Nathan dives into the history of heating systems and looks at why chemical inhibitors were introduced to prevent corrosion. He also points out that manufactures are possibly misinterpreting the building regulations e.g. they are getting confused with a requirement within the building regs  and the guidance contained in an approved document. It also takes a look at the Benchmark system and questions if it is fit for purpose. Is it biased towards maintaining growth of the chemical inhibitor...

In this episode Nathan interviews Faye Wade, his favourite academic researching the heating industry. This is because Faye understands that the most vital component of the industry is the engineer and that we need to really listen to them. Joining Faye are Nathan's friends Leah, Sovay and Rhiannon who are all involved in installing and maintaining heating systems. This is a fab episode with lot's of discussion around the transition to heat pumps and things like certification bodies,...

Alongside usual episodes from the BetaTalk Podcast, Nathan will be helping the Carbon Trust and the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero disseminate knowledge around the learnings from the Heat Pump Ready Programme with around 10 extra podcast episodes. This is episode 1 of these special Heat Pump Ready bulletins.   The Heat Pump Ready Programme is part of the The Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, which  is a £1 billion fund, announced in the Prime Minister’s ten point plan for a green...

In this conversation Nathan chats with Jonny Hancock, product manager at NIBE about some of the products and solutions they have on offer including their new exhaust air heat pump being launched at the InstallerShow 2023 You can find the links discussed on the show below NIBE Training University of West London PVT case study Support the show

*Update: in this episode Damon and host Nathan realised after editing there was a mistake. An easy one to make as engineers like Damon have so many numbers running around in their head. He mentions he sizes radiators to 50°C when in fact Damon is one of the engineers who designs to a lower flow temp of 40-45*C for a radiator heating circuit. In this episode we speak to the fabulous engineers Damon from Blakemore Plumbing and Heating and Barry from Renewable Heat about quotations. It's a hot...

I really enjoyed this episode chatting with Andrew Middleton, Managing Director at British Gas Zero and Steve Petrie, regional manager at British Gas Zero who also is a former British Gas engineer. I brought along for the ride my friend Adam Gilhespy from Carno to help me host the conversation as he also is a former British Gas engineer and like Andrew  understands strategy and processes.  For anyone who knows my podcast I started it so on the ground engineers could have a more amplified...

Recycled refrigerant and Energy Performance Declarations are discussed in this episode alongside the wider discussion around whole life carbon and the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard. Nathan's guests are: Ryan Philp, the Business Development Manager at Daikin  Ellie Burkill, Energy Sustainability Consultant at XCO2 Sara Godinho, Associate at XCO2 To hear what Daikin are doing with recycled refrigerant skip to 1 hour 2 mins... a link is provided in the chapters tab Support the show

The BetaTalk podcast speaks to friends at Kensa about their approach to using heat pump technology for domestic heating. Nathan and Wouter Thijssen, MD at Kensa Contracts, explain 5th generation heat networks (known as ambient loop) and how they are different to other types of district heating. For more info about the  check out the links below ITV NEWS Financial Times BBC Support the show

Fantastic guests and a fantastic episode which digs deep into the Energy Performance Certificate.  Nathan is joined by Madhuban Kumar, CEO of Carbon Laces; Stuart Fairlie, MD of Elmhurst Energy and Marcus Shepheard from the Climate Change Committee   Support the show

Lots of frustration among gas engineers. Do we value the work they have been doing for so long? They are an incredibly important sector of the heating community as we will be relying on them for the transition. Support the show

This is the 100th episode so a big thank you to all the listeners and all those who have taken part. BIG THANK YOU TO MyEnergi who are this season's sponsor It features  European policy expert Louise Sunderland from the RAPUK policy and innovation expert Guy Newy from Energy Systems Catapult (past sponsor of the podcast)AND expert heating engineer  Welsy Hort from West Hampstead Plumbing and Heating. Wesly is one of the renowned BetaTalk #heatarchitects - leading heating engineers who are...

