DECEMBER 31, 2023By Paul Homewood h/t Ian Magness They’re...

DECEMBER 31, 2023

By Paul Homewood

h/t Ian Magness

They’re lurching from one silly idea to another:

The military is shunning heat pumps and instead warming soldiers’ homes with cutting-edge electric boilers that cost less to run.

Ministry of Defence (MoD) officials have been working on “Project Nixie” since 2020, The Telegraph can reveal, focusing on finding alternatives to heat pumps for barracks.

Much of the MoD’s domestic building stock is not suitable for heat pumps, which have only been fitted in a “very small proportion” of military homes.

An MoD spokesperson said that the project was launched to find a cheaper alternative to heat pumps, which require comprehensive and expensive work to a property before installation.

One possible solution is by using Cylo boilers, which the Telegraph understands are currently being fitted in four homes at the Duke of Gloucester Barracks in South Cerney, Glos, as part of a pilot project due to start early in 2024.

Cylo is a fridge-sized, emission-free electric boiler that is cheaper to run and more effective than a heat pump.

It is also greener than a gas boiler and requires no major works to a building before it can be installed.

The boiler uses a pressurised water tank as a thermal battery, using off-peak and cheap electricity to create a “heat reservoir” that then powers radiators when needed.

Standing around 6ft tall and weighing around 250kg before being filled with water, it can be fitted in a ground floor room or on the outside of a building.

The product currently costs around £20,000 per unit, but manufacturers believe that the cost of the product will lower with time.

It is not available commercially but is being sold to large landlords, such as government departments and councils.

Documents show that the MoD paid about £5,000 to install each of the four trial devices, similar to the cost of installing a traditional gas boiler.

It warms water as effectively as a gas boiler, its makers claim, is cheaper to run and can be used with variable tariffs.

Heat pumps, however, are unable to warm radiators as effectively, meaning measures to improve home energy efficiency are often needed, such as roof and wall insulation, new windows and doors and bigger radiators – costs that can run to tens of thousands of pounds for older houses.

The Government offers a grant of up to £7,500 for heat pump installation but does not cover the costs of making a house ready for a heat pump.

The Government admits that solid wall insulation itself can cost £15,000 on older houses.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/12/30/military-trials-cutting-edge-electric-boilers-heat-pumps/

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At least they’ve the good sense to recognise that heat pumps are totally unfit for purpose. But a solution that costs £20,000 plus £5000 installation is hardly any better.

As for the claim that it is cheaper to run than a gas boiler, they are gaslighting. Electricity prices are about four times those of gas, and there are no efficiency savings with a Cylo, which also cannot provide hot water, meaning yet more costs.

Even off peak electricity rates are much higher than gas. I pay Octopus 26.52p for standard electricity and 6.83p for gas, per KWh. Their off peak rate is 15.91p, still more than double the price of gas. But they also charge a much higher peak rate of 42.43p between 16.00 and 19.00, offsetting some of the savings:

As for the army, whoever thought it a good idea to waste £100k on this project should be court-martialled!