Member Info for 15LIVES

Bilbo

Sounds about right 10 to 14 years. If they were put in correctly in the first place regarding flushing, commissioning etc, and were serviced annually and properly by engineers who had pride in their work, and customers listened to those engineers when they advised them of actions to be taken to protect the whole system and not just the boiler, then there's no reason why boilers shouldn't last thirty plus years.

You've highlighted in saying 10 to 14 years the utter lack of pride and shoddy state of our industry. God knows who you think shall train all these engineers. More perplexing is where those to be trained shall come from. To think those putting boilers in that last a mere decade shall do the training is frightening.

If the new generation heat pumps are able to get the flow temperature up to 80 degrees, as they claim, then that's great news for the UK domestic market, for that is what users in the UK desire. Actually, demand. Coupled with a government grant of £7500 there should be a queue around the block to have them installed. And therein lies the problem. I'm obviously coming at this from an installer's point of view. It's very easy to say, here's a new technology that shall work. There you go. Problem solved. All of this net zero is promised by 2050. I don't think those sitting behind desks, talking the talk, making the decisions and promises have the slightest idea ( or perhaps they do and are just paying lip service), to the magnitude of the undertaking here to meet that target. Of course, new technologies shall, over time, win over. That's inevitable. What's really laughable is this talk that heat pumps can achieve that in a domestic market by 2050. I have customers waiting until March for me to fit them a few radiators. Proving the current gas network can be utilised for hydrogen is the obvious answer to me. Gradually, over time, the percentage of hydrogen can be increased until it gets to 80% of the supply, at which point gas appliances require a simple conversion process with their injectors. As was the case in the 60s and 70s when natural gas replaced town gas. The irony being that approximately half of town gas was hydrogen. I'm not a Luddite, just a realist.

Bilbo

I can't disagree with that. Got no chance of consuming it if they stop pumping it. They could stop pumping it tomorrow in that case. If you think heat pumps are the way to go domestically to getting us to net zero by 2050 then best of luck with that. You're not alone. If it allows those that believe it can, or even shall, happen, and in doing so gives them comfort that we are on the way to solving domestic CO2 emissions, then that in itself is comforting for them. Don't forget that in order to get to net zero all the gas cookers and gas fires have to be got rid of too. Also, so too have the wood burning stoves. And not forgetting all the air source heat pumps that have to be installed in the millions of homes by those paltry few heating engineers need electricity from renewable sources.

Bilbo

The only way to sweep everyone up is to turn off the gas supply. And to do so isn't like turning off landlines for phones. We're talking about people freezing to death. As long as we have natural gas and people connected to it they shall supply it. I am of course talking about getting to net zero by 2050. Domestically, it just won't happen without green hydrogen. And even green hydrogen shall struggle to do that by then. As for your neighbours, I don't know them, or where they are in the country. But I can almost guarantee you they shall be burning something to keep warm or to cook with if they haven't moved with the times as you imply. And in doing so adding their bit of CO2 to the pot.

I have customers with boilers forty years old. So don't hold your breath.

Bilbo

If they were to give heat pumps away for free they still wouldn't be the answer to getting domestic installations to net zero. Too many properties for far too few engineers. Four years ago every property in the UK was supposed to have a smart meter, and they haven't even managed that. And that's just two nuts to undo with a pair of pipe grips. We've got no chance installing hot water cylinders and most probably bigger radiators too into every property in the land if we can't even change the gas meters. 85% of boilers sold in the UK are combination boilers, and so all of those properties need a thermal store installing, and a lot of those are rabbit hutches that don't even have the room. Dont get me wrong, air source and ground source heat pumps work, but on new build and renovation. They won't replace every gas boiler in the land. Listening to the clueless politicians talking about boilers and air source heat pumps is a joke.

Laughton

Hydrogen is the only way to get domestic installations to net zero. I've been saying it for 25 years. As a gas engineer it's been infuriating and perplexing in equal measure watching the political circus around it for the past quarter of a century. You are spot on with us backing out, only for others to show and lead the way, and for us to then play catch up. For that is exactly what shall happen. Thank God we had the balls a few hundred years ago, otherwise we would never have built an empire. We wouldn't have even had the courage to get the ships out of port. I only trade ITM now. In and out last week and in and out this week.

