Thursday, December 30, 2010

Boiler Boiler, Toil and Trouble. . .

There is an old saying that God watches over idiots and drunks. But the arrogantly stupid are another matter. In fact, the universe seems to love messing with those people, and it LOVES ironic punishments. Take the case of Britain, a leading proponent of global warming, and the “condensing boiler.”

Five years ago, drunk with self-righteousness, New Labor passed a law outlawing existing boiler technology. In its place, New Labor decreed that the people would use condensing boilers. Thus, it became illegal to install any kind of boiler other than a condensing boiler. Consequently, eight million of these things have been put into service in Britain, and every year another 1.2 million of the old ones are scrapped.

The reason for this change was simple: global warming must be real, despite the science to the contrary, because all the right people say it is. By forcing people to install condensing boilers instead of the old kind favored by the ignorant masses, everyone would save money in the long run on fuel bills and the country’s carbon footprint would be reduced.

Here’s why. A regular boiler produces hot gases when the methane fuel is burned off to heat water for radiators, dishwashers, tap water, etc. Around 25% of that heat vents out the exhaust pipe in the form of steam and evil CO2. But a condensing boiler captures that steam, lets it condense back into water, and returns it to the system. According to advocates, this should increase the efficiency of the units from 75% to 93% and will thereby lower fuel bills and reduce carbon emissions. Hurray! Praise the maker!

But something went wrong between the drawing board and reality.

First, these things cost around £2,000, which is a lot more than the older versions. Indeed, assuming the fuel bill savings are as advertised, it will take ten years to make up the price difference over the older models. BUT... these things don’t last ten years. According to a plumbers association in London, the boilers are only likely to last three to six years, whereas the old ones lasted twenty years. Moreover, the replacement parts are so expensive that it’s usually cheaper just to replace a broken unit than it is to have it repaired.

Secondly, these things don’t work as advertised. For the water to condense, it needs to be below 55 degrees Celsius. But the steam typically produced is around 65 degrees Celsius. To fix this, customers either need to buy over-sized radiators for their homes (thereby wiping out the environmental efficiency benefits) or pipes need to be installed into the walls and floors to let the steam cool. This can cost thousands of pounds.

Third, the condensed water vapor is often acidic, as it contains nitrogen and sulphur oxides, and will corrode the boiler components and lead to breakdowns.

But the biggest, most ironic problem of them all was exposed over the past few weeks. See, it turns out that while this steam is racing through these pipes to cool off and condense, the cold air from a particularly cold winter. . . like the one they are having at the moment despite claims that global warming would end such weather forever. . . will cause the condensed water to freeze up into ice. This blocks the pipes. Once the boiler senses the blockage, it shuts down.

Yep. No heat.

In Yorkshire alone this past week, very angry British people called British Gas to come fix 60,000 units because they froze up. The cost of these plumber visits ran between £200 to £300 per visit, plus 20% VAT tax.

So think of the irony: a record cold snap that should no longer exist according to global warming enthusiasts, is destroying heaters that are being foisted on people by those same enthusiasts for the sole purpose of stopping the global warming that isn’t coming. Way to not-solve a non-problem! If that isn’t the definition of irony, then I don’t know what is.

Moreover, this technology that was meant to save the planet costs more and ultimately pollutes more (when you consider the scrapage and the cost of replacing units more frequently) than the tried and true technologies it was meant to replace. In other words, the enthusiasts made the very problem they are combating worse.

Nice huh?

24 comments:

Tennessee Jed said...

A great example of the kind of story overlooked by the mainstream liberal media. Incredibly interesting, and while I agree the irony is delicious, I feel sorry for the conservative minority over there (just as, at times, I've felt that way about here.) I can only hope that maybe the Brits will begin to see the light and have their very own tea party epiphany.

Patti said...

is it wrong that every time an arrogantly stupid ass is proved WRONGO BUCKO by the universe that i point and laugh?

lesson: greed + arrogant stupidity = universe WILL deliver the BOOM!

LawHawkRFD said...

Andrew: The problem is that the Brits haven't discovered the new technology which solves the freezing problem. First, you install the solar panels which cover the entire roof structure. They feed heating coils to the portion of the unit that currently freezes. The really new technology is the lunar panels (aka "loonies") that do the same thing at night. And the really, really new technology is the "Pfffft" unit, which eliminates acid and CO2 and turns them into gold. Did I mention that the technology is only available from one company? LawHawk Technologies of California LLC. Phone number and rates available upon request.

Tennessee Jed said...

hawk, did you happen to partner with algore on this? just checkin' to see if a nobel or oscar is on the horizon for you.

AndrewPrice said...

Jed, I feel sorry for the innocent conservatives who get hurt by liberal policies as well, but it's very hard to feel sorry for the liberals who do this to themselves. I'm sure there was an incredible amount of smugness on display when they passed this stupid law and probably a lot of finger-pointing at evil conservatives who opposed the new utopia.

In terms of the topic, you're right, this is the sort of thing that gets buried by a media that just doesn't want to talk about anything that discredits their side.

AndrewPrice said...

Patti, that's not wrong at all, in fact, I think it should be required. It's very hard to feel sorry for people who are so self-righteous about their stupidity as liberals are.

LawHawkRFD said...

