as you say the acid test will be once temperatures really drop in January and February. The rads don't get as hot, but you just leave them running for longer.

There's no gas where I live so in my situation it was worth the effort because we were renovating anyway so had the opportunity to install the pipework and rads. We only had electric before which will never be as good.

What are your annual running cost please, and does it heat the hot water?

 

[Billy the Fish]

I'm having an extension done too and a new boiler is part of the plan. Money isn't unlimited though, so there would have to be a big incentive for me to go down the heat pump route (the cost over the next 15 years would have to make it worth it, or close enough to make it worthwhile). I've already got solar panels which net me more than my total energy costs. Or at least they did until prices went up.



Can I ask how much it costs to install and run please ?

Install was £15k but that was for a 3 bed house with no existing pipework or rads, and includes a new 170L cylinder and underfloor in 1 room. Some of that is recoverable through grants but the installer must be mcs certified https://mcscertified.com/find-an-installer/.

Get a few quotes because they do vary a lot, some of them took the piss IMHO.

I'll get back to you about energy usage, they have to install a dedicated meter so I can take a couple of readings. I haven't looked at it that closely for myself because compared to the old electric heaters + immersion cylinder it's WAY cheaper.

 

[Billy the Fish]

What are your annual running cost please, and does it heat the hot water?

Not sure as it's only been in for a few months but as above I'll work it out for a day and post here. Yes it does the water.

 

[CheeseRolls]

The manufacturer says this model will still work at -20 and can still be at max efficiency at -10, we haven't got electric any more so if it stops working we're buggered!

I did ask the installers about it and they said Mitsubishi had made the fan and the heat sink much bigger so it's far more efficient than older models, I'd heard the same thing as you but they were pretty confident.

I'm happy to report back when it gets a bit colder.

Cool thanks, but hopefully not too cool!

 

[Thrasher]

https://www.ecotricity.co.uk/our-news/2021/save-our-boilers


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[willalbion]

Related to this, I'd literally never heard of a heat pump before my dog walk this morning when, for the 45 minutes I was out, it was the only thing discussed on 5Live.

In brief it sounded like someone would need to dig up my garden and put something under there, replace almost all the heating stuff in my house at pretty significant expense, with a post-installation grant only making a small dent in the outlay.

In return I'd then have a heating system that I can't really control and may not be all that good.

I'll confess, I wasn't immediately sold on the idea.

I'm pretty sure the majority of British homes are so poorly insulated that a heat pump might not cut it. I looked into it for my flat and was told as it's an old building and drafty as, it's not a shrewd move. Which is disappointing.

(edit, I'd be delighted to be proved wrong here)

 

[A mex eyecan]

looked into air source recently as our boiler died.

cost was £10k plus , compared to me gas £3k.
was told that we may need bigger rads as it ran cooler than conventional. Not really appealing, all ours are already double so could only mean taking up more wall space.

was told that when it’s cold we may need auxiliary heating as well …

Then, it meant huge amounts of insulation upgrades even in our 15 year old home.

So bought a boiler which supposedly can be converted to run on hydrogen, which I think i’m right in saying is also being looked into a another green source of running the heating.

 

[Billy the Fish]

Just checked the control panel and it tells you the consumed energy.

August 98kwh (all of that must be for hot water)
September 103kwh
October 86kwh so far so on course for 140kwh

That's a victorian 3 bed semi, retrofit cavity insulation, 150mm loft insulation, solid floors. We're south facing with some big windows to the main room which makes quite a big difference on a cold but sunny day.

 

[CheeseRolls]

This randomly popped up on my google news feed so I mistakenly read it.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money...ed-70-000-grants-heat-pump-saved-NOTHING.html

Worst possible use case for this technology.
Worst possible use of public money.
Worst possible presentation of the pros and cons and costs of implementing green technology.
Welcome to the world of the Daily Mail

 

[Super Steve Earle]

The UK are hosting the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow next month – a “must win” fixture if ever there was one. Yet our PM isn't exactly committed.

On the plus side, the government are offering (limited) subsidies to replace gas boilers with low-carbon heat pumps. But is Boris keen to persuade people to do this? No, his contribution:

“The Greenshirts of the Boiler Police are not going to kick in your door with their sandal-clad feet and seize, at carrot-point, your trusty old combi."

Yes, let’s deride the environmental movement as a comedy hippie-paramilitary organisation. What an absolute w@nker.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58959045

Must admit I missed Boris's original quote. It's humour, not p1ss taking. Well done for helping him get his message out there. I imagine a good few people are actually worried about the financial implications that could come their way when gas boilers are banned.