Warm Air removed and replaced with radiators
Our client had a three storey town house in Beckenham, Kent. Built in the 1970s, it had been fitted with a Johnson & Starley warm air system from new. Now theres’s nothing wrong with warm air heating, and we fit the latest US Lennox condensing units for the more discerning customers. But in common with many properties of this era, economies had been made with the ductwork, resulting in no direct heating of the third bedroom or bathroom. Our customer had recently bought the property, and faced the choice of many similar households wondering whether to replace the warm air […]
Refurbish 20 year old Kidd Condensing boiler
Refurbish a 20 year old condensing boiler? If you have to read this twice, then you probably haven’t got a Kidd VHE. Our subject of this blog is a 1990 Kidd Oil Model 1 unit in Canterbury, which had been ‘serviced’ in recent years by a contractor who was not familiar with the product, or condensers generally. The condense drains were all completely blocked and full of shale deposits, causing damage to the upper part of the boiler and casing. This had probably gone unchecked for a number of years. As a result, the projected 30 yr lifspan had been […]
Condensing boiler in cellar and chimney liner
Over to the picturesque Sussex town of Horsham, where we have a beautiful listed residence in the protected heritage quarter of the town. British Gas condemned the old floorstanding Potterton boiler in the cellar, and they and other contractors suggested that the only solution was the relocation of a new boiler at the other end of the house, involving unsightly pipework throughout. The existing defunct boiler was flued up a very old chimney weaving through 3 floors; we suggested fitting a new Viessmann Compact 26Kw boiler in the cellar. The existing system was very old, the cylinder was around 60 […]
Low flow rate solved for Vaillant 937 installation
Our customer, in Woldingham, Surrey, had recently purchased a property with a conventional tank fed water system. They wished to remove a couple of shower pumps and the water tanks and install a direct fed pressurized water system. The problem was that the water flow rate into the property was around 9-10 litres per minute. There was also a limited space to fit the entire boiler plant into. We had to boost the flow rate as well as provide the new boiler plant, all within a single cupboard. We chose to fit a wall hung Vaillant ecoTEC 937, which is […]
Conventional boiler to combination in South Croydon Flat
Our customer had an ageing Potterton wall hung boiler, which was affected by sludge, and wished to convert it to a mains pressure combination boiler solution. The old boiler and cylinder had been squeezed into a new kitchen conversion, so it was very awkward to access the constituent parts. We removed the old wall hung boiler and cylinder, and fitted a new Worcester-Bosch condensing combination boiler. The hot water cylinder, tanks and associated controls were no longer required in the new configuration, and were scrapped. We cut a neat slot in the kitchen cabinet carcass, which allowed us to achieve […]
Unusual house in Reigate, Surrey, gets unique underfloor heating
This property had an old HarcoPak, which is an integrated hot water cylinder and cold water storage tank, mounted in a frame on the 1st floor. It was heated by an old Potterton Kingfisher 100BF floorstanding boiler, which had been installed with a flue a couple of inches from the rear door and an undersized gas pipe; both of which were contrary to the gas regs at the time the house was constructed, and still are. We removed the Potty boiler, leaving a large hole for the on site building team of Mizon Builders to brick up. We relocated the […]
Kent Church has a new condensing boiler
Our photo shows Dan in contemplation, in the graveyard of St John the Evangelist, in Hildenborough, Kent. Actually, he’s assisting in a purging operation at the gas meter box. This church, constructed over 100 years ago, was heated by an old 86kW Ideal Buccaneer commercial boiler. The boiler had a reputation for breaking down in the hour of need (eg: coldest days of winter) and the management team had found the only way to minimise the chances of failure was to have the boiler on in periods of the summer. The heating was controlled by a bewildering set of high/low […]
45 year old boiler bites the dust
The old Potterton oil boiler had been installed around 1965, and would still be working were it not for a failed oil pump that was no longer available. Sited in the utility room of this delightful property surrounded by fields, and with a large concrete asbestos flue running up the rear of the building, we suggested the replacement was sited in the detached garage. Another boiler subject to the UK Government’s Scrappage Scheme ( which finished in March 2010), we recommended a Worcester-Bosch Camray Greenstar condensing oil boiler to replace it. Holes were core drilled in the utility room wall […]
DPS Heatstore solves loft conversion challenge
The house pictured, located in Croydon, Surrey UK, was being extended into the loft space. The loft tanks for the hot water system and radiator header tanks had to be removed to make way for the new accommodation. Our challenge was to provide a new heating and high pressure cold & hot water system in an 1900mm high cellar, which could replicate the shower performance of the existing powerful pumped tank fed system in the loft. Furthermore, it should support the use of extra bathrooms in the loft area. This project raised a number of challenging problems. We could have […]
New Worcester Bosch Greenstar Ri in Oxted, Surrey
Rust, Rust and Rust The Energysaver was one of Glowworm’s early efforts at a high efficiency boiler. Like the ill fated Potterton Envoy and Baxi Barcelona, the Energysaver had the lifespan of a prawn sandwich. Although manufacturers like Archie Kidd had perfected the art of condensing boilers decades earlier, the mass market British boiler industry left their designs to the last minute and used their loyal customer base as a test bed. Glowworm was snapped up by Vaillant (a leading German boiler manufacturer) over 5 years ago and the Energysaver model was quickly consigned to history and replaced by European designs. […]
