Warm Air Heating Usage & Removal - Extremely Worried about Abestos Exposure

Rob. B · 22 Apr 2017

Hi Everyone,

I had an old Johnson and Starley heated warm air heating system in my flat and wanted to gain insight into how they work. I think the unit was from around 1965.

With regards to these units, where does the unit get its air from to heat, it is within the cupboard they are housed in?

I am a bit concerned as the unit was kept in a cupboard containing asbestos. The cupboard door was lined with asbestos (confirmed to be Chrysotile) and there was also an asbestos panel behind the heater.

Would the unit have been sucking air that potentially contains asbestos fibres from within the cupboard and circulating them around my property?

Thanks in advance,

Rob

Steelmasons · 22 Apr 2017

If the unit utilises a return air duct then no worries , if not the unit should be classified AR.
If your worried about it turn the unit off (circulator too if incorporated) and employ the services of an asbestos company to remove the asbestos , your health should be first priority and not the cost.

ollski · 23 Apr 2017

if it really was 1965 all the seals and gaskets would be brown asbestos too. As long as its undisturbed there is no issue.

rules&rulers · 23 Apr 2017

1965 sounds ancient,are you living in a museum ?.

can you post some photos of the heater,inside cupboard,outside cupboard.

Maybe there is a model number on the front of the heater.

Rob. B · 23 Apr 2017

Apologies, I should have been clearer, the unit has now been removed. There was venting at the top and bottom of the unit

See pictures of unit when in situ, what is the brown stuff on the join of the ducting at the bottom under the tape?

Also is a picture of the ducting space left afterwards, is there anything visible there to be concerned with? It has now been covered up but was left exposed for quite some time.

Naturally I am extremely worried that I have been exposed to lots of asbestos. I did not remove the unit fortunately.

Agile · 23 Apr 2017

There is little evidence of any asbestos risk for the users of warm air units ( WAU ).

There is some risk for those working on the units, but I doubt many using asbestos are still in use and any engineers should be aware of what to do and not do.

The greatest risk is that the compartments where WAU was first installed very often were lined or had asbestos cement fire proofing panels. They are of little risk if not disturbed. But precautions need to be taken when they are removed.

Tony

gas112 · 23 Apr 2017

That heater is early 80`s

Dougal2345 · 14 Jun 2020

Continuing the talk of asbestos and warm air ducting... my (mid-1970s) warm air system was ripped out some years ago, but a long zinc duct pipe was left behind in the loft.

I'd like to remove it now as part of a general tidy prior to putting in another layer of loft insulation - but am wondering if there is any risk of asbestos being present... I will have to break it into pieces to get it down through the hatch, and don't want to disturb anything nasty. How can one tell for sure?

If I unpeel the tape around the joins in the duct, will it pull apart easily?

I'm fairly sure there was a small asbestos sheet in the old warm air unit before it was removed. The company that removed the old system never made any mention of asbestos though, and removed and disposed of everything - the flue (which was also zinc I think) and the cupboard surrounding the unit - apart from that remaining duct pipe, so if they disturbed a lot of asbestos it's too late to worry

gas112 · 14 Jun 2020

perfectly ok to take that apart there is no asbestos in it joints will separate quite easily with a quarter turn

rjwlb1989 · 25 Nov 2021

I know this thread is a year old but wondering how you knew the ducting doesn’t have asbestos. We’ve had a survey done on a house we’re hoping to purchase with a warm air heating system. Confirmed asbestos in the door to the boiler cupboard and visually seen (though not tested) in the lining to the ductwork. We want it out but the sellers are being difficult over renegotiating the price.

Gasguru · 25 Nov 2021

Metal ducting for the warm air is highly unlikely to contain asbestos fibres...the regulations have required a "closed" system for decades. The flue pipework is a possibility though.

What surveyors say should be taken with a pinch of salt, they are trying to cover all eventualities (and corrupt)...without lab testing it's all guesswork and in my experience anything
they comment on apart from basic brickwork you should ignore and get others with expertise in that area.

Any panels that do contain asbestos are often considered sufficiently safe to be removed by the homeowner with adequate precautions...look at your councils website as they often have guidance.

If you're buying a property with warm air then it's highly likely that a property of that age will may contain asbestos somewhere in the property whether that's soffit boards, garage ceiling linings,
warm air cupboards etc. and trying to negotiate it's removal is futile. The last 2 properties I sold (a few years ago) were 60s built with numerous asbestos panels...the surveyor did everything he could
to wreck the sale with numerous exaggerations and mistakes but once the buyers were thoroughly aware of the situation the sale proceeded and the asbestos removed where necessary by the new
owners themselves.
Knotweed, High Alumina Cement etc. is far more of a concern IMHO.

In years past I used Square Root Ltd on the list below...it's a simple case of sending samples off to them in the testing kit, I'm sure other companies have a similar facility.

http://www.asbestostestingsource.com/testing-labs-uk/

rjwlb1989 · 25 Nov 2021

Thanks.

this was an asbestos survey that we had done who said it was visually identified in the ductwork and a sample tested from the door showed it was chrysotile and amosite.

Turns out the current owners new there was asbestos though and didn’t tell us despite us asking the estate agents to ask them both of them ignored our question so we paid to have an asbestos survey done.

if it were asbestos in tiles or a ceiling I’d actually be less concerned. It’s that it’s potentially in the ductwork and being blown around the property. The asbestos in the door has medium damage to it identified in the asbestos survey but incidentally the damage to the door was picked up on the homebuyer survey (though he didn’t state it was potentially asbestos as he assumed it would probably have gone from there but said it might be in the flue or within the heating system and to get surveys done if we were planning any future work) given that we couldn’t get answers from the vendors we got the survey. So I just don’t trust the sellers at this point to be truthful and I don’t know how much to rely on the report but I feel like our only option is to go with what the report says and assume that there is asbestos to the lining of the ductwork. ‍

we’re happy to remove it ourselves but don’t want all the cost given that we’d then have to put in a new heating system too and the surveys revealed the roof will need replacing in the next year or so too.

House buying is stressful!

Gasguru · 25 Nov 2021

In all the systems I've seen going back to the 60s I've yet to come across warm air/return ductwork that contains asbestos...it's all been metalwork with glass fibre type insulation wrapped around it.
Are you sure it's not an air intake duct to bring combustion air into the compartment?

rjwlb1989 · 25 Nov 2021

It just said visually identified in lining to the ductwork. So not sure if that’s the entire ductwork or just the entry bit. I’ve gone back for some clarification.

petit_pablo · 25 Nov 2021

Id take the surveyors observations with a pinch of salt re the ductwork as i dont imagine they know one end of a warm air unit from the other. Chances are the flue pipe will be single wall asbestos cement not the ducting with will be sheet metal

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Warm Air Heating Usage & Removal - Extremely Worried about Abestos Exposure

Rob. B

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