We live in a flat with a Johnson & Starley warm air system that has
been disconnected by 'cos the heat exchanger is leaking. Yes, I know
it could be repaired but it's 30+ years old and next year it will be
something else!

We have had a J&S approved guy call who recommends a new J&S heater -
Economaire - it's sealed and doesn't fall foul of the increasingly
tough ventilation/air entry standards. Looks OK.

BUT

However, it does seem a bit expensive. J&S won't tell me what their
boilers cost so I have no way of checking. He wants £2400 to replace
it, replace aged fortic and put in new controls.

Is this fair?
***************

Are other warm air boilers available, are they any good?

Wendy

On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:51:56 -0700, wendy_grunge wrote:

We live in a flat with a Johnson & Starley warm air system that has
been disconnected by 'cos the heat exchanger is leaking. Yes, I know
it could be repaired but it's 30+ years old and next year it will be
something else!

We have had a J&S approved guy call who recommends a new J&S heater -
Economaire - it's sealed and doesn't fall foul of the increasingly
tough ventilation/air entry standards. Looks OK.

BUT

However, it does seem a bit expensive. J&S won't tell me what their
boilers cost so I have no way of checking. He wants £2400 to replace
it, replace aged fortic and put in new controls.

Is this fair?
***************

Are other warm air boilers available, are they any good?

Wendy
==================================
You wouldn't shop at Tesco without seeing prices so it hardly makes sense
to buy spares for an out-moded central heating system from someone who
won't give you a breakdown of component costs.

J&S appear to have a virtual monopoly of war air heating in this country
which suggest that you might be better off spending your money on a more
conventional 'wet' system which you can customise to your own
specification.

You might be able to subsidise a replacement system by selling the old
warm air ducting;scrap metal prices are quite high at the moment.

Cic.

--
===================================
Using Ubuntu Linux
Windows shown the door
===================================

Cicero wrote:
On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:51:56 -0700, wendy_grunge wrote:

We live in a flat with a Johnson & Starley warm air system that has
been disconnected by 'cos the heat exchanger is leaking. Yes, I know
it could be repaired but it's 30+ years old and next year it will be
something else!

We have had a J&S approved guy call who recommends a new J&S heater -
Economaire - it's sealed and doesn't fall foul of the increasingly
tough ventilation/air entry standards. Looks OK.

BUT

However, it does seem a bit expensive. J&S won't tell me what their
boilers cost so I have no way of checking. He wants £2400 to replace
it, replace aged fortic and put in new controls.

Is this fair?
***************

Are other warm air boilers available, are they any good?

Wendy
==================================
You wouldn't shop at Tesco without seeing prices so it hardly makes
sense to buy spares for an out-moded central heating system from
someone who won't give you a breakdown of component costs.

J&S appear to have a virtual monopoly of war air heating in this
country which suggest that you might be better off spending your
money on a more conventional 'wet' system which you can customise to
your own specification.

Problem with that, as my mother-in-law found when she was considering this
very thing, is that she had nowhere to put radiators!

John

On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:04:15 +0000, John wrote:

Cicero wrote:
On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:51:56 -0700, wendy_grunge wrote:

We live in a flat with a Johnson & Starley warm air system that has
been disconnected by 'cos the heat exchanger is leaking. Yes, I know
it could be repaired but it's 30+ years old and next year it will be
something else!

We have had a J&S approved guy call who recommends a new J&S heater -
Economaire - it's sealed and doesn't fall foul of the increasingly
tough ventilation/air entry standards. Looks OK.

BUT

However, it does seem a bit expensive. J&S won't tell me what their
boilers cost so I have no way of checking. He wants £2400 to replace
it, replace aged fortic and put in new controls.

Is this fair?
***************

Are other warm air boilers available, are they any good?

Wendy
==================================
You wouldn't shop at Tesco without seeing prices so it hardly makes
sense to buy spares for an out-moded central heating system from
someone who won't give you a breakdown of component costs.

J&S appear to have a virtual monopoly of war air heating in this
country which suggest that you might be better off spending your
money on a more conventional 'wet' system which you can customise to
your own specification.
-----------------------------------

Problem with that, as my mother-in-law found when she was considering this
very thing, is that she had nowhere to put radiators!

John
===================================
What is so very unusual about her property that it has no space available
for radiators in one form or another? I doubt if I've ever seen a house /
property that had no free wall space.

Cic.

