Asbestos in warm air unit

[Fabgab]

Hiya all,

This is my first post. Me and my partner recently purchased a 1969 home that has ducted / warm air throughout. At the weekend we removed most of the walls which we believed to have been plasterboard. Fingers crossed it was!

I am concerned about the warm air unit and wondered if anyone could shed light on whether this unit holds asbestos. We also took the door off to the cupboard where the unit was held which I don’t have a photo of at the moment.

Also wondering if the bobbly walls are just wallpaper and not asbestos? Would the mortgage surveyor have mentioned potential asbestos if he’d had an inkling?

Thanks I’m advance!

 

[Ihavenojob]

Have a look on here, a lot of older warm air heaters had asbestos paper in them, also older (pre 1999 I think) artex could contain a small amount.

https://www.hse.gov.uk/gas/landlords/070612-gas-asbestos-materials.pdf

 

[Fabgab]

Thank you! I can’t seem to see Honeywell on that list at all, I always thought it was a Johnson and Starley unit but maybe it was replaced with the Honeywell one.

 

[Ihavenojob]

Thank you! I can’t seem to see Honeywell on that list at all, I always thought it was a Johnson and Starley unit but maybe it was replaced with the Honeywell one.

Honeywell is the make of the gas valve, a component that is widely used..

 

[Fabgab]

 

[^woody^]

That looks like a Johnson and Starley Hi-Spec J32. The Honeywell plate is just for the gas valve.

Do a Google search. If it does contain asbestos, it will be AIB - second least hazardous type. However not an issue unless you are dismantling it. Should be OK for careful removal, but disposal by specialist.

The cupboard door may have an AIB panel lining or internal.

The wall lining is blown vinyl paper, you can see the lines. But check behind first, often, blown vinyl is used to cover uneven (artex) coatings

 

[Fabgab]

Thank you! We also took a lot of boards off the wall. This is what they looked like… are they plasterboard or asbestos? The photos with the purple walls on the stairs is what was underneath the bubble paper. Does it look safe?

 

[Fabgab]

Also this picture with the yellow casing under the stairs on the floor is part of the warm air unit. Could that be asbestos?

 

[^woody^]

Registers and heating ducting don't tend to contain asbestos products.

Walls are plasterboard. Asbestos [textured] coatings would be on the surface only.

Contact your council's housing department or the association managing the council stock, and they will have a list of common asbestos type and locations for that style of property.

 

[Fabgab]

 

[Fabgab]

These pics are of the unit j32 42-451-05 I don’t know if I’m being in observant or not but I can’t see those numbers on that list of Johnson and starley products?

 

[denso13]

I can’t see those numbers on that list of Johnson and starley products?

It isn't there, unlikely to contain asbestos. The boiler looks like it was made well after 2000, so again, shouldn't contain asbestos.

 

[Fabgab]

Thank you. I am wondering if this wall is bits of plasterboard coming off it. We took the textured vinyl paper off and this was underneath. To me it looks like flaked plasterboard?

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Walls were PB. Asbestos board would have been too expensive. You tend to see AIB more on the insides of airing cupboards (where there is an immersion heater) more than anywhere else - often places where you need to retain heat

 

[Fabgab]

Excuse my ignorance. I’m unsure what an immersion heater is. Is that the unit I’ve pictured above? There was a white door on the cupboard but we removed it and it’s still in the garden. I haven’t got a photo of it but I can get one.