Will the stimulus provided by the Renewable Heat Incentive be enough to bring the country's care homes up to date? Nigel Jefferson has the answer.
Heating contractors will be familiar with the typical sights that greet them at residential care homes in the UK. Cast iron boilers, some of them antiques, which have had parts replaced 'like for like' over the years in quick-fix interventions to avoid capital expenditure on new boilers. The picture is often better in local authority-run homes than privately-owned businesses, where refurbishment tends to be part of a planned maintenance regime.

The sector as a whole has been slow to adopt modern heating technology such as condensing boilers, let alone embrace the new wave of renewable heating options that are becoming increasingly accessible. In its Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) announcement in March, the Government, to some extent, prioritised the commercial heating sector. But will this stimulation package be enough to bring the country's care homes up-to-date?

The main obstacles in persuading this market sector to invest in new technology are the various limitations of old buildings and reluctance for capital expenditure and long pay back periods. 'Most of the care homes we encounter are big, old, poorly-insulated buildings where the boilers are often located in the cellar. Boiler replacement involves unbolting and carrying out each part bit by bit and building a whole new plant room somewhere else,' according to Scott Finnie of Aquae Renewables, a specialist in renewable energy systems.

Cast iron boilers can be woefully inefficient, causing businesses and local authorities to pay out much more each month in fuel bills than they need to. Not only do the older systems burn more fuel, they throw out heat unnecessarily at certain times of the year due to poor controls. Older care homes generally have low surface temperature radiators and most will be running a constant flow temperature of 82°C, even in the height of summer. An easy solution, which involves no additional tasks for staff and very little additional cost, is the inclusion of weather compensation controls. In this kind of environment, we could expect that package to deliver fuel savings of greater than 12 per cent.

High hot water consumers

Residential homes are high consumers of hot water, which puts them in a great position to make the most of solar thermal technology. Key to harnessing energy from the sun is building in adequate space for the required hot water storage and this requires heating system providers to be involved early on in the design of the building.


Mr Finnie agrees: 'Most homes will want to bath residents at the same time first thing in the morning and a larger care home can require storage for 2,000 litres of hot water. Solar is an excellent option, especially as the income available through RHI is 8.5 pence per kilowatt hour.'

An old heating system generating 70 per cent efficiency, replaced by a Viessmann condensing boiler and centralised solar system could, with the paybacks of the RHI, see fuel bills reduce by 40 per cent per year. This is based on an existing care home installation with 50 residents and an average hot water consumption of 25 litres per person per day at 60°C; with DHW energy consumption (including losses) of around 100kWh per day and central heating consumption of 3000 kWh per resident. Further savings would be possible from maintenance and repair cost reductions with the newer systems.

Biomass is another renewable technology for which there is a good fit with the residential market. 'Despite potential issues with pellet and chip storage on site, biomass boilers work well in older buildings. They perform in the same way as traditional boilers and don't require major changes to internal systems,' says Mr Finnie.

Where there are new builds and extensions to residential homes, the industry is seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. When the Worcestershire Care Group decided to investigate renewable technology, it used a new extension to its Dunley Hall (Stourport-on-Severn) building as a test bed. It's an unusual example according to Finnie, who installed the equipment, because the customer is using three air-to-water heat pumps - Viessmann Vitocal 350 AW-O - without any traditional boiler back-up.

'We installed three heat pumps which back-up each other and channel energy into two 500 litre Vitocell 300-B twin coil cylinders. This is complemented by the use of Jaga low surface temperature, low water usage radiators which heat up quicker than conventional radiators,' according to Mr Finnie.

Other commercial sectors learn about renewable technology through trial and error and urge the residential sector to get the right specification advice. Jefferson is concerned that in trying to save initial capital costs, commercial customers are cutting out the consultant link of the supply chain and going straight to inexperienced contractors for the installation. Unfortunately, this can mean the cost saving is negated through the impact on efficiency.

Consultants add value by understanding the needs of the home, calculating building heat loss and recommending a system to suit specific parameters. Care home proprietors cannot be expected to have the technical knowledge to create the best briefs, and so we are seeing an increasing number of decisions being made on installation, rather than whole life, cost. We don't blame the contractors as they are just responding to the highly competitive bidding process.

More renewables enquiries

Whether or not the RHI will turn the page for heating technology in the residential sector, remains to be seen.

However, if phone calls into the Viessmann technical centre in Telford are any guide, then the tide could be turning. The number of enquiries we have received relating to renewable technology has increased significantly since the RHI announcement. What the market needs to remember is that the RHI rewards fuel efficiency and requires it to be metered. Specifying the right equipment will be more important than ever.

• Nigel Jefferson is head of commercial sales for Viessmann