Mark from the architectural practice LEAP discusses with Nathan airtightness, ventilation, thermal comfort and passivhaus. Questions arise such as should more loft insulation be put in and how windows ideally should be fitted. A few papers are mentioned and the links can be found here: Passivhaus Secrets (Free Documentary Case Studies) Passivhaus Training Thermal Bypass Risks Support the show

Measuring Heat pump system design with Brendon from Heacol Link to slides for the test can be found here THE TEST RIG Brendon discusses how he first designed the test rig with Ulster University  for testing the heat pump he had built which is specifically adapted for UK climate, the UK's building stock and how the homes in the UK are commonly heated e.g. a combi boiler. When RHI was first introduced, it required heat pumps to have costly certification and sadly Brendon's heat pump had to be...

We chat to Szymon from Urban Plumbers who is now installing heat pumps to get a glimpse into that journey. Szymon has a great YouTube channel which you can find here Support the show

Nathan chats with Tarik Bellahcene from the European Heat Pump Association about Keymark Support the show

We spoke with Graeme Fox from BESA about the first world ventilate day. You can watch live also their webinar which will also be recorded 12:00pm GMT - Tuesday 8 November 2022 Join our panel of experts as they discuss how good ventilation can improve health and wellbeing as well as protect buildings. We will share top ventilation tips and practical solutions to implement your home, school or workplace. They answer the key questions such as:  What is ventilation? What is the right solution...

We chat to Phil Jones from Alpha about boilers and their need to be working better with proper control.  We also mention the hybrid offering from Alpha where for aprox. £3100 a home owner can have a new boiler which is connected to a 4kW fan coil unit outside. Enjoy the  episode and thanks for listening  Support the show

Fantastic episode with Barry who runs Renewable Heat up in Scotland. We discuss his heat pump journey as well as his work with the plumbing and heating association Snipef. We discuss lots such as MCS, the NIBE PVT system, sizing heat pumps and the new service which www.heatpimpsurvey.com provides which measures rather than calculates heat loss. We also mention how some of the old solid wall buildings are some of Barry's best performing systems. Defrost cycles are discussed and how a heat...

Nathan chats to the MD of EOGB about a UK first - a domestic modulating oil boiler. The boiler uses open therm to modulate the flame and will output different flow temps to the radiators or other heating emitters.  Nathan starts the episode with a little pre-amble about the importance of flow temps constantly changing to match the demand of the property.  Enjoy! Support the show

We are joined by Richard Burrows from Mid Wales Plumbing and Heating Supplies who is an expert on heating control strategy. Richard talks about the types of modulation - load compensation and weather compensation and how all boilers should be controlled this way. To understand modulation I have written an article with a funny analogy here With advice about turning boiler temperatures down for combination boilers 'combis' Richard chats about heating systems using cylinders and how the...

Nathan chats with his friend Dave who runs and owns Condensate Pro and now Primary Pro. Primary Pro is a polyethylene product which comes pre painted making it easier to use than class O insulation. He has also developed Bond & Seal which can be applied all weathers unlike the contact adhesive which is used for Class O. The conversation is a useful resource for people wanting to understand the types of pipe insulation available and how to install it correctly, especially for heat pump...

Nathan is a big supporter of diversity within the heating industry and this special episode is the first ever BetaTalk podcast takeover e.g. Nathan is not in it.  The episode has been hosted by three remarkable women who are involved in  plumbing and heating: Sovey, Leah and Rhiannon. They interviewed one of Nathan's friends Andy who has been involved in the industry for quite some time.  A fun packed episode with all kinds of interesting stuff Support the show

Nathan has a great chat with Daniel Newport from the Tony Blair Institute for Climate and one of his regular renewable heating engineers James from Elite Services Group based in Hull. Daniel previously held a senior position at BEIS and was part of the team that introduced the target of 600,000 heat pumps by 2028. All sorts of interesting stuff in this episode.   Support the show

Nathan hosted a live podcast to discuss heat pumps at the industry's favourite show. On the guest panel were Heat Architects Steve Webster and Si Posket along with the podcasts expert guest on commercial refrigeration Lisa-Jayne Season 6 of BetaTalk is being sponsored by Farnell We also like to thank the European Heat Pump Association and Key Mark in helping to promote life long learning within the sector Support the show

Ofgem have been collecting performance data on heat pump installs and Nathan chats to Collin Meek from RB&M who has analysed the data. The report summary can be found here Learn what COP (coefficient of performance) SCOP and SPF (seasonal performance factor) all mean as well as their limitations. Are heat pumps in the UK performing well? Find out in this great episode. A big thanks to season 6 sponsors Farnell Also a big thanks to Tado, The European Heat Pump Association and Key...