--
===================================
Using Ubuntu Linux
Windows shown the door
===================================

"Cicero" wrote in message
news
Problem with that, as my mother-in-law found when she was considering
this
very thing, is that she had nowhere to put radiators!

John
===================================
What is so very unusual about her property that it has no space available
for radiators in one form or another? I doubt if I've ever seen a house /
property that had no free wall space.

Cic.

Why put rads in and have an inferior system when there is no need to.

On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:28:30 +0000, Doctor Drivel wrote:


"Cicero" wrote in message
news
Problem with that, as my mother-in-law found when she was considering
this
very thing, is that she had nowhere to put radiators!

John
===================================
What is so very unusual about her property that it has no space available
for radiators in one form or another? I doubt if I've ever seen a house /
property that had no free wall space.

Cic.

Why put rads in and have an inferior system when there is no need to.
----------------------------------
If wet CH with radiators is so inferior to warm air CH why is warm air
heating so rarely installed? Wet CH is flexible and easily maintained,
whereas warm air heating is difficult to modify, and has a tendency to
pump large amounts of dust into the air.

Cic.

--
===================================
Using Ubuntu Linux
Windows shown the door
===================================

Cicero wrote:
On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:04:15 +0000, John wrote:

Cicero wrote:
On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:51:56 -0700, wendy_grunge wrote:

We live in a flat with a Johnson & Starley warm air system that has
been disconnected by 'cos the heat exchanger is leaking. Yes, I
know it could be repaired but it's 30+ years old and next year it
will be something else!

We have had a J&S approved guy call who recommends a new J&S
heater - Economaire - it's sealed and doesn't fall foul of the
increasingly tough ventilation/air entry standards. Looks OK.

BUT

However, it does seem a bit expensive. J&S won't tell me what
their boilers cost so I have no way of checking. He wants £2400
to replace it, replace aged fortic and put in new controls.

Is this fair?
***************

Are other warm air boilers available, are they any good?

Wendy
==================================
You wouldn't shop at Tesco without seeing prices so it hardly makes
sense to buy spares for an out-moded central heating system from
someone who won't give you a breakdown of component costs.

J&S appear to have a virtual monopoly of war air heating in this
country which suggest that you might be better off spending your
money on a more conventional 'wet' system which you can customise to
your own specification.
-----------------------------------

Problem with that, as my mother-in-law found when she was
considering this very thing, is that she had nowhere to put
radiators!

John
===================================
What is so very unusual about her property that it has no space
available for radiators in one form or another? I doubt if I've ever
seen a house / property that had no free wall space.

Having had warm-air heating since the house was built, there was never any
need to leave free wall space. The settee, for instance is pushed back
against (well, actually millimetres from) one wall, bookcases line another
wall etc., etc.

Nothing insurmountable if they wanted to do a major re-shuffle of
furniture/walls/rooms/space, but they happen to like the layout as it is -
and as it is, there's no space to hang rads of sufficient size/heat output
in existing gaps. They decided it was far, far preferable in their
circumstances to just replace the warm air boiler.

John

"John" noneinuse@ wrote in message
...
Cicero wrote:
On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:04:15 +0000, John wrote:

Cicero wrote:
On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:51:56 -0700, wendy_grunge wrote:

We live in a flat with a Johnson & Starley warm air system that has
been disconnected by 'cos the heat exchanger is leaking. Yes, I
know it could be repaired but it's 30+ years old and next year it
will be something else!

We have had a J&S approved guy call who recommends a new J&S
heater - Economaire - it's sealed and doesn't fall foul of the
increasingly tough ventilation/air entry standards. Looks OK.

BUT

However, it does seem a bit expensive. J&S won't tell me what
their boilers cost so I have no way of checking. He wants £2400
to replace it, replace aged fortic and put in new controls.

Is this fair?
***************

Are other warm air boilers available, are they any good?

Wendy
==================================
You wouldn't shop at Tesco without seeing prices so it hardly makes
sense to buy spares for an out-moded central heating system from
someone who won't give you a breakdown of component costs.

J&S appear to have a virtual monopoly of war air heating in this
country which suggest that you might be better off spending your
money on a more conventional 'wet' system which you can customise to
your own specification.
-----------------------------------

Problem with that, as my mother-in-law found when she was
considering this very thing, is that she had nowhere to put
radiators!

John
===================================
What is so very unusual about her property that it has no space
available for radiators in one form or another? I doubt if I've ever
seen a house / property that had no free wall space.

