ASK THE EXPERT Stylish,
sustainable & functional
Charlton & Jenrick managing director Peter Mintoft speaks to The Selfbuilder’s James Parker about all things secondary heating including sustainability, trends, and what the future holds.
WHAT EXACTLY IS SECONDARY HEATING? Secondary heating is very complementary to primary heating systems. We focus very carefully on secondary heating, which sits in the middle of primary systems and temporary/plug-in systems, i.e. installed
fi replaces, stoves, and electric and gas fi res.
If you listen to government advice they often focus on primary heating systems, but if you get the right appliance a secondary system can give you a very good enhancement to
your living space and provide heat in an economical way as well. Secondary heating makes your living space more enjoyable, with many self-builders desiring the focal point of a fi replace.
WHAT DO I NEED TO CONSIDER BEFORE CHOOSING AN APPLIANCE & WHERE CAN I GET ADVICE?
Things like gas supplies, electricity supplies, or fl ue systems which is a very complex area. Secondary heating utilises regulated energy supplies – electricity has to fi t with national regulation, and gas is highly regulated. Flues and chimneys are very specialist as well, there are specifi c regulations applying to chimneys. We deal mostly with the independent
retail network – local businesses who can provide a really good service to an end user, advise them from the very beginning right through to actually switching it on and using it. They can help you navigate the minefi eld that can be secondary heating!
HOW ARE MANUFACTURERS FUTUREPROOFING & ALIGNING PRODUCTS WITH SUSTAINABILITY TRENDS? It’s different per fuel type. Although gas is understandably frowned upon a little now, it is a very cost effective heat source compared with electricity and other solid fuels. We’re moving over to hydrogen in line with government initiatives – you can get hydrogen-gas boilers and we now produce hydrogen- gas fi res as well. e’re also hoping to see a transition on gas where 20% hydrogen will be injected into the natural gas line, reducing the carbon intensity – which our gas fi res are prepared for. We’ve improved the effi ciency of our appliances on all fronts – gas, electric and solid fuel and that is to get more heat for customers into the property. The electricity supply is also becoming greener, and we utilise things like LED technology to make them look fantastic.
Sustainable primary heating systems such as heat pumps are under huge loads and we’ve learned from Scandinavia that wood burning stoves, for example, are complementary to that system – they don’t compete with each other.
I’VE HEARD WOOD BURNING STOVES ARE POLLUTING – IS THAT TRUE? There’s a lot of misinformation around about pollution from wood burning. The industry as a whole has been developing
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