Ideas for hot air heating replacement

[LabudMoj]

I need some advices related to the future replacement of a hot air heating system.

Soon I will be moving into my new house that currently has a hot air heating system. I am going to give it a trial first during this winter, as I never had one of those, however I am aware that hot air is not a very desirable option.

I am probably going to end up replacing it with a wet gas-based central heating, but when I think of chasing the pipework around the house it gives me a headache. One idea that sprung into my mind is to try to use the existing hot air ducts for that, to minimise amount of drilling. Does that make sense?

NS

 

[Boilerman2]

It would probably be harder to do this than installing pipes in the normal way!! if floors are lifted on 1st floor you can fit a drop system without too much hassle

 

[Agile]

Every warm air system that I have quoted to replace has had severe problems!

Many have concrete floors!

Many have cardboard walls!

Many have whole wall wide windows.

Tony

 

[LabudMoj]

Yes, the prospect of unexpected problems popping up is what scares me the most.

I thought that if I used plastic pipes then I can chase them wherever I want provided I have enough space. But on the other hand I would like to remove the hot air ducts (the ones that are not under the floor), in which case I would still need to use the drop system. Uhm, if only I could have my cake and eat it

BTW, it's a standard two storey build, cca 1970, ground floor concrete, first floor suspended timber.

Every warm air system that I have quoted to replace has had severe problems!

Agile, are you talking about the problems with the replacement of the warm air, or just about the problems of warm air itself?

NS

 

[boabcelt]

As someone who grew up in a house with an ancient J&S warm air unit, I can say that warm air is a great option for heating, so long as it is balanced properly and ,of course, maintained properly. Is there any particular reason you want to replace the unit?

 

[LabudMoj]

As I said I have never lived in a home with warm air heating, but what I noticed is that most of these sooner or later get replaced by wet central heating systems. I guess that the often cited downsides - that is: high maintenance cost/effort, noise, large unit (and ours is in an awkward place, in a cupboard in the living room!), unsightly ducts - are reasons that are strong enough for people to replace it.

But I am willing to give it a trial this winter, although I am risking a "cold war" with my wife who has been campaigning to replace it immediately as she thinks it will be much harder to get it done after most of the other renovation work has been completed.

 

[Agile]

Sorry, what I said was ambiguous!

I should have said that every property had installation problems for a wet system.

Warm air has a couple of advantages! It heats up in five minutes and it stops in five minutes. Its not particularly expensive to run. And the slight dry dustiness effect might keep that horrible aunt fromn staying the night.

But it has about seven disadvantages! Do I really need to list them?

Tony

 

[cozzmic]

Nothing wrong with warm air heating. Usually easy to fit an up to date model for greater effiecencies. Quick heat up and quiet because of modulating fans these days and gives a very even temperature around house. Bonus of having fan on in summer to circulate air around house without heat.

 

[Agile]

The system is fairly quiet.

But the communicating air ducts transmit noise of screaming babies, snoring people and couples having fun.

 

[dcawkwell]

I lived in a house in birmingham with hot air for approx 1 year.

It was pants. Very noisy and didn't work particularly well.

It was either roasting or freezing. Lots of condensation on the windows
although that could have been the house and the single glazing.

Never again.

Rip it out.

Although I can't remember the exact configuration of the house I don't think
installing a wet central heating system wouldn't present much of a problem.

One of the usual problems is that the hot air unit usual only has 15mm pipe.

 

[croydoncorgi]

The house was presumably dsigned for warm-air. Putting in an alternative WILL be costly, disruptive and difficult.

Staying with (updated?) warm-air could have enough downsides to outweigh the extra cost of changing to a 'wet' system.

Accept that you need to spend SOME money, even on upgrading the warm-air. Condemning what you have is silly if its main problem is that it's life expired and clapped out! After all, several million North Americans can't ALL be wrong - warm air is still dominates in US and Canada.

Collect more evidence, talk to the neighbours (they probably have similar systems) and then decide, comparing apples with apples.

 

[Agile]

But warm air is cheaper to install as a new build.

Tony

 

[LabudMoj]

So I guess the answer for now is: it depends. I think I need to do the following:

1. Get a warm air heating engineer to do the inspection and make a quote for getting the system up-to-date, that would bring out the best possible performance (for my budget, that is).
2. Get a wet-system engineer to make a quote and a detailed plan for ripping out the current warm-air system and replacing it with a wet-system+combi boiler or whatever he recommends according to our desires (and I would pay for that, of course, although I don’t know how much would be reasonable for that). Maybe I would even take on a part of the project myself then (chasing pipes + radiators).
3. Ask around - neighbours, friends, forums, pray to central heating deities, etc. and see what makes the most sense.

Fun times ahead!

 

[Agile]

There are not going to be any specific warm air only engineers!

The gas appliance registration system requires a core safety and then different categories are added according to the type of work the individual wants to be able to work on.

In some parts of the country there are estates with WAU installed and more engineers are going to registered to work on it there.

In London there are very few WAU installed and the only place I know with a few are in a development near Uxbridge. Consequently perhaps only about 1% of gas engineers will have the WAU qualification.

Tony