The Anonymous Widower

I’m Getting A New Hydrogen-Ready Boiler

The pump in my current nine-year-old boiler has died and it needs to be replaced.

The plumber gave me two solutions.

• Put a new pump in the old boiler.
• Replace the boiler with the current version of the old boiler.

Note.

1. The plumber said the new boiler would be hydrogen-ready.
2. I seem to remember the same pump failed before.
3. The pump had failed because of a water-leak into its electrics.
4. Was the previous failure of the pump caused by the same water-leak?
5. Fitting a heat pump in my house would probably cost more than I could afford.
6. The new boiler would come with a ten-year guarantee.

As an engineer, I can see the following scenarios for heating my house and providing hot water.

1. Keeping Calm And Carrying On

This means that the current arrangements for energy continue.

• There would be no compulsory heat pumps.
• There would be no change to any of my hardware, after installing the new boiler.
• I would continue to get gas for heating and hot water  delivered through the mains.

The new boiler solution should give me ten years of reasonably trouble free-running, so long as the gas was natural gas, hydrogen blend or hydrogen.

2. Keeping Calm And Carrying On But My Energy Supplier Switches My Gas To 20 % Hydrogen-Blend

This means that the current arrangements for energy continue.

• There would be no compulsory heat pumps.
• There would be no change to any of my hardware, after installing the new boiler.
• I would continue to get gas for heating and hot water  delivered through the mains.
• The gas pipe into my house would have to be checked for compatibility with hydrogen-blend. But then I encountered no problems when switched from coal-gas to North Sea Gas around 1970.

The new boiler solution should give me ten years of reasonably trouble free-running, so long as the gas was natural gas, hydrogen-blend or hydrogen.

3. Keeping Calm And Carrying On But My Energy Supplier Switches My Gas To 100 % Hydrogen

This means that the current arrangements for energy continue.

• There would be no compulsory heat pumps.
• There would be no change to any of my hardware, after installing the new boiler.
• I would continue to get gas for heating and hot water  delivered through the mains.
• The gas pipe into my house would have to be checked for compatibility with hydrogen.

The new boiler solution should give me ten years of reasonably trouble free-running, so long as the gas was natural gas, hydrogen blend or hydrogen.

4. Switching To Some Form Of Heat Pump

• This would mean that I would go all electric.
• My house is a concrete lump and a guy I trust, said it would be difficult to fit a heat pump.
• I am suspicious of scientific and technical solutions proposed by politicians.

I’m not saying, I’d never use a heat pump, but I will take a lot of convincing.

5. Switching To Some New Form Of Electric Heating

I have seen two companies, which use the excess heat from a data centre to heat water for central heating and/or hot water for domestic needs.

• heata is a spin out from Centrica, that provides hot water and saves you money on your utility bill.
• thermify is a startup from Wales, that replaces the gas boiler, with an electric one.

There are probably other similar systems under development.

From my knowledge of computing and electrical engineering, I believe devices like this could be new form of cost-efficient electric heating.

Because my house has three-bedrooms, I would need a thermify, for both heating and hot water, but a heata working in tandem with my gas boiler could probably keep me in hot water.

I would feel that large blocks of flats or offices could have a data centre in the basement to provide heat for the building.

I would also suspect, that there are other devices out there, that work on different principles.

My Decision

I’m fitting a new boiler, as that should give me ten years’guarantee-backed and trouble free running and future-proof me for all possible government decisions, except saying that everybody must fit a heat pump.

When, this new boiler pops its clogs, i would hope, that some clever engineers have come up with a plug-compatible electric replacement for the new boiler I am about to have fitted.

September 8, 2025 - Posted by AnonW | Computing, Hydrogen | Centrica, Data Centre, Heat Pump, heata, Heating, Hydrogen Blend, Natural Gas, Thermify