BER blues

Tim Robbins

Hi,
According to my assessor my apartment is coming in at a low E or F.
I am getting hammered because the heating is electric and has no thermostat. The boiler also has no thermostat.

Both the heater and boiler have temperature settings, which you can adjust to make hotter and colder. They just don't have settings where you can specify the exact temperature in celcius you want.

The apartment was built 2002 and I rarely had the heating on.

It's a bit hard to take. I was hoping to get at least a C. Should I get a second opinion or what should I do?

sydthebeat

Tim Robbins wrote: »

Hi,
According to my assessor my apartment is coming in at a low E or F.
I am getting hammered because the heating is electric and has no thermostat. The boiler also has no thermostat.

Both the heater and boiler have temperature settings, which you can adjust to make hotter and colder. They just don't have settings where you can specify the exact temperature in celcius you want.

The apartment was built 2002 and I rarely had the heating on.

It's a bit hard to take. I was hoping to get at least a C. Should I get a second opinion or what should I do?

if the heating for both space and water is electric... its highly unlikely you would ever reach a C rating...

the reason for this is because, with electricity, the primary demand energy value must be multiplied by a conversion factor of 2.7... this is due to most of our power stations being only approx 30% efficient.
Whereas, with gas, oil, biomass etc, this conversion factor is only 1.1.

also, i would consider a stat as a device which regulates temperature, which is what you say you have. I would question the assessor on this, its extremly picky not to accept this as a thermostat.

Tim Robbins

sydthebeat wrote: »

if the heating for both space and water is electric... its highly unlikely you would ever reach a C rating...

the reason for this is because, with electricity, the primary demand energy value must be multiplied by a conversion factor of 2.7... this is due to most of our power stations being only approx 30% efficient.
Whereas, with gas, oil, biomass etc, this conversion factor is only 1.1.

also, i would consider a stat as a device which regulates temperature, which is what you say you have. I would question the assessor on this, its extremly picky not to accept this as a thermostat.

Thanks. The Boiler is also dual immersion.

topcatcbr

sydthebeat wrote: »

also, i would consider a stat as a device which regulates temperature, which is what you say you have. I would question the assessor on this, its extremly picky not to accept this as a thermostat.

I would also consider this a stat But it wont make much difference as it does not control a boiler function only an electric emmersion. Your primary hot water is electric.

I think your assessor is right in his assessment but i have one question. Is it a E or an F. It cannot be both.

topcatcbr

Tim Robbins wrote: »

Thanks. The Boiler is also dual immersion.

This makes no difference. The system allows for the amount of hot water required whether this is a full or half cylinder is in-consequent.

Tim Robbins

topcatcbr wrote: »

I would also consider this a stat But it wont make much difference as it does not control a boiler function only an electric emmersion. Your primary hot water is electric.

I think your assessor is right in his assessment but i have one question. Is it a E or an F. It cannot be both.

He has done some prelimary calculations and said he was hovering between an E2 and an F.

I am wondering should I get a second opinion or is that just a waste of money.

It was built 2002. I lived in it until 2008 and I rarely had heating on. I put in an immersion timer. So 30 minutes of heating water was enough for shower every day.

motherfunker

Why do you care what rating you got, they are completely pointless unless you want to sell or rent your apartment, even then it will probably only matter if the flat next door to you is also for sale or rent and has a better rating than you. BER is an SEI money making racket and a government attempt at making it look like they are doing something for the environment. If you want to make some changes that will make your house more energy efficient, do some searches on the internet, ask in forums, read a few magazines, they will tell you all you need to know without paying a BER assessor who in many cases has very little idea what he is talking about.

sydthebeat

motherfunker wrote: »

Why do you care what rating you got, they are completely pointless unless you want to sell or rent your apartment, even then it will probably only matter if the flat next door to you is also for sale or rent and has a better rating than you. BER is an SEI money making racket and a government attempt at making it look like they are doing something for the environment. If you want to make some changes that will make your house more energy efficient, do some searches on the internet, ask in forums, read a few magazines, they will tell you all you need to know without paying a BER assessor who in many cases has very little idea what he is talking about.

a post like this shows you do not have an understanding of the system.

as an assessor i take offence to your opinion.

perhaps you can tell us how you formed this opinion.... pub talk by any chance?

Tim Robbins

motherfunker wrote: »

Why do you care what rating you got, they are completely pointless unless you want to sell or rent your apartment,

I have to rent / sell apartment. Can you please take your 'big - picture' debate elsewhere?

sinnerboy

Apologies- I am guilty too for the hi-jack

motherfunker

Sorry for dragging the thread away from where you were trying to go. If you are trying to sell/rent then the BER does have a slight impact on you, mainly because you have received such a bad rating, if you had recieved an average rating, then in my view it becomes completely irrelevant.

sydthebeat

motherfunker wrote: »

Sorry for dragging the thread away from where you were trying to go. If you are trying to sell/rent then the BER does have a slight impact on you, mainly because you have received such a bad rating, if you had recieved an average rating, then in my view it becomes completely irrelevant.

please refer to here for a new thread opened based on your discussions.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055510157

Also note, the BER certification is aimed as being relevant to the PURCHASER..... not to the VENDOR.

This clarification is fundamental to the understanding of the scheme.

please continue this discussion in the above linked thread.

brianmacl

Tim Robbins wrote: »

I have to rent / sell apartment. Can you please take your 'big - picture' debate elsewhere?

If you are selling the property your assessor may give you an extra letter saying that if you made x,y and z changes you would achieve a D or C rating and that there are grants available for y and Z changes. This means that your estate agent should be able to minimize the effect of the rating on your property and the BER has the desired effect by people improve their energy consumption.

rent / sell ..... I presume by the way you discuss it that you live in the property. just note that if you bought this property as a first time buyer and did not pay stamp duty you can't rent it out if you have lived in it for less than 2 years.

I have had to give three apartments E ratings because they had electric storage heating.

Tim Robbins

brianmacl wrote: »

If you are selling the property your assessor may give you an extra letter saying that if you made x,y and z changes you would achieve a D or C rating and that there are grants available for y and Z changes. This means that your estate agent should be able to minimize the effect of the rating on your property and the BER has the desired effect by people improve their energy consumption.

rent / sell ..... I presume by the way you discuss it that you live in the property. just note that if you bought this property as a first time buyer and did not pay stamp duty you can't rent it out if you have lived in it for less than 2 years.

I have had to give three apartments E ratings because they had electric storage heating.

I am living in my wife's apartment now. But we'll have to sell my one soon.
What year were the apartments you gave the E ratings to built?

Thanks.

brianmacl

Tim Robbins wrote: »

I am living in my wife's apartment now. But we'll have to sell my one soon.
What year were the apartments you gave the E ratings to built?

Thanks.

As far as I can remember they were from the 90's

Tim Robbins

brianmacl wrote: »

As far as I can remember they were from the 90's

a 2002 apartment with electric heating, what should I be getting?

topcatcbr

Tim Robbins wrote: »

a 2002 apartment with electric heating, what should I be getting?

About an E

brianmacl

Tim Robbins wrote: »

a 2002 apartment with electric heating, what should I be getting?

Tim

Think about your apartment as a box with six sides, now how many of them touch or part touch out the outside. if the cieling or floor and at least two of the walls touch the outside you could easily be looking at a D or an E.

if your apartment is half the size of a regulare 3 bed semi you have to remember that if the three bed semi is a B3 rating it have roughly about the same carbon footprint as your place.