Tennessee: No, but he did send some rather large guys in unmarked cars to "negotiate" with me for a deal. I demurred. The last thing I heard as they left was that I would be up to my arse in dead polar bears if I didn't come around. Or maybe it was live polar bears.

AndrewPrice said...

Lawhawk, That sounds like great technology! The only problem is the production of gold, which could lead to excessive capitalism. Environmentalism needs to hurt. . . it's just not good for the planet if it doesn't hurt.

AndrewPrice said...

Jed, LOL! And if he doesn't win either of those, he could win the NFL Superbowl MVP.... oh wait, that's going to Obama this year!

AndrewPrice said...

Save the polar bears Lawhawk. I don't care what it takes or even if it works, just save the polar bears! They are running out of ice for their drinks!

T_Rav said...

Lawhawk, you'll let us know if you wake up one day with a polar bear's head in your bed--won't you?

More seriously, Drudge has a link up saying Britain's winter may be the coldest in 1000 years. I doubt it's anywhere near that bad, but the irony is rather satisfying. At least none of the global warming fanatics are trying to claim this somehow PROVES global warming is happening...

BevfromNYC said...

As I was reading I kept thinking hmmm water vapor and coldest winter. I bet it is freezing in the pipes! Yep, one paragraph later...

Is this from the same company that brought us "low flow" toilets and showerheads? How much you want to bet that the Brits are going to start burning coal and peat in their fireplaces. Where's Dickens when you need him.

BevfromNYC said...

LawHawk: At least algore's "people" aren't threatening you with baby harp seals. I hate it when they threaten with baby harp seals.

AndrewPrice said...

T_Rav, Some of them are. Some of them are claiming that "the severity" of the winter is being caused by global warming.

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, I think it is brought to you by the same people who brought us the low flow toilet and the low flow shower head. Who else would decide to impose a one-size-fits all solution across the board without thinking if it made any sense and before the technology needed to impose that solution was working properly?

JB1000 said...

The only way to produce steam at 65C is to operate under a partial vacuum. If you need to run a vacuum pump, wouldn't that use more energy? Something doesn't sound right to me.

AndrewPrice said...

JB, I'm not technical enough to answer that question, but it would not surprise me. One of the plumbing associations said that the whole condensing boiler issue was a total "con" perpetrated on consumers, and it certainly seems that way if you are replacing something that last 20 year with something that costs more, works more poorly, and lasts only 3-5 years, all in the name of false science.

LawHawkRFD said...

Bev: I know what you mean. It makes me feel guilty every time I wear my baby harp seal coat.

T_Rav said...

Andrew, yeah, I know. The dots at the end were supposed to be sarcastic.

This just proves why global warming is completely unscientific, if you use the definitions of the late great Karl Popper. To be scientific, a claim has to be falsifiable; that is, capable of being proven false. If every little quirk in our climate is going to be interpreted as a symptom of global warming, there's nothing to point to as proof that it isn't: ergo, it isn't falsifiable and therefore not scientific (kind of like Marxism, or Freudian psychiatry).

AndrewPrice said...

T_Rav, I figured you were being sarcastic, but I thought I'd point that out anyway in case other readers didn't know about it.

Excellent observation about being "falsifiable." That seems to be a great way to distinguish scientific principle from "desire for something to be true." Sadly, you see it all the time where people confuse their own desires with science and logic. These people will spin anything into support for their beliefs -- no matter how much they need to twist it -- and they will ignore ever principle of logic and reasoning, disclaim, ignore or angrily attack all facts that contradict their desired belief, and then they have the nerve to claim that they are the ones who are speaking for science and reasoning. It gets to be beyond idiotic when you start arguing with these people.

Biggyrat said...

I work with these boilers all of the time, and I can tell you they are junk! Obviously designed by a group of highly educated, deep thinking engineers. The kind who have probably never turned a wrench in their lives. The military geniuses have had these pieces of crap installed all over the base where I work, it's a freaking nightmare. All in the name of energy efficiency, but hey, if the boilers are broken down, they aren't using any fuel. Viola' the planet, she is saved!

AndrewPrice said...

Biggyrat, Thanks for your insight!

Regarding the boilers, everything I've read was negative. Absolutely no one said these things were any good.

On the idea of the "Deep thinkers", that's a common problem in engineering -- that the engineers don't have real life experience and end up making products that sounds great in theory but just don't work in practice. In fact, I'm told that one of the things that's turned Ford around as a company in the past couple years has been that they've begun forcing their engineers to work with others to avoid the problem of creating designs that can't be made or don't work in the real world.

Individualist said...

You know this reminds me of a diswcussion I had with my brother in laws father who lives in Lawrence KS, a blue island in a Sea of Red.

He was explaining that currently one only got one trash pickup a week and was limited to one can, anymore and you had to pay extra.

He stated that soom they wanted to start charging people by the pound to pick up the garbage.

I asked the simple question in my increduity "What happens when people start dropping garbage on the side of the interstate to avoid paying the extra fee?"

His answer.... "the Progressives that run LAwrence KS have never been known for their deep thinking"

Amazing!

AndrewPrice said...

Individualist, Thinking things through has never been a liberal trait. They see a problem, they reach for the easy short term solution, and then they are stunned to find out that there are unintended consequences. This (and your garbage example) are no different -- see a problem, impose the easiest solution possible whether or not it really work, feel smug, and then act outraged when it doesn't work. . . usually followed by recriminations of everyone else.

Post a Comment