Warm air heating system

[NeedSleepNow]

I have just bought a property with a warm air heating system. I've only ever had radiators before so this type of heating is completely new to me.

It's a 1960's bungalow and the previous owner had a new Johnson and Starley warm air unit fitted back in 2010. It heats the living space well but the bedrooms are very cold, is it possible to adjust the amount of warm air going to each room or is it just on/off? I was planning to live with the system for a year or two before decided whether I wanted to install radiators instead but if the bedrooms are always this cold I think I will need to change the system soon.

Does anyone have this type of heating, if so do you find it works well or have you had problems with it?

In terms of regular maintenance do you need to do anything like clean filters, clean the vents/ducts or is it just an annual service of the warm air unit that's needed?

I worry about dust etc being carried around the home with this type of system and I'm finding the air in the house to feel very dry. I'm not sure if that's anything to do with the heating though!

I would love to hear others thoughts/experience on this type of system. Thanks

We have this heating in our house - the builders who built our estate seemed to be keen on it because a lot of houses nearby have the same although some have changed to a wet system.

We considered changing to radiators but simply couldn’t afford it once we took into account the new boiler plus radiators plus new flooring in all the rooms (to cover the holes for the vents…). So we’ve stuck with it and it’s fine. I agree that it heats up quickly but there’s no warmth in the fabric of the house so it cools down quickly as well. A massive advantage is that in winter you can dry clothes really quickly over the vents! In summer you may be able to use it as a cold air ventilation system but we’ve never used that much. I don’t particularly find the air to be drier than anywhere else.

We have an annual service (chap comes from miles away and seems to do everyone in the village - we coordinate with our neighbours!) but other than hoovering the vent on the boiler (also Johnson and Starley) and occasionally repainting the floor vents we don’t do anything else.

I wouldn’t choose it for preference in another house but we live with it and it’s fine.

We have it and love it (heats up quickly, having no radiators means we can put furniture on any wall). It is a bit noisy but I came to love the noise as it means warmth is coming! It did make the cat electric when he sat in front of the vents

our vents can be opened and closed in each room. If your bedrooms are cold the problem might be that the lounge naturally sits warmer but the thermostat is in the lounge. Close the vents on the lounge a bit and open the ones in the bedroom wide.

Or it may be that previous owners have closed or even blocked the vents (check there isn’t cardboard or anything in them!) as some people prefer the bedrooms cooler

Thanks @Prestissimo and @MotherOfCrocodiles it's interesting to hear how others find the system.

I've had a look at the bedroom vents and they seem to be open but there's very little airflow through them compared to the lounge when you put your hand up next to them. They seem to have a sort of dial/lever on the side to open or close them slightly but the last owner has painted them to colour match the walls and now the lever on them won't move. I think I will need to try to source new vents from somewhere.

I spoke to Johnson and Starley today and they were very helpful. They said that sometimes the system needs to be balanced to get a more even heat across the house, and gave me the details of a few forms nearby that might be able to help. They did say that the unit I have is older and some of the parts are no longer stocked so if the fan or heat exchanger failed I would need to replace the whole warm air unit. I've no idea what that would cost. I've not much spare money though so hopefully it will keep going for a few years and then I will decide whether to keep saving to switch to a wet system or to stick with what I have.

We rented a house that had this system , the bedrooms were Baltic !
We used to pile on covers on the bed and I wore fingerless gloves whilst watching t.v. .

I've had to go and buy extra covers for the beds as the bedrooms are so cold. One of my children is never usually cold (he would usually sleep in just his boxers in winter and still end up kicking the covers off too hot) but last night he went to bed in full length pj's, duvet, extra blankets and said he was still cold.

Do you know what the ducts are made of? The stuff behind the walls.

I'm in Australia, where ducted heating is common and mine comes out of grilles in the floor. The actual ducts are concertinaed coiled helix frames covered in silvery metabolised plastic. They are looped in the crawl space under the house.
They need to be checked every few years to make sure they haven't rotted.

Back to you, OP. Possibly the ducts have perished or got holes in them. Certainly diminished warm air is a sign of something wrong.

As an aside, I've found ducted heating to be very fast and effective to heat a room.

We moved into a house four years ago with warm air central heating, like you we decided to give it a year before deciding whether to replace. We love it and have kept it. House heats up quickly and all rooms including bedrooms are warm. I would look into replacing the vents in the bedrooms as they shouldn’t be cold. We did replace the boiler a couple of years ago, cost is £8k which while expensive would be much cheaper than having wet central heating installed.

also if you have a cold air switch (should be near the boiler) it is amazing during a heat wave

I can see the ducts coming out of the floor in the built in wardrobes and they are some sort of rigid metal. I don't know anything more than that!

I'm going to call some engineers next week and get the boiler serviced and see if they can balance the system at all. If the bedrooms could be a little warmer then I will be able to b live with the system for a few years before deciding whether to eventually change it or not.

That's a lot more than I expected for a new boiler, I dread to think what it would cost to change the whole heating to a wet system. I better start saving now I think in case I need to do either anytime soon!

Pretend it's the 1970s 🤣

Pyjamas and hot water bottle / wheat bag.

Plug in convector heater.

We replaced ours 2 years ago after 15 years of it. It was great when we first moved in (previous owners had recently replaced the unit with a new J&S one) but became gradually less effective as time went on. Possibly due to deterioration of the tubes/pipes, but no way of accessing them to check without damaging the walls.

Ours wasn't helped by the fact that the house was poorly insulated but we got to a point where our bedroom was roasting and everywhere else was freezing. The other issue we had was the availability of people to service it. We had three engineers in the time we've been here and they've all now retired. I'm not sure how many people train to use this now.

Also worth noting that you can't extend the system if you planned on extending your house at all, so would need an alternative.

We are very pleased to have moved to radiators now, house is much warmer, although in fairness we have also improved our insulation.

And as suggested by a PP, we ended up with plug in electric radiators everywhere which did not help with heating bills!

If you are having the system serviced ask for information about the composition of the ducting.

I lived in a new build in the 70’s where the ducting was lined with asbestos boards.

Given that yours had a new unit fitted in 2010 you should be fine but for anyone with an older system I would be wary.

I often think about how close I used to sit to the vents when trying to warm up on cold days and wonder just what was I breathing in.

Yes, my house has this! We have a Johnson and Starley aquair system so we have a combi for the water and this is just for the heating. The bedrooms are fine, bar one that doesn't have a vent in, so we have a plug in oil rad in there, but I find the lounge really warm really fast. I actually unscrewed all my vents and hoovered them and stuck a "charcoal air filter" I bought from amazon in the upper vents. I open windows daily but I'm not super concerned with the air quality from the system as like yours, our is newer.. you can buy dehumidifiers that are also air purifiers though so definitely invest in one for your living room if you feel concerned.

Unfortunately we tried to upgrade and have radiators fitted through ECO4 but just missed out - have a look and see if you qualify for the Warm Homes new eco grant. they'll probably try and give you solar panels and a heat pump though, I've looked it up and they don't do fossil fuels 🙄

Most of the houses on my row have upgraded to wet central heating with rads, we definitely will be doing it next year or the year after, just need to save up first.. we've considered sticking it on a credit card though or a home improvement loan as it'll definitely increase home value.
Luckily as we already have the boiler it shouldn't be too bad, just the mess of chasing pipework through the walls etc.

Wow that is pricey! We replaced warm air system to wet radiators and new worcester boiler for 8.5k.