ECO Scheme Grants for first time gas central heating.

If your home has never had a central heating system fitted before and has a mains gas supply and gas meter, you may qualify for a grant to install a gas central heating boiler, radiators and all the associated pipework and control systems.  Your home must have either no heating at all or one of the following heating systems:

ECO Scheme Grants for Air Source Heat Pumps

Also referred to as a first time central heating grant, this applies if your home has never had a central heating system fitted before but it doesn’t have a gas supply, you may qualify for a grant to install an air source heat pump with radiators.

Air source heat pumps systems contain a liquid which absorbs heat from the air outside your home and uses a compressor to increase its temperature. This can be transferred inside to heat central heating radiators and to provide hot water. They can even work when the temperature outside is below zero.

One way to think about how air source heat pumps work is to consider a refrigerator working in reverse.

The EPC for your home must be E, F or G.

ECO Scheme Grants for Gas Boilers

If you have broken or inefficient non-condensing mains gas boiler, you may qualify for an ECO grant to replace it with a new energy efficient condensing gas boiler.

Grants are only available to replace non-condensing mains gas boilers. You can tell which type of boiler you have by checking the boiler flue on the outside wall of your home. If it is metal you probable have a non-condensing boiler, if it is plastic it is more likely to be a condensing boiler.

Condensing boiler are more energy efficient and use more of the heat they generate to heat your home, there is less heat wasted to the outside, hence they can have plastic flues. Non-condensing boilers waste more heat energy to the outside which means that they need metal flues to cope with it.

The EPC for your home must be D, E, F or G for homeowners or E, F or G for private tenants.

ECO Scheme Grants to install Electric Storage Heaters

If the main source of heating in your home is electric panel heaters (either attached to a wall or portable), you may qualify for an ECO grant to replace them with high heat retention electric storage heaters.

Please note that ECO grants are only available to replace electric panel heaters with new storage heaters, grants are not available to replace old storage heaters with new ones.

Electric storage heaters are domestic heaters which store thermal energy and release it to heat your home when you need it. They are especially designed to convert cheap night time, off-peak electricity into thermal energy, store it, and then release it continuously throughout the day.  This is why they are sometimes referred to as night storage heaters.

Modern high heat retention electric storage heaters are much more energy efficient than their predecessors. They have better insulation to preserve the stored heat longer and a convection facility to top up the heat required for very cold days. They have LCD displays which allow you to see heat input & output levels and intelligent control systems which learn your heating requirements.

Also, the EPC for your home must be E, F or G.

ECO Scheme Grants for Solar PV Panels

Solar PV (photovoltaic) panels absorb the sun’s light energy and convert it to electrical energy. This electricity can be used in your home straight away or can be stored in a battery for use later.

Solar power is a renewable and infinite energy source that creates no harmful greenhouse gas emissions – as long as the sun continues to shine, energy will be released. Solar panels need to be installed on a south or west facing roof to maximise their effectiveness but they can also work on cloudy days as they only require a small amount of light to start working.