Warm air system

[Gloriasub]

Hi..
I have the offer accepted and searches are in progress.

Just somehow the warm air system caught me from pulling out..

I am not familiar with this. Just wondering would anyone want this kind of system if I am going to sell it one day so that I can upsize my place...
potential buyers may negotiate the price as they may want radiators instead...

At first, I do like the warm air system as it doesn't consume any spaces for radiators, but it seems like the market is being replaced by radiators and the model of that house is discontinued...

I am not sure if i should keep it going or just finding another place... because I don't want to pay extra to have the radiator installed :/

I absolutely hate everything about them. The noise, the dryness, the vents, the lack of control.

If I am going to renegotiate with the seller, how much should I say? :"(

Why do you think it's a point for negotiation? Surely it was there when you made your offer. Is it broken?

I didn't think it was a dealbreaker.
But then I found out it's a discontinued model. So, it may need to be upgraded in the future, in which it's difficult to be upgraded as it's a flat that depends on how and where the flue is exhausted to the outside.

Thats why I am struggling.

If I am going to renegotiate with the seller, how much should I say? :"(

I think you just have to decide whether you want to buy the house or not. Just because the actual model is discontinued, it doesn't mean it's not going to work or you can't get it fixed if anything happens.

I have warm air heating system. Bought the house 2.5 years ago and decided to live with it for a year before deciding whether to have radiators installed. I love it. House heats up so much quicker and no radiators taking up space. Also has a cool air function for hot weather which was great during the heatwave in 2022.

Its probably the boiler that has been discontinued as the rest is just pipe work. Johnson & Starley still do them and we upgraded our boiler a year ago.

So, you haven't changed to radiators. Is that right?

May I please also ask which model you have for cool-air system?

The one that the seller is using is J&S J25-32 MK3. They said it's an obsolete model although some parts are still available.

I wonder if I could upgrade it or it's not worth having this.....:")

An old house of mine had this but it was oil-fired (no gas in the street at the time). Worked ok but the boiler took a lot of space so we ripped it all out and went for NSH on Econ10 which was a far better system.
Move forward 20yrs and gas was now present in our street so we went for a wet system with combi boiler.

As it is present and (presumably) working correctly I don't see why you would renegotiate on the price?
Just keep sufficient funds available to replace the system if/when it goes wrong or you just fancy a change.

We have this same model in our 70s semi. We've lived here for 12 years and used it all that time. My grandparents had a warm air system so I was a bit familiar with them before we moved here. We like it and wouldn't rip it out while it still works. This model does not have a cool air function.

Pluses are it's cheap to run, heats up very quickly, is a dry heat so good for drying washing etc and no need for radiators so no risk of leaks and save space. In our experience all the parts are still available but you may have to source them yourself, we have had success buying new parts on eBay but there are online retailers selling them too. We have it serviced by a local firm, you might want to ask on local Facebook groups for a recommendation of a firm with experience working on them but I think they're actually pretty simple.

Minuses are it's not silent and our layout is open plan so we can hear it but you get used to it quickly. It's really old so it's an unaesthetic beige colour. The thermista stats (thermostat part that you turn to switch it on and off) don't last that long, we seem to have to get one about every 2-3 years, we know we need one as if the heating is left on "on all the time" on the front of the unit and you are switching it on and off with the thermista stat then it will just randomly come on and you will need to switch it on and off on the front of the unit until you replace it. They cost about £70 on eBay new and you can replace it yourself. You need to periodically take the vents off and vacuum/dust behind them or it will smell dusty when it's on. It doesn't have a digital interface or anything, just a knob (the thermista stat) with numbers on it.

Overall we're pleased with it, let me know if you have any other questions.

Sorry for jumping on this thread but we are hopefully moving soon into a late 60's house with warm air heating so this is very interesting to me! In terms of drying washing @hamsterchump do you place an airer near a vent or how does it work?! We too are planning to live with the system while it works, the boiler is well hidden in the kitchen so no noise or aesthetic issues hopefully.

