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New Hydrogen Appliance Labelling

Factory Heaters • March 2, 2022

Hydrogen Appliances

In support of the UK’s Net Zero target, the Government has previously set out plans to significantly cut carbon emissions with the use of new technologies such as Hydrogen and heat pumps, but the success of the strategy will depend on whether the cost of installing heat pumps can be reduced by up to 50% in the short term. The Government’s Hydrogen Strategy confirmed that Hydrogen will be a key component of the UK’s transition to net zero.

With the infrastructure necessary to deliver 100% Hydrogen Ready Appliances still in development, a clear commitment from the government in support of a hydrogen grid is necessary to incentivise boiler manufacturers to develop Hydrogen ready appliances, with projects such as HyDeploy already demonstrating the viability of hydrogen use in homes.

In the meantime, Hydrogen blend compatible water heating and boiler technology exists today to support the UK Governments wish to see hydrogen blending (20% Hydrogen with 80% Natural Gas) introduced by 2023 and manufacturers stand ready to introduce them as a standard products in the replacement cycle, at no additional cost to current natural gas boilers.

Installation of Hydrogen blend compatible boilers

With a significant number of households using mains gas combination boilers, the installation of Hydrogen blend compatible boilers and water heaters is expected to be notably faster and less disruptive than heat pumps, and will not require immediate capital outlays in terms of home upgrade measures as a pre-requisite, making them a preferable option for many consumers.

In support of this strategy the Heating and Hotwater Industry Council (HHIC) membership of appliance manufacturers has agreed new, clear labelling for hydrogen appliances.

The new labels identify three distinct categories of hydrogen appliances:-

The labelling, agreed by appliance manufacturers, will be used to clearly identify products and help consumers to understand the changes that will take place as the transition to Net Zero continues.

“Hydrogen Blend compatible” Appliances

Capable of running on a blend of up to 20 per cent hydrogen in the gas network.
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“Hydrogen Ready” Appliances

Capable of running on a 20 per cent blend but with the capability of being converted by a Gas Safe engineer to run on a 100 per cent hydrogen gas network.
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“100% Hydrogen” Appliances

Water heating and boiler appliances built specifically to run on hydrogen without the need for conversion.

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For more information on Hydrogen Heating appliances.

If your hot water system currently stores hot water for any potential increases in demand, installing Continuous flow water heaters instead will reduce your energy costs dramatically, and they are also Hydrogen Blend Ready, so will support the UK’s zero Carbonisation strategy.