Warm air Heating - How Efficient??

vansboy

High all!

The house we're looking to buy has oil fired central heating, but it's a warm air system, installed 30 odd years ago!

Apparently the owner spent £2000 on the ststem/boiler, about 4 years back, no idea what was done, though!

So does this mean it'd be a fortune to have just replaced the boiler & ancilleries, so he was just make do for now job - & we'll get caught out soon, maybe & have to do it anyway?

Or should we just fingers crossed it'll be OK?

Or buy a new boiler & put in radiators?

Is warm air any good, anyway?

Thanks in advance!

VB

moonrakerz

I am about to move into a house with warm air heating - and had it in a previous house.

I am a great fan (sorry about the pun !) of it. I have seen a lot of ill-informed comment about it, some of it on this site. "It makes the house dusty", "it spreads germs".

I had no problems with it and the cat thought it was brill. It heats up quickly, but conversely it cools down quicker than a rad system.
It sounds as though that the main heater has been replaced (for £2000 !). I would get a central heating man to check it over and give it a try.
I don't know the make of your unit, but the main supplier of these units is: http://www.johnsonstarley.co.uk/
They are very helpful if you ring them.

A MAJOR consideration if you do intend to put in a wet radiator system:-

A warm air system allows almost total use of floor and wall space, when you hang radiators on the walls be prepared to see how much it affects what and where you can put in a room.
My new neighbours did this - I was amazed how it reduced the floor and wall space to place furniture.

beedeedee

My Mum had a warm air system in her OAP flat. The main problem was that she wanted wallpaper on the walls and the darned paste would dry out too quickly when we tried to hang it! The flat and it's walls were always very warm....Efficient? well, she liked it and never particularly complained about the bills, but this was about 5 years ago.

George_Bray

I have warm air heating. The system is almost 30 years old and has never even been serviced, it's so reliable! It works great and I wouldn't want anything else since, as others have pointed out, it heats up a room so quickly. It's also very cheap to run. If I ever build my own home, I would specify warm air heating - I rate it that highly.

ANDY597

Hello

Warm air isnt very good in my opinion. Its no longer very popular or deemed efficient. i do apprecaite that some people will be happy with it, but energy efficient websites wont recommend it.

Oil central heating costs however are often favourable in comparison with lpg and are on a par with mains gas prices.

I have an oil fired combi with radiators and its fine, apart from the tank in the garden. mine is a bosch worcester and its quite efficient.

ANDY597

If you can afford it, look for a new condensing boiler, or look at some green alternitives to supplement your energy use and help to ofset the carbon footprint.

Will_it_make_me_rich

We had warm air heating when we moved into our new home. The first thing we did after winter is rip it out and replace it with radiators.
During the winter when we sat in the living room watching tv not only did we have the warm air on but also the gas fire.
When it was ripped out the air ducts inside were black with dirt it was awful.
We think the last owners of the house never had it serviced or cleaned.
Also the house had been extended on both sides but nothing was done to provide warm air heating into these extensions. Which is probably why we had to sit there with the gas fire on.

stamford

ANDY597 wrote: »

Hello


Oil central heating costs however are often favourable in comparison with lpg and are on a par with mains gas prices.

I have an oil fired combi with radiators and its fine, apart from the tank in the garden. mine is a bosch worcester and its quite efficient.

All OK until OPEC decide its time to ramp up oil prices

FunkyMunkey

We had Warm air heating in a rented flat and, although I can't comment on its efficiency, I can say that I didn't like it: I found it suffocating and always felt dehydrated when I had it on.

It did make positioning furnituer easier, though!

EliteHeat

George_Bray wrote: »

I have warm air heating. The system is almost 30 years old and has never even been serviced, it's so reliable! It works great and I wouldn't want anything else since, as others have pointed out, it heats up a room so quickly. It's also very cheap to run. If I ever build my own home, I would specify warm air heating - I rate it that highly.

These are more common in the U.S. than over here, except in the sixties and seventies when they were installed in new-builds. If you ever watch the Simpsons - they have a warm air system in their cartoon house.

It is very unwise not to have the system checked annually. If the heat exchanger cracks then they can forcibly distribute carbon monoxide via the plenum to the ductwork. Warm air heaters have the dubious distinction of being able to wipe out an entire household very efficiently whereas other open flued appliances normally only have the ability to kill the occupants of the room that they are actually located in - well, at least quickly anyway.



Get it checked / serviced!

shown73

Some years ago, about 20 I think, a large council estate was built near us, with warm air heating. For a long time there was uproar, until it was all ripped out and "normal" heating installed. I think that the main objections were expense and efficiency, and dehydration, but I'm not sure.
Visited relatives in Canada with this system, and it was terrible. Every room , practically, need a re-hydrator, which needed to be refilled every evening and were very noisey, and even then we woke up with stuffed up nose, etc, and breathing troubles. I wonder how it would affect asthma sufferers.
On the other hand, the best heating system I have ever had, or come accross, was a set of electric convection radiators that I bought second hand years ago, and fitted into our flat. They were brilliant, warm within 10 minutes from stone cold rooms, totally silent, of course, non toxic, non dehydrating, and you could even hold your hand on them without discomfort. Their one big downfall of course, expensive compared to gas. That killed them, but what a shame, they were the ideal heating system, bar none.