Keston boiler in cellar removed, heat store in basement, accumulator, Evohome….
This is a house in a fashionable area of SE London. Like may Victorian houses, it’s a lot bigger on the inside than first appears from the outside. A big driveway in London is always a bonus. We were asked to provide a quotation to replace a typically troublesome Keston C55 boiler (55Kw) in the basement. Our customer had experienced numerous breakdowns ever since it was installed in 2004, in fact, I recall them saying that it had never survived a winter without a repair visit. If you have a large Keston, you probably know the story only too well. […]
LPG boiler and an Evohome internet control system
We’re in a very rural part of Horsham, in Sussex, for this case study. We’re pleased to say that this is the third new boiler installation job we’ve carried out for this family in two years. Although only around 2% of our installation work features here in our case studies (because one of our boiler renewals looks much like the next, and it takes so long writing it all up), both jobs can be seen on our blog because they were unusual in different respects. We’re replacing an LPG fired (Liquid Petroleum Gas; in this case, Propane) combi boiler in […]
Complex house heating system of the future (in 1998) gets updated
For this case study, we are in Ealing, West London. Our customer rang us to say he had inadvertently bought a large house with a woefully complex heating system around 8 years ago. The first time he viewed the house, it was perfect – but they never went into the garage. On the second visit, he popped his head into the garage area, and found it completely full of commercial plant, and a ambient temperature of over 30C. Since then, many a central heating specialist has escaped having seen the garage; apparently they are brimming with confidence until the door […]
Listed Building in Kent gets a new boiler and 12 zone iPhone control
The brief was to replace an old Potterton boiler in the basement with a new unit, and make the system more efficient. Spread over 3 floors and a cellar, this building is Grade 2 listed, and therefore represents a challenge when alterations to building services are required. We looked into replacing the boiler in the cellar with a modern condensing unit, and relining the chimney. However, there were adjacent chimney pots that were in use, and also there were plans for the cellar which meant that our customer would prefer the boiler to be resited to an otherwise unused store […]
End of terrace in Sevenoaks with water flow issues
We were called to an interesting refurbishment in Ide Hill, near Sevenoaks, Kent. The house was in a very rural location at the end of a terrace of four victorian cottages. We couldn’t take any decent photos of the house at the time of the job because it was covered in scaffolding! The property was being updated and renovated; as space was tight the customer wanted to remove water tanks and the hot water cylinder from the house and at the same time replace the old oil boiler in a shed on the other side of the entrance pathway. […]
Large old listed country house – 155Kw boiler system renewal
We’ve just replaced the boiler plant in a very large country residence in Sussex (July 2013). The old oil fired Worcester Bosch system heated the house, which was mainly comprised of 60 yr old radiators and large bore steel pipe, as an entire single entity without any zone control. The oil bill (no mains gas here) was £12K per annum. Our customer looked at a number of options, but liked our approach best. Our unique proposal was to improve the efficiency of the boiler room by using weather compensation and load sharing – reduce consumption of oil and increase comfort, […]
Oil fired 1969 warm air heater replacement in Chatham, Kent
We were asked to look at a very cold house on the outskirts of Chatham by an older gentleman, whose heating had failed. The warm air system dated back to the mid 1960s, when the house was built. Spares being no longer available, the warm air unit had given it’s last and the house was freezing. The hot water system was similarly antiquated, using a vapourising pot oil burner in the utility room to heat a conventional hot water cylinder upstairs via an indirect water coil. There aren’t many options when it comes to domestic oil fired warm air. Lennox […]
Hometronic system transforms comfort in Godalming property
Godalming is a beautifully rural part of Surrey, UK. This house in located in an isolated position, and was purchased by the present owners a couple of years ago. One of the things that had never been successful with this lovely house was the heating. Radiators worked, then they didn’t work at all, seemingly at random. There were a few electric and LPG heaters evident when I did the home survey – it was a cold house. Our customer is a senior creative figure in the electronic gaming arts industry, and he wanted to have zone based control of […]
New model Vaillant in cellar replaces iron commercial
Today’s case study looks at an interesting house near Leatherhead, Surrey, UK. Outwardly, it looks like a chalet bungalow, but at the some point in the past, a massive cellar was excavated underneath with a swimming pool, games room and boiler room. This was some years ago and the present owner has no need for the swimming pool, which together with the associated boiler/plant room, was at the end of its economic life. The pool and house was heated by a large iron open flued commercial boiler with a pressure jet burner. There was masses of wiring in the cellar […]
An unusual warm air job using a Bosch Greenstar boiler
This is a house in a remote location near Maidstone, Kent. Some 200 years old, it was bought in a semi derelict condition over 35 years ago by the present owner, whose late husband was an architect. He remodelled and partially rebuilt the house, retaining all the period charm, but incorporating modern upgrades, including adding ducted warm air heating. The heating plant room was around the back of the house in an external cupboard, and the original warm air unit (oil fired) was replaced around 14 years ago by a local contractor. This 1990s unit, a Lennox oil fired cabinet, […]
