Gas hot air ducted heated systems …

[ringi]

I am viewing a property just after Christmas that has Gas warm air heating, as far as I know the system was installed in the 1970s when the property was built. I will be renting out the property so don’t wish to be taking on a problem.

I have no experience of such systems. What can anyone tell me about them?

What should I be looking for when viewing the property?

If I make an offer on the property how do I find someone that truly understands such system to check them out?

 

[lame plumber]

best advice, its an old sytem and fewer people now bother to work on them. All I have ever done is rip them out and replace with modern condensing boilers. Best just replace it, then have some period of trouble free renting

Allow around £5k to replace the whole sytem in an average 3 bed house

 

[ManchesterGas]

5k, Wow, I'm moving to Devon!

 

[AWheating]

i would be looking to keep some money aside to replace the system. Many warm air units contain asbestos so this will need to be checked out before anything is touched/removed.

a gsr engineer qualified to work on these types of system is what you need if you leave it in and need to get a safety check done.

 

[erpkid]

The tenant will love it as it will heat up quickly but at 60% efficiency they will gasp at the bills. Worth checking the gas safe site and use the search for an engineer section to find one with the warm air ticket in the proprties area. As Lameplumber says they are getting rarer so check you can get it checked before you commit.

 

[Rickster123]

It will warm up quickly but as soon as it goes off the house will cool down rapidly unless it's very well insulated.

 

[dancinplumba]

you would think it would be more efficient to only heat air rather than to heat water and then the water to heat the air ??

 

[erpkid]

Latent heat is the answer I think. I always reccomend oil filled rads rather than fan heaters as at least they keep on giving. We still have a lot of warm air in the village but not enough to justify the ticket. It is hard to get people off as they equate the quick warm up with "efficiency"

 

[stevetheplumber]

much the same opinion as every one else rip it out they are by todays standards a bit dodgy being open flued, probably 30 plus years old and many were not fitted well in the first place if the heat exchanger perforates youl be pumping flue gas around the house
youll probably get 7 rads and boiler done in an empty place for between 3 and 4 k depending on spec you dont say where you are?

 

[Centralheatking]

We deal with this type of system from time to time and have fitted new/replacement ones
the owners of the houses who take time to wait BEFORE rippng them become very pleased
with their choice. They are simple easily maintained rarely go wrong. Beware of the rip itout fellas who 'advise' cause they cannot service it and just wants to sell you a system that he can fit and as usual it a CombiQUOTE=ringi;404869]I am viewing a property just after Christmas that has Gas warm air heating, as far as I know the system was installed in the 1970s when the property was built. I will be renting out the property so don’t wish to be taking on a problem.

I have no experience of such systems. What can anyone tell me about them?

What should I be looking for when viewing the property?

If I make an offer on the property how do I find someone that truly understands such system to check them out?[/QUOTE]

 

[mountainman]

As said, warm air systems are simple and reliable as long as they are maintained correctly.

 

[ringi]

Thanks for everyone’s help, sorry some more questions…

If I keep a warm air system how do I get a reasonable rating on the EPC?

What sort of asbestos would you expect a warm air system to have, is it just asbestos cement sheets lining the cupboard that the unit is in, or is there often “real” asbestos wrapped round the ducts?

Is £2K about the right price to put in a new warm air unit on a “like for like” bases?

Are there any condensing units, if so how is the condensation dealt with as the units seem to be normally in the middle of the home?

I am also concerned that a lot of people seem to dislike them, so they may not be good for rental however well they work in real life. A lot of homes on the estate have been “upgraded” to a wet system. (The same reason I will have to have all the walls in magnolia, as no one hates it.)

 

[dancinplumba]

Latent heat is the answer I think. I always reccomend oil filled rads rather than fan heaters as at least they keep on giving. We still have a lot of warm air in the village but not enough to justify the ticket. It is hard to get people off as they equate the quick warm up with "efficiency"

Eh ?? fan heaters dont keep on giving ??

 

[lame plumber]

5k, Wow, I'm moving to Devon!

whats the point of doing it for £3k as quoted by someone , it will be banged in and youll make no money!

 

[AWheating]

Thanks for everyone’s help, sorry some more questions…

If I keep a warm air system how do I get a reasonable rating on the EPC?

What sort of asbestos would you expect a warm air system to have, is it just asbestos cement sheets lining the cupboard that the unit is in, or is there often “real” asbestos wrapped round the ducts?

Is £2K about the right price to put in a new warm air unit on a “like for like” bases?

