Old-ish warm air heating - replace it with Aquair or combi boiler plus radiators?

_Sam_

Hi guys we just bought a house which has an old-ish gas run warm air heater. It is quite loud and perhaps not very efficient and we have been offered to replace it either with standard combi boiler plus installing new radiators everywhere, or the new "Aquair and Boiler Package" solution which would retain the warm air heating solution we currently have so no radiators will need to be installed, it will be much quieter (the boiler is in the loft) and apparently it is more efficient than our current warm air heater.

I'm wondering has anyone had experience with Aquair? I noticed that warranty on it is much shorter than if we went with standard combi boiler and radiators solution. It would be nice not to have the floors ripped out for pipes for radiators, but if there are good reasons to go with the standard combi boiler plus radiators we'd do it. Just not sure what else needs to be considered with Aquair.

lohr500

Not the best of reviews from the Aquair manufacturer :  https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.johnsonandstarley.co.uk

I don't know anything about them or the system, so I can't really comment on any experience. But it looks as though it is basically a water to air heat exchanger that connects into your existing warm air ducting.

If I were you I would get quotes for combi boiler plus radiators, the Aquair and boiler package, and also an air source heat pump (ASHP) and radiators.

There should be a Govt. grant available from tomorrow of up to £5000 towards an ASHP installation. With ASHP, in most cases people need to fit larger radiators to optimise the ASHP performance, but as you would be starting from scratch this would be built into the design.  From what I have learned, ASHP seems to work best in very well insulated properties running the heating at a background setting 24/7. If this fits your property and lifestyle then it's worth looking at.

My gut feel is that moving to either a boiler/radiator setup, or ASHP/radiator setup is probably more mainstream and future proof than warm air heating. Not sure I would want to buy a house with warm air heating unless I could see clear evidence that it was efficient and reliable to run. 

Just my own view though, based on zero knowledge of warm air ducted heating systems.

_Sam_

Thanks lohr500 we definitely decided against ASHP, very high cost of installation compared to savings over a gas boiler (something in the region of £100 over the course of the air pump lifetime?) They are also reported as noisy, not sure if inside or only outside but even if the latter it's not attractive... Some say the heating they provide is very weak, and people have to supplement with underfloor heating. 

I looks the warm air heating is not too bad reliability wise, the same company had supplied our existing heater, and it's been in place for nearly 20 years and is still working as it should according to (an independent) heating engineer who serviced it recently. I'd be tempted to leave it as it is even with the noise, funds are not very high at the moment with lots of other costs on the house, but for the same reason it would make sense to get a more efficient system in.

(We also can't go the solar panels route as the house already has solar panels which are leased so we are not allowed to store the energy, just use what we can during the day)

JohnSwift10

I replaced my warm air heating with a combi and radiators and am saving over 30% gas  a year and that is with the heating being on 15 3/4 hours a day.

Previously I was using anything up to 24,000 kWh a year but I have since increased the loft insulation, had cavity wall insulation and new double glazing and new doors.

Reed_Richards

lohr500 said:

If I were you I would get quotes for combi boiler plus radiators, the Aquair and boiler package, and also an air source heat pump (ASHP) and radiators.

Oh come on, warm air heating is surely crying-out for an air-to-air heat pump.  That would be more efficient than air-to-water, probably making it cheaper to run than gas, and a lot cheaper to install than an air-to-water heat pump.  Unfortunately it's an unconventional set-up by UK standards so a lot would depend on finding an installer who knew what they were doing.  The cost of installation should not be very high is you can find the right contractors to do it.   

lohr500

Apologies, I had never considered air to air. Not sure what the costs are though for central units designed to feed into ducting rather than having dedicated panels mounted in the rooms where heating/cooling is needed.

BUFF

If you do decide to go down the boiler route consider future-proofing now for transition to a heat pump system next time round:

oversize pipe & radiator sizing - this will also mean that you can run the boiler at low temperatures in the meantime thus maximising it's efficiency during it's life

As a future heat pump system will require a hot water tank you might consider going down the system boiler+tank route now rather than a combi. Presumably the existing system has some form of dhw storage?

get load & weather compensating controls from the start - they should, at the very least, pay for themselves over their life by resulting energy savings