gas or warm air central heating

bludger

Hi,

We have bought a three bedroom detached house which needs totally bringing up to date - rewiring, replumbing, etc. The house has an old gas central heating system which will also be replaced.

I have read about Johnson and Starkeys hot air ducted heated systems. Many people seem to like them for their reliability and durability, something that modern combi boilers don't seem to be renowned for.

I have many questions but basically they are:

Are non-condensing gas boilers (for radiators) still available and are they much dearer to run?

How do the running costs of hot air ducted systems compare with those of rad systems?

How intrusive are the distribution ducts of hot air? And how noisy is the fan?

I'm looking for general guidance here and would appreciate some advice, please.

alleycat`

A Kwh of gas costs the same as a kwh of gas no matter what the system.

From my experience (having lived with warm air and radiator systems):-

Warm air central heating tends to warm up faster but it doesn't, usually have the residual effect that a radiator system has.

The fan isn't particularly intrusive (until they start to fail).

Retro fitting the ducts will probably be a PITA compared to redoing the plumbing work (my opinion only).

I prefer warm air over radiators.

As for boilers, you can have any you like so long as they are condensing pretty much :-)

O and you might find qualified people on warm air central heating boilers are harder to find as they are mostly "out of fashion".

Edit:- my points above are a bit scatter gun but that is how they came out of my head to the keyboard, hopefully it helps.

bludger

Alleycat,

I do see what you mean about retrofitting being a PITA. I've been thinking over small bore ducting for easier handling and unobtrusiveness but there seems to be a problem. The smaller the bore the more the noise!

Perhaps I'll stick with rads after all. Pity.

Thanks for your reply.

Owain_Moneysaver

bludger wrote: »

Are non-condensing gas boilers (for radiators) still available and are they much dearer to run?

They are still available, but you are only allowed to fit them in very limited circumstances. In general, Building Regulations now mandate the use of condensing boilers.

Retrofitting ducts is usually very difficult in existing houses.

Canucklehead

OP: check here for excellent advice on heating options.

HTH

Canucklehead

bludger

Owain Moneysaver,

Okay, I'll settle for a condensing, non-combi, boiler.

Canucklehead,

That's an interesting site, ain't it?

Thanks to all for your replies and willingness to help.