Cedar Chase was designed with warm-air heating. This is relatively unusual in the UK and it got a bad reputation in the 1960s because it was often badly installed. Ours works well if it is properly maintained, and does have some advantages over radiators:

  • Does not take up wall space
  • Produces heat very quickly when starting from cold
  • Can be used to blow cool air in the summer

Boilers were not very efficient in the 1960s though, so if you still have an original Lennox G4 you should try very hard to replace it as soon as possible: something like 40% of your gas bill is going straight up the chimney. Several houses now have modern condensing boilers driving warm-air heat exchangers as well as providing hot water for the taps and underfloor heating in the bathroom. Here are some ideas:

Time and technology move on though! In early 2022 gas boilers are starting to look less of a good idea. Heat pumps have potential for lower bills and lower carbon emissions. They probably won’t work so well with warm-air heating though, as heat pumps work best when producing a relatively low-temperature output. We also want to avoid having bulky and noisy outdoor units, so we are looking at ideas for ground-source systems. It may be possible to have a ground loop serving the whole estate, which would also provide for summer cooling.