Having had warm-air heating since the house was built, there was never any
need to leave free wall space. The settee, for instance is pushed back
against (well, actually millimetres from) one wall, bookcases line another
wall etc., etc.

Nothing insurmountable if they wanted to do a major re-shuffle of
furniture/walls/rooms/space, but they happen to like the layout as it is -
and as it is, there's no space to hang rads of sufficient size/heat output
in existing gaps. They decided it was far, far preferable in their
circumstances to just replace the warm air boiler.

Very wise too.

wrote:
We live in a flat with a Johnson & Starley warm air system that has
been disconnected by 'cos the heat exchanger is leaking. Yes, I know
it could be repaired but it's 30+ years old and next year it will be
something else!

We have had a J&S approved guy call who recommends a new J&S heater -
Economaire - it's sealed and doesn't fall foul of the increasingly
tough ventilation/air entry standards. Looks OK.

BUT

However, it does seem a bit expensive. J&S won't tell me what their
boilers cost so I have no way of checking. He wants £2400 to replace
it, replace aged fortic and put in new controls.

Is this fair?
***************

Are other warm air boilers available, are they any good?

Wendy

My mother-in-law lives up in Carlisle and has just (about 6 months ago) had
a new Johnson & Starley warm air boiler fitted. I can't contact her until
the weekend but I'll post back then if you like with the price she paid.

John

wrote in message
...
We live in a flat with a Johnson & Starley warm air system that has
been disconnected by 'cos the heat exchanger is leaking. Yes, I know
it could be repaired but it's 30+ years old and next year it will be
something else!

We have had a J&S approved guy call who recommends a new J&S heater -
Economaire - it's sealed and doesn't fall foul of the increasingly
tough ventilation/air entry standards. Looks OK.

BUT

However, it does seem a bit expensive. J&S won't tell me what their
boilers cost so I have no way of checking. He wants £2400 to replace
it, replace aged fortic and put in new controls.

Is this fair?
***************

Are other warm air boilers available, are they any good?

Wendy


Stick with the J&S forced air. The new units are a world away from the old.
You may want to install new registers too. Get one with an electrostatic
air filter - eliminates dust. Don't bother with radiators. The boilers do
not last as long as forced air units, You will have no ugly rads and pipes,
a fast heat up, cooling and vent in summer to. Wet system sludge up in the
rads and eventually parts of it will leak laeaving stains.

Get a price from another agent. J&S will give you them.

"Doctor Drivel" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
...
We live in a flat with a Johnson & Starley warm air system that has
been disconnected by 'cos the heat exchanger is leaking. Yes, I know
it could be repaired but it's 30+ years old and next year it will be
something else!

We have had a J&S approved guy call who recommends a new J&S heater -
Economaire - it's sealed and doesn't fall foul of the increasingly
tough ventilation/air entry standards. Looks OK.

BUT

However, it does seem a bit expensive. J&S won't tell me what their
boilers cost so I have no way of checking. He wants £2400 to replace
it, replace aged fortic and put in new controls.

Is this fair?
***************

Are other warm air boilers available, are they any good?

Wendy


Stick with the J&S forced air. The new units are a world away from the
old. You may want to install new registers too. Get one with an
electrostatic air filter - eliminates dust. Don't bother with radiators.
The boilers do not last as long as forced air units, You will have no ugly
rads and pipes, a fast heat up, cooling and vent in summer to. Wet system
sludge up in the rads and eventually parts of it will leak laeaving
stains.

Get a price from another agent. J&S will give you them.

From the J&S site......

Economaire
Warm Air Heaters to comply with the proposed new Part 'L' (April 2005)

Economaire is a family of air heaters designed to meet the standards
expected of a central heating system for the millennium. The heart of the
design is an electronics panel utilising digital technology and
microprocessor control.

Critical management of flue gases and heat exchanger temperatures result in
the warmth delivered to each room being accurate to +0.1oC, ensuring
exceptional comfort. As the system heats the air direct, warm up time is
virtually immediate, and system efficiency is optimised.

.. ECO Electronic control system as standard
.. Self diagnostics panel as standard
.. Fanned flue enables management of flue gases and offers vertical and
horizontal flue options
.. Digital control technology via microprocessor gives improved comfort
conditions
.. Infinitely variable supply air fan and modulating burner enable output to
match heating demand
.. Automatic ignition returns efficient use of fuel
.. Optional Cleanflow electronic filtration
.. Water heater option for gravity fed or pumped circuit
.. Models available for compartment, free standing or slot fix application
.. Optional rear rising duct