upgrading my johnson and starley j54-64 warm air heater

[mickyg]

btw in regards to the pcb situation im not sure you actually read my post. I was just giving the op a heads up to the current situation with replacement control boards and fan regs for the older units.

 

[macca4343]

MickyG, What I was trying to say is that there isn't a PCB in the model the originator has, but that PCBs and all J/S spares will be available for years after a more modern one is installed. J/S have a 100% track record on spares, and a warm-air unit is likely to outlast a Combi by around 20 years..

I'm not trying to start a needle match in the Forum, just giving the originator as much info as I have.....which isn't limitless.

 

[Agile]

For the benefit of some of the potential DIYers who read this I should like to warn about the potential hazards of buying second hand.

There is a very nasty "fault" whereby the inner part rusts away and allows the products of combustion ( which we all know contains carbon monoxide ) to mix with the circulating air.

An unscrupulous penny pincher might well advertise a faulty unit for sale. Either knowingly or unknowingly.

Thats why its so important that a competent gas registered person installs and commissions these units.

I am also registered for these units but hardly ever go to any.

Tony

 

[simond]

All of which would be pertinent if the original post was in Jan 2012.

But it was a year ago, he's probably poisoned himself by now.

 

[macca4343]

Tony

I agree with what you say to a point, but you are talking about 60/70s McClarys and Lennox's that rusted. I have been maintaining and installing warm air heating as a specialty since 1968, and am now 68, and have NEVER had to replace the Heat Exchanger on a Johnson and Starley: I won't say they're infallible, but 43 years is a long time. I think it unlikely in the extreme that a registered installer would ever fit a unit with a defective heat exchanger; this is why I would also advise strongly against DIY as you have rightly pointed out.
Another point to consider is that non-registered upstarts are unlikely to have had experience with warm air anyway; only more establish installers have been around long enough to even attempt replacement. Everyone else says "change to a wet system"
I have to say that although this is a worthwhile thread, I'm amused that the originator seems to have lost interest. LOL ('')

Cheers

Mac

 

[Agile]

Didn't you notice the OP first posted this thread a year ago?

I think it was a J & S which I found with a holed HE. It was a builder who was fiddling with it and I stepped in ( unpaid ) because I realised the dangers of what he was doing.

Tony

 

[middlesbrough]

This sounds an awfull lot like a conversation in the Nags Head........