Are there any condensing units, if so how is the condensation dealt with as the units seem to be normally in the middle of the home?

I am also concerned that a lot of people seem to dislike them, so they may not be good for rental however well they work in real life. A lot of homes on the estate have been “upgraded” to a wet system. (The same reason I will have to have all the walls in magnolia, as no one hates it.)

there could be no asbestos or alot, cement boards, flue pipe, gaskets/seals. before any work is carried out including a service you as the landlord by law(as duty holder) must be able to tell anybody working in your property if and where any asbestos hazards are.

a start would be to check the model of unit against a list of asbestos containing appliances and with the manufacturer. then get an asbestos survey done for the entire installation and property.

most landlords have them removed for one reason or another, large landlords normally do it for environmental regs and future maintenence i guess aswell as gaining a dry loft etc...

 

[Mike Jackson]

Before making any rash decisions have the system checked over by a gas installer registered for warm air and also have a look at Johnson & Starley

The new warm air units are highly efficient and definitely a viable alternative to ripping it out and putting a combi in.

 

[erpkid]

Eh ?? fan heaters dont keep on giving ??

No mate....oil filled do...or at least that is what our cat demonstrates. If in doubt a well trained ***** can help with rad balancing and tracing pipe runs.........

 

[Centralheatking]

J & S are really very good as MJ states - we use them when required - if you have any questions just get their area rep out to you , its never too much trouble for them in our experience - their before and sales service is 2nd to none

Before making any rash decisions have the system checked over by a gas installer registered for warm air and also have a look at Johnson & Starley

The new warm air units are highly efficient and definitely a viable alternative to ripping it out and putting a combi in.

 

[Centralheatking]

The new rafts of rental property (environmental) regulations coming in 1st 2014 and 2nd in 2017 really need landlords and potential landlords to up their 'game' or get out quick -
as I understand things - 2017 is Hiroshima for small underfunded rental property owners just after a quick buck.

Only the top 2 rated rental property categories after this date can legally be rented to either dhss or private tennants.

centralheatking

 

[stevetheplumber]

The new rafts of rental property (environmental) regulations coming in 1st 2014 and 2nd in 2017 really need landlords and potential landlords to up their 'game' or get out quick -
as I understand things - 2017 is Hiroshima for small underfunded rental property owners just after a quick buck.

Only the top 2 rated rental property categories after this date can legally be rented to either dhss or private tennants.

centralheatking

you recomend leaving it in and then say by 2017 all properties need to be to high spec which could be hard or impossible to achieve with an open flued system??/ most councils and HA's started replacing these with wet systems over 20 yerars ago

 

[snowhead]

The new rafts of rental property (environmental) regulations coming in 1st 2014 and 2nd in 2017 really need landlords and potential landlords to up their 'game' or get out quick -
as I understand things - 2017 is Hiroshima for small underfunded rental property owners just after a quick buck.

Only the top 2 rated rental property categories after this date can legally be rented to either dhss or private tennants.

centralheatking

There's going to be hundreds of thousands of homeless families if this is true, any links?

 

[stevetheplumber]

whats the point of doing it for £3k as quoted by someone , it will be banged in and youll make no money!

why would 3k be "banged in" its 2 days work for 2 blokes id do them all day long with a vaillant pro for that money in empty properties if you cant do 3.5 rads a day properly your obviously slow i am slow now but id pee that

 

[stevetheplumber]

Before making any rash decisions have the system checked over by a gas installer registered for warm air and also have a look at Johnson & Starley

The new warm air units are highly efficient and definitely a viable alternative to ripping it out and putting a combi in.[/QUOT
ive just had a quick look at the jonson and starly site and i cant find anything that says these are band a appliances so how can they be fitted ?

 

[Masood]

why would 3k be "banged in" its 2 days work for 2 blokes id do them all day long with a vaillant pro for that money in empty properties if you cant do 3.5 rads a day properly your obviously slow i am slow now but id pee that

You're not slow, dude...

 

[snowhead]

The new rafts of rental property (environmental) regulations coming in 1st 2014 and 2nd in 2017 really need landlords and potential landlords to up their 'game' or get out quick -
as I understand things - 2017 is Hiroshima for small underfunded rental property owners just after a quick buck.

Only the top 2 rated rental property categories after this date can legally be rented to either dhss or private tennants.

centralheatking

Sadly a LOAD of TOSH

By 2018 any rental property only needs to achieve EPC of E, hardly difficult to achieve.