Yes that’s right. Ours was a very old model over 30 year old. We changed to an Aquarius s20. However the old one also had a ‘summer function’ setting which also brought in the cold air.

I would definitely recommend at least giving it a go. We budgeted for a full central heating system when we bought the house (not a price reduction but the house did go to best and final so wouldn’t have wanted to risk it) but decided we wanted to keep it.

we had a power cut in feb 2022. Went without power for a full weekend. When the power went on it took less than 10 mins to heat what had become a cold
house.

my research had shown that they are now perceived it to be more energy efficient than your standard central heating but it’s just not possible to retrofit into existing houses.

sorry for the long post just wanted to give you as much detail as possible

@Thehobbit2013 thanks for the info!
I appreciate it.

Should I still ask for renegotiation?
Just feel bad doing that if I do so
I will also feel bad if I haven't tried lol

The thing is I don't know how clean it is (not a clean freak, but just wondered if it's well- maintained?) to be honest, I didn't smell anything funny / didn't get irritation when I was in there. So, I will assume it's clean.

It's more like a placebo effect for having it cleaned lol

Indeed it's working perfectly fine
But it would have been great if there's supporting documents telling me so
(As in if there's any periodic inspection, when it's installed etc)

@hamsterchump
Thanks for the insights! It really helps.

I have also asked Johnson & Starley. They said if I would like to upgrade the unit, it would be difficult because this is a flat and they need to figure out where the fuel and ducts are located and etc.

I do fancy for one that could provide cool air.

There's one that turn gas to warm air and the other one is aqua to warm air??
What's the difference?
Does it mean aqua one is using electricity?

You could always try and renegotiate. You don’t ask you don’t get. Particularly as you if nothing else you will need to replace the boiler at some point and they are more expensive than a conventional boiler. However, I would genuinely consider it a selling point as I do prefer it to radiator heating.

In terms of the cleaning, you can’t clean the deep in the air vents but you don’t have to try and clean behind radiators. I have a bad dust allergy and not had an issue since moving here.

I sound like I’m on commission the way I am waxing lyrical. I trawled the internet trying to find out about air flow central heating before we bought and all the threads said it’s rubbish and they changed it as soon as they moved in. That’s what prompted me to live with it for a year and I am glad I did!

Also the previous owner kindly left the details of the person who serviced the boiler so definitely ask for this. If not Johnson and Starley will give you details. The service hasn’t been expensive though about £60 - I was worried it would be a lot due to it being more of a niche market.

@Thehobbit2013

Yea I looked it up as well and all these are saying radiator etc
This is another concern I have - not having the right person to repair it as it's not as common as radiator.

I just feel bad to renegotiate it - esp I have the seller contact, in which I asked him about things but then turned to solicitor to renegotiate for me (not sure if my solicitor would do it, but I emailed her to ask for her opinion)

I don't specifically put the airer near to the vent but as it's warm air we find that it just generally dries out the house and aids drying washing, obviously only in the winter but we dry outside in the summer anyway.

I definitely think at least give it a go living with it and don't rip out as a knee jerk reaction, if you end up liking it then you'll save yourself a lot of money and not to mention upheaval. It is quite simple so you don't get all the features of a newer system but sometimes I think that's good, less to go wrong. You can shut the vents in the rooms you don't want to heat but that's about it.

The almost instant heat is the best plus for me, there is a simple time clock timer on the unit we have but we don't use it we just switch it on and off as desired as it's so quick.

Like @hamsterchump moved into house with warm air heating, thought I'd give it year and three years on have no plan to change. Heats up quickly and I have a drying cupboard with a vent in so dry washing in there. Live on an estate where according to boiler guy most still have warm air, and there are at least 3 heating engineers locally who specialise in warm air heating

You even named yourself as loving the warm air lol

We has warm air growing up in the 70s/80s, then my first house in 90s also had it. I always loved it, for all the reasons above, no radiators, instant heat etc,
For me it would be a deal maker, not a deal breaker

That sounds amazing
I think I love it too, but kind of afraid the maintenance

I guess as people said previously, it's only the thermostat that needs to be fixed normally.
Fingers crossed