New central heating upheaval?

[Betty1980]

Has anyone ever had central heating installed? On a scale of "might want to give the duster a flick about" to "re plaster, redecorate, recarpet" how much disruption is it likely to cause?

If it is a full system from scratch then it will be carpets and floor boards up in order to get pipe work installed

There should be no redecoration required unless you want to or it is already needed as any good plumber shouldn't cause any damage to existing decoration

Some dust or muck will be created but not too much

I am not a plumber but have just finished installing a wood fired central heating system and managed not to damage any decorating and everything is now filled and working as of an hour ago so the house is finally getting warm

Ooh like the sound of wood fired central heating. is it run from a stove then?

Yes a brosley Hercules wood burner with a back boiler

Come in a couple of different sizes if I remember correctly but we have had this one in for a few years, only just got around to plumbing it up properly recently. It was connected to the old radiators but I have just re plumbed a complete new system with new rads over the last couple of weeks and managed to get the last bit of connecting done yesterday

Today was the first time the new rads and plumbing had seen water, very pleased to say no leaks, everything is getting warm now so very pleased with myself

We had ch installed in a previous house (there was no ch at all). It was a bit disruptive but not as bad as you might think, they don't have to take up all the carpets, just at a couple of points in the room to feed the pipes through. They put them back afterwards though so except for a bit of dust and having to move some furniture it was ok.

We had all our CH system replaced earlier in the year. Old system was completely removed and new system installed with boiler and rads in different places. I was dreading it as the house is old.
We went with BG as their price was fixed no matter what extras were needed and they give a good long guarantee. They had loads of engineers/ electricians working on it and the whole thing was done in 3/4 days.
The worst days were the first two when the old system was taken out and the new pipe work fitted. The floors were up and there was a fair amount of dust. I hid in one room with an electric radiator!
Now it’s all a distant memory and we’re all cosy!

Do you have gas to the property? Do you have gas fires at the moment? Another factor is if you have floorboards or concrete floor, the pipes can be hidden under the floorboards or they will be on the surface coming from the ceiling but done properly you shouldn't need to worry about dust😃

It isn't so bad IMO, we had it installed in our first house. They do need to take the floor up so don't bother buying carpets before then. No redecorating as far as I remember.

Be careful where you put the boiler BTW! Our current house has a boiler close to the sink and it's a real pain - they are very expensive to move later.

A lot of it is down to the installers. A good and considerate installer can minimise the pain and the mess whereas the wrong one can turn it into hell and make a mess of the installation as well.

Just had a new oil fired central heating system installed in a 2 storey stone built 1920 semi. As was said before. Expect ankle breaking terrain for a week. Solid floors are a pest and you may need to whip out the rock breaker. Carpeting beforehand is pointless as has been said.
Pray that you don't have apprentices on the job lest they cut a live pipe! Which happened at 4.30 on a Friday.
Water may be off for a night or so, fill a few buckets to flush the toilet of youre staying there.