When did combination boilers first appear in the UK? I remember it vaguely — it was around the early 1980s. My very first combi installation I remember the very first combination boiler I ever installed. It was a Saunier Duval SD620. The reason I remember it so well is that every single instruction that came…
This post contains an Amazon affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. That’s a very good question, and my answer as a retired Gas Safe Registered engineer would always be: yes. Here’s what I always told my customers — if you have a gas appliance installed in any room of your…
The combination boiler is a clever device that’s often neglected until it goes wrong. It’s essentially two boilers in one — one side heats your hot water, the other heats your radiators. When I first started in this trade, combination boilers didn’t exist. You had a boiler for the heating, and a separate boiler for…
This post contains an Amazon affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Over the years, many central heating boilers have suffered blockages in their heat exchangers due to dirty water in the system — something that could easily have been prevented with an inhibitor added at the right time. As boilers…
This post contains an Amazon affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. When I first started in the central heating business, boilers, radiators, and pipework were all made from heavy-duty materials. The boiler was a great big lump of cast iron. The radiators were heavy because the steel used to make…
This post contains an Amazon affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. TRVs — thermostatic radiator valves — were designed to save homeowners money on their energy bills. I remember the very first ones I installed: they were big, bulky, and not especially reliable. It was really around the 1980s that…
A room thermostat is a device that controls the temperature of your central heating system — or is it? As a retired central heating engineer, I’ve installed many room thermostats over the years in customers’ homes. They range from the very basic dial thermostat right up to the latest smart thermostat. In reality, they all…
This post contains an Amazon affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. When the Google Nest was first launched in the UK, it was simply called the “Nest Thermostat” — not Google Nest, as it’s known today. Before Nest arrived Before Nest appeared, the standard fit was the Drayton Digistat RF1…
This post contains an Amazon affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Everyone seems to want a smart thermostat these days. Before you spend £150-£250 on one, here’s the honest answer from someone who’s fitted thousands of heating controls over 50 years: sometimes it’s a genuinely good upgrade, and sometimes it’s…
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