My old bathrooms website is here. Beware, it is an old site and I don't maintain it. Some of the info will be out of date.
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Warm air boilers and heating systems... ....were very trendy in the large housing estates built in the 1970s and 1980s, but have been largely superceded by water-filled radiator systems these days. A surprising number of warm air systems still exist though, and a significant proportion of my work is servicing and repairing them. (I hold the right certificates to competently and legally work on domestic gas-fired warm air heaters). Most people who live with warm air heating seem to actually like it. A well designed system is quiet, warms the house very quickly and the absence of radiators makes room layout much easier. On the other hand, some people report problems with draughts, dust being wafted around the house, and problems with temperature control. Draughts are caused by incorrect system design or incorrectly set air outlet grills, dust should be removed by an air filter (sometimes missing) and poor temperature control can be improved by cleaning the filter(!) or having proportional control instead of an on/off room thermostat. Most people with well-designed warm air systems really like them. Most other people have already taken their warm air out and replaced it with a 'proper' radiator system!
Maintenance of warm air... ... can be a problem. Faults are generally easy to trace and fix but few Gas Safe Register bods are inclined to try as most do not have the (compulsory) 'warm air' qualification. Sadly when faced with a warm air system there is a tendancy for some technicians to condemn it and advise the customer to replace it with a conventional radiator system rather than admit it is an appliance for which they are not qualified. This is appallingly unprofessional in my opinion but I encounter customers from time to time who have had this problem. For example I was contacted a while ago by a new customer whose warm air heater had been (incorrectly) disconnected from the gas supply and labeled as dangerous by another gas engineer. This chap then helpfully provided a quotation of £3,000 to fit a new boiler with radiators. I re-connected the gas supply, serviced and and tested the warm air system and found nothing wrong with it. The water heater attached to it was dangerously sooted up but this was easily repaired and both appliances are now back in use and operating safely. The customer was so pleased he wrote this letter thanking me. There IS a problem with warm air heating in general though. It relates to 'ventilation'. Most warm air heaters are 'open flued'. This means they have a 'chimney' type flue to remove the burned gas, or products of combustion. For the open flue to work correctly and safely it is of critical importance to have a ventilation grill to outside air that lets fresh air IN to replace the flue gas going OUT (up the chimney flue), and to provide oxygen for combustion. If a correctly sized ventilator to outside does not exist then the warm air heater is potentially dangerous to use, and many installations I encounter do NOT have such a ventilator. A ventilator was almost always fitted as part of the original installation but users fail to appreciate the significance or importance of the ventilators and have them blocked up to get rid of the draught they sometimes create. The original ventilators are often installed through windows or door panels and are lost when double glazing is installed and/or new doors replaced. This is DANGEROUS! If you invite me to service or repair your warm air heater I am obliged by law to carry out a set of four safety checks and one of them is checking for adequate ventilation. If I find your installation has inadequate ventilation I am obliged to issue a Warning Notice and take action to ensure the installation is made safe. This can come as a bit of a shock when you were expecting me to can service or repair your appliance, and protestations from householders that 'it's been like that for years' carry no weight. I have no choice. It is a legal obligation on all gas installers to carry out the safety checks and 'make safe' any installation that presents a risk to an occupier. A further drawback to warm air heating is inflexibility. The system is
designed as a whole and cannot be easily extended at a later date if, for
example, the house is extended. When a house with warm air heating is extended
it usually makes sense to abandon the warm air heating and fit a conventional
wet radiator system. Hot water with warm air heating... ...is not the same as with a water-filled central heating boiler. Either a
hot water cylinder with electric immersion heater or an 'ascot' style gas-fired
instantaneous water heater can be used, but the best option is the 'Janus' water
heater accessory which fits inside the warm air heater casing. This is a
miniature gas boiler designed to heat just a hot water cylinder (and bathroom
towel rail if needed), and they work very well. Specific warm air boilers... The warm air market was once populated by many big names but since wet central heating achieved dominance they all went to the wall except one, which now dominates. Johnson and Starley Ltd have the market to themselves, and they do a pretty good job of looking after it! They have a huge factory in Northampton where they make new warm air boilers in every imaginable configuration as direct replacements for many of the long obsolete boiler models. They also manufacture spares for not only their own boilers but also several of their dead competitors' warm air heaters including Balmforth and Myson. So if you've been told 'can't get the parts for it mate, it'll have to come out', do some checking first before accepting that advice :-)
Page last edited 15/04/10. |
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