How much does warm air central heating cost?
Although it was hugely popular in the 1970s and 1980s, warm air central heating has fallen out of favour in recent years. There are lots of advantages to this sort of domestic heating – for a start it warms your rooms quickly, and as you don’t need radiators, it takes up less space in a smaller home. If you are thinking of replacing an existing warm air heating system with something a bit more up to date or putting in a brand new system, keep reading to find out just how much it all might cost.
What’s involved with a warm air heating installation?
One of the main benefits of a warm air heating system is that it is so quick to install when compared with other types of heating. The boilers to heat the air are around the same size as any other boiler, and no more expensive. Unlike a “wet” system with radiator, all you’ll need to heat your rooms is a system of pipes and vents, all of which are hidden under the floorboards and around the bottom of the walls. Often, it takes a skilled installer just one day to install a full hot air central heating system in your home, so having the work done is a lot less disruptive than putting in other sorts of heating.
Buying a boiler for a warm air heating system
It’s difficult to given even a rough guide of the price you can expect to pay for your boiler as there are so many different factors which will affect the price. The main factor is the power of boiler required, which will be determined by the number of rooms you need to heat. It’s best to get advice from a professional about this, and as people working in the trade often get a better deal on boilers, you might find it’s more economical to ask them to purchase it for you and invoice you along with installation costs. If you are sourcing the boiler yourself, expect to pay anything upwards of £500 for a warm air heating boiler. Remember also that this sort of heating just heats your house and not water, so you’ll have to think of another method of providing you with hot water.
Installation costs for warm air heating
The bulk of any quote for installing warm air central heating will be the costs for the workmen to do the job for you. If you’re using gas to heat your air there is no way around getting the professionals in as only qualified people are allowed to work on gas boilers for safety reasons. You can expect to pay on average £5000 in labour costs for having this sort of installation. One thing that many homeowners fail to account for when installing a warm air system is the costs of ripping out the existing system and disposing of it – and if you are needing to dispose of a dozen or more radiators and associated pipework this could add to the costs considerably. Ensure that disposal is included on any quotes you ask for.
