Warm air heating with asbestos flue something to worry about

[Tim Snell]

All,

I am in the process of buying a house at the moment. it was build mid 70's and was fitted with a reasonably well designed forced warm air system.

Anyhow the heater (also does HW) was replaced in about 1996 for a Jackson Starley JB40-50.

It all seems to work well and has modair 2 controls.

However just got a surveyor report back today and it mentions that the flue is asbestos. Is this something to worry about, what is the worst case scenario (financially and upheaval) and is there any particular advice about this sort of setup.

I am not to interested in starting a wet vs dry war, just wanted to know if the flue needs immediate replacement.

Thanks Tim

[meow2222]

Asbestos in houses does not normally require replacement. Millions of houses have asbestos in today. If its rigid asbestos cement, is white or grey, and is not disintegrating then its not really an issue. If OTOH its soft fluffy and brown asbestos, its a serious issue.

NT

[David Hansen]

On Tue, 27 Feb 2007 19:35:02 +0000 someone who may be Tim Snell wrote this:-

Assuming the asbestos is in good condition, removing it increases the concentration of the fibres in the building. Thus it is generally better to leave it in place, unless it is damaged.

It is only if one wants to work on things the stuff covers that removal becomes desirable.

There is much panic about asbestos, but it is simply another problem that needs to be managed.

Before anyone accuses me of not knowing about the subject I will add that two colleagues that I knew well were reduced to empty shells before they died from the stuff, but one of them used to make blue asbestos into footballs which they kicked around a dockyard and the other one had been exposed to similar levels of the stuff.