Central heating

[staffslad]

Re: Central heating

I am not sure how many people have ducted heating. I have never been to a house with it.

[George 1978]

Re: Central heating

I understood central heating is similar in operation to ducted air conditioning is it?

Doesn't the air conditioning travel above while the central heating goes below? - I think that is the main difference.

[George 1978]

Re: Central heating

The floorboards were installed in the 1930s. They look much better than what was in the cavity underneath them. About half of the fragments of the old fireplace was cleared out along with a large quantity of dust. Several intact tiles were found which have been saved for future use.

When the house was new the floorboards were most likely covered with lino. Original 1930s lino with 'jazz' patterns was found underneath the carpets upstairs but it had deteriorated so much that it couldn't be saved.

The house I used to live in was built in the 1920s and reminded me of that, and it was modernised in 1974 as well - times have changed when people used to put newspaper down as underlay (making it a bit of a time capsule). Thank goodness that Carpetright had put some official underlay when they kitted out the living room at the house where I used to live.

[Donald the Great]

Re: Central heating

I understood central heating is similar in operation to ducted air conditioning is it?

[Arran]

Re: Central heating

The floorboards look just as disgusting as well - no way would I want to live there.

The floorboards were installed in the 1930s. They look much better than what was in the cavity underneath them. About half of the fragments of the old fireplace was cleared out along with a large quantity of dust. Several intact tiles were found which have been saved for future use.

When the house was new the floorboards were most likely covered with lino. Original 1930s lino with 'jazz' patterns was found underneath the carpets upstairs but it had deteriorated so much that it couldn't be saved.

[George 1978]

Re: Central heating

The room had a carpet but it was too disgusting and dirty to photograph.

The floorboards look just as disgusting as well - no way would I want to live there.

[Arran]

Re: Central heating

By the way, I am not too fond of those bare floorboards in Arran's first picture - they certainly need a bit of varnish on them, or even better, a bit of laminate flooring!

The room had a carpet but it was too disgusting and dirty to photograph.

The pump was installed in the most inconvenient and inaccessible location possible underneath the floorboards. It was located using a stethoscope and part of the brickwork had to be demolished in order to access it.



That pump looks original 1970s and it still works. It would have been very difficult and time consuming to replace if it had failed.

[Richard1978]

Re: Central heating

My Aunt & Uncle had a hot air system until they found the annual servicing costs were too much & had it replaced by central heating. Also my cousin's allergies were made worse by it blowing so much dust into the air.

[George 1978]

Re: Central heating

I was so cold and worried about getting hypothermia that I went out to Argos and got myself a portable heather

Or indeed, a portable heater even. I should have hoped it was a lucky heather for all my troubles.

[George 1978]

Re: Central heating

By the way, I am not too fond of those bare floorboards in Arran's first picture - they certainly need a bit of varnish on them, or even better, a bit of laminate flooring!

[Arran]

Re: Central heating

The room with the gas fire and back boiler did not have a radiator. This was quite common in houses with back boilers as it was assumed that the gas fire would heat the room. A radiator has now been installed in the room as a decision was made not to have a gas fire after the boiler was replaced as it's something else that needs servicing or can go wrong.

[George 1978]

Re: Central heating

I have to admit that central heating feels a lot safer to me than a gas fire - the radiators are safe enough to dry clothes on, but I would not recommend doing that in front of a gas fire. At my old place we had one in every room except the living room where we had the gas fire.

In my flat I have a radiator in every room, and a big boiler in the cupboard so I get a nice hot running bath when I need one, and almost warm radiators - I say almost because when I have it off all summer due to the hot weather, I have to contact Maintenance at the local Housing Association when it gets colder in October or November each year to get someone to put the heating back on because it seems to stop working at some point during the summer. Last year we had that cold spell and the man couldn't get to my flat - I was so cold and worried about getting hypothermia that I went out to Argos and got myself a portable heather, and they are obviously not very friendly on your electricity bill for obvious reasons!

At my old place we had our annual gas safety check (spring clean the gas fire elements etc), and the man had found evidence of a gas leak, so someone else had to come out a couple of days later, although there was nothing really to worry about.

[staffslad]

Re: Central heating

We didn't have any form of central heating until early 1992. It was a wet system consisting of a combi boiler and 7 radiators. I can't remember exactly, but is there a make called Vallance or similar? We had that boiler until 2008 when we took advantage of a government scheme where old boilers were replaced gratis, so that is the one we have now, but same radiators as we had in 1992.

[zabadak]

Re: Central heating

We had under-floor heating in the 70s - not very efficient!

[Arran]

Re: Central heating

A Baxi Bermuda 551 back boiler removed from a house in the West Midlands earlier this year.