Magic Heating Box - Magic Thermodynamics Box
Thanks Joshua. Are you an experienced heating engineer by trade?
I would like to think so been completing general building works and plumbing for 16 years now, I have had experience installing A2W systems Samsung LT and Daikin HT and Thermo dynamics. This one interested me as was a product that actually improves the existing system rather than installing an alternative.
Hi Joshua.
Thanks for the reply. With respect, general building work and plumbing is not quite the same as being a heating engineer. I'm not trying have a pop, but that could mean tarmacing drives, building extensions and fitting kitchens.
Can we just take a quick wander through the physics and practicalities of central heating efficiency? Forum members feel free to chip in and correct me if I go wrong or miss something.
We start with the calorific value of the basic fuel.
In a perfect system, all this would be used - but as we all know, there ain't no such thing as a perfect system. However, by Newton's law of conservation of energy, you can't get MORE out than you put in.
So in no particular order, we have inefficiencies in the system that mean we don't get 100% of that potential.
Losses through imperfect combustion - pretty minimal in a well maintained gas appliance
Losses via hot flue gases - still real, but minimised by a condensing boiler and a well designed system
Losses via the fabric of the building - still by far the most common inefficiency, and best tackled through well understood insulation methods
Losses caused by heating the wrong space or at the wrong time - again, quite common, but best tackled through zoning, TRVs, roomstats and timing controls. Commonly fitted, but often not understood by the user.
The most cost effective way to save energy for a householder is to read and understand the instruction book that comes with the controls - turning TRVs to low settings in unused rooms, programming the system properly, turning down the roomstat (and locating the roomstat correctly). If modern controls are not fitted, they are probably the best investment.
The next most cost effective (if not already fitted) is to upgrade insulation.
According to
this article the average cost of heating a home is £587 a year. (Less than half the total average energy bill - the remainder going on lighting, cooking, hot water etc).
The very best that I can see the magic box achieving is a very marginal saving on that - lets concede (and I am utterly unconvinced) that it allows the system to run 5% more efficiently. Boiler manufacturers will completely re-engineer a model at the cost of £millions to get 1/2 of one percent, so I am being pretty generous here.
Do the maths.
Even if your house is huge, and you have a heating bill of £2000 per year (nearly 4 times the national average) and the magic box delivers a 5% saving (which I am acutely sceptical about), thats £100 per year. £1000 per decade.
In three score years and ten, a theoretical lifetime saving, assuming you owned the property from birth, of £7000. And thats without calculating the lost interest that would have accrued over 70 years if you had just put the installation cost in a building society account.
How much does it cost to install again?