Constructivenews

I think sub 45p could be on the cards as you say. However, I'm in for the moment as a 10% bounce to 55p looks probable before another and lower retrace.

Bugger!

Two days out!

£16.75

eastwood

your post this morning very much suggested that you think someone ought to be invested in a share if commenting on it. for clarity, i stated that these boards have **** stirrers on them. that was a general comment and not one aimed at constructivenews, for that poster has called it correct this week.

And why when I posted then were all my capital letters removed after end of sentence punctuations to make me look stupid!

eastwood

genuine question this is. why do you feel someone has to be invested in a share in order to comment on it?

it's a viewpoint that is prevalent on many, if not all, bulletin boards, and i've never understood it. surely someone can have an interest and follow a particular company or sector and express an opinion on it either way without actually being invested. is that not the point of boards such as this? some are invested; others not. some study the fundamentals to the nth degree; others do not. agreed, some posters can just be **** sturers, but the measure of someone's input should be their opinions and /or share price predictions not whether they are invested or not.

Bought at 53p, sold at 63p. A profit is not a profit until it's taken. May go up into the 70s this week, but if so still think it shall pull back to the 50s.

Constructivenews

Those that shout you down when you predict a lower price very rarely show themselves when your prediction materialises. My prediction of sub 50p has taken three years. A bit longer than yours. But still here it is.

Michaelkelly3

It's a common thread that runs through most, if not all, of the company chat forums. It's a real shame that putting forward a line of thinking on a particular company that runs contary to investors desires, or trying to open up a conversation about how wider sector or economic woes may negatively impact a share price, results in an outcry of deramping accusations and questions of why someone is even interested in a company when not invested.

I've certainly made bad investment decisions along with a few good / lucky calls, but the one thing I have always done is listen objectively to those with a contrarian viewpoint.

Best of luck with your investing.

Michaelkelly3

During the summer of 2020 I was ridiculed and told in no uncertain terms that I was a nutcase and was basically told to f##k off by one poster when I predicted the share price would drop below 50p.

Perrins

whatever that share price prediction may be because apart from a strong buy I haven't put one forward.

Perrins

I certainly do hope my share price prediction here is better than ITM. Those who are invested here certainly do too I'm sure. Time shall tell.

Sowie

Tests are currently being undertaken to see if a blend of 20% hydrogen can be distributed safely within the current gas network without the need to change appliances such as boilers, cookers and fires. If deployed nationally as a 20% mix it would result in a carbon reduction equivalent to removing 2.5 million cars from the road, without the need for consumers to make changes to their appliances. The first operational trial at Keele university was approved last summer as part of the HyDeploy project when it gathered evidence to demonstrate that blended gas at 20 volume per cent hydrogen is as safe to use as natural gas. Gas safety regulations dictate the quality of the gas that can be distributed legally around the UK mains gas grid currently limits the permitted hydrogen content of natural gas to 0.1 volume per cent.

Last month (January) Ofgem awarded millions of pounds to two projects which will develop a network of hydrogen manufactured by wind to 300 homes, and a hydrogen transmission test facility. H100 Fife saw Scottish Grid Network awarded up to £18 million pound towards delivering a 100 per cent green hydrogen generation, storage and distribution network to heat 300 homes. The hydrogen shall be manufactured using offshore wind power and a dedicated local electrolysis plant. The project will be the first of its kind to use a direct clean power supply to produce hydrogen for domestic heating, putting the town of Fife at the forefront of the green energy revolution.

Laboratory work and on-site testing of gas appliances with bottled gas containing up to 28 volume per cent hydrogen to understand any performance implications of blending showed normal operation within the blend. The fundamental effect of hydrogen blending on an appliance that typically operates on natural gas is a marginal increase in the equivalence ratio, which leads to a slight reduction in CO and NOx production. The laboratory work included limit-testing a sample of appliances, which involved increasing the hydrogen content of the fuel until lightback occurred. This showed that lightback did not occur for these appliances until over 80 volume per cent hydrogen, with some achieving over 90 volume per cent hydrogen.

Hope you find this of interest and I haven't sent you to sleep.

I've been invested here since 3p and this is my first post on this board. Many thanks to all those who contribute.