Warm Air Heating/Hot Water - Advice please

Guapito

Hi, we are looking to buy a late 60's 3 bed bungalow which has a Johnson & Staley Warm Air Heating System. The lady who is selling has lived in the house with her late husband since buying brand new and it appears that the boiler may be the original. It's a J&S Modairflow JWD 38/50 model and hot water is run off a Chaffoteaux Corvec Britony 2A small gas boiler in the kitchen. Again, it looks ancient.


However, the heating appears to work fine with the exception of bedroom 3. This room does have a vent but appears to be blocked as it's quite cold in there. Another downside is the location of the vents; the one in the master bedroom is slap bang in the lower middle wall (just above the skirting board) where we would put a wardrobe or bed and another bug-bear is that every internal door has a vent incorporated into it, near the top. Are these vents necessary when the rooms already have vents?


My quandary is whether or not its worth me changing this set up to an Underfloor Water heating system or simply replacing the WAH unit for a new one that has the ability to produce hot water? I know Johnson & Staley still make WAH units and that the current one are very efficient and miles ahead of the ones of old, but I'm not entirely convinced. Will converting to an UFH be worth the extra cost? I'm not too interested in converting to a your bog standard combi-boiler and radiator set up as the rads will rob us of wall space.


Do I spend £3k on a new WAU or do I blow £8K or more on Underfloor heating? We intend to live there long-term.


We haven't yet got to the building survey stage yet so asbestos is another possible concern (oh, looks like the garage roof may have this as well!). How expensive is this to remove?

southcoastrgi

It is very likely the WAU contains asbestos so that cost needs to be factored in, I don't know of anyone replacing one most just rip them out due to dry air & dust getting blown about the house

Hasbeen

Vents in to every room is to let the warm air in, vents above doors or in walls are to left fresh air in/heat out to halls etc.

Personally!! if the house has gas then modernise with a wet radiator system and combi boiler to get heat and hot water. Get a combi large enough to do baths showers etc.

If stuck for space put rads under windows. not ideal but is common.

If you keep system it will eventually go, future selling plus, very few people want a 60s type central heating system.

Hasbeen

southcoastrgi wrote: »

It is very likely the WAU contains asbestos so that cost needs to be factored in, I don't know of anyone replacing one most just rip them out due to dry air & dust getting blown about the house

The one I replaced with new system was supposedly great at keeping all dust etc down as everything was eventually drawn back through air system filters.

Only oil here, so at time put in conventional, think it was 65kw boiler now 20 years old:(

Guapito

Yes. I don't intend to keep the current boiler, rather whether to replace it with underfloor water heating or a replacement WAU. The new WAU I have seen have an electrostatic dust particulate filter which cleans even fag air! I'm not too keen on the idea of a wet combi and rad system because of the piping. However, the house is dry-lined (a rarity in those days), so maybe that will make it easier to hide the pipework.