Thanet Heating first started installing central heating systems in 1962 at a time when most homes in Britain were still relying on coal fires or small gas or 1 bar electric fires. Nowadays it would be unthinkable that a modern house would not have some type of central heating.

Most domestic central heating hot water systems in the UK are provided by a gas fired condensing boiler. There are some solid fuel and oil boilers that are still fitted where no mains gas is available, also air and ground source heat pumps are becoming popular.

Combination Boilers have become popular over the last 20 years as they require no DHW cylinder or storage tanks.  However there are some drawbacks with a combi boiler, one being the DHW delivery which is set by a standard flow rate of water crossing the heat exchanger at a set temperature rise. You can of course increase the size of the combi from the basic 24kW but in some situations you may need to increase the size of the gas supply pipe accordingly.  

Another potential problem with combi boilers are longevity or lifespan as the DHW is on demand which means that high temperature is required to achieve the 35 degree temperature rise and even with a scale reducer this can result in a scale problem on the heat exchanger.  But the fact is that combi boilers can solve installation issues when it comes to lack of space for water storage such as in flats and smaller dwellings.

Heat Only Boilers & Domestic Hot Water Cylinders

In my 45 years in the heating industry I have come to the conclusion that a boiler and DHW cylinder last the longest, this is not any type of ephiny of eureka moment, it’s just what I always thought and time has proved it to be so.  Modern heating and hot water systems are now fully automatic with modulation boiler controls.  Boiler modulation means that as the system reaches temperature the gas burner gradually reduces in proportion to the rise in boiler temp, so unlike the last generation of boiler that operated on a thermostat which meant you would have a spike of gas consumption every time the boiler fired, the modulating boiler eliminates these situations and reduces your fuel cost.

Radiators

There are many manufacturers of radiators that all have a similar design and output performance, some particular types of establishment such as Nursing homes, Nurseries and some Public Buildings require LST (low surface temperature radiators). These types of radiators are self explanatory, in the event of someone falling against the radiator,  because of the low surface temperature they will not suffer injury from burns. This is due to the fact that the hot section of the radiator is encased or that a guild heating tube is located within the casing of the radiator and cannot be accessed unless the case is physically removed which requires certain tools to carry this out.

There are varying types of radiator controls in most situations a standard thermostatic radiator valve may be fitted, these automatically adjust to the setting that it is adjusted to.  However if you turn a thermostatic radiator valve off and the room temperature drops to around 3°C it will automatically open itself, this is a type of frost setting, conversely if the room temperature reaches around 25 °C then it will automatically shut off, to stop overheating and fuel waste. There are also RF thermostatic radiators valves that are controlled from a main panel with up to 8 separate channels for individual control.  If you require any information on the latest up to date system for radiator control please contact us for advice.

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