A relative has moved into a 1960s house with an original Johnson & Starley hot-air heating system (sorry, no part number to hand). System has been inspected by a gas technician and pronounced OK. System has separate air-heater and water-heater burners. Neighbours with similar systems like them, but I'm concerned about running costs.
I have a few concerns:
- The air-heater pilot light flame is quite large and noisy, and is presumably wasting lots of gas by modern standards.
- The electric rotary timer that controls the water heater doesn't rotate anymore, so the water heater comes on whenever the tank thermostat commands it.
- Based on meter readings, I think the cost of water heating and the 2 pilot lights will be about £500/year, before any hot-air heating is costed.
Any thoughts on following to reduce costs?
- Replace the timer for the water-heater (the part alone costs about £100).
- Turn off pilot light for air-heater during summer.
- Replace entire system with new hot-air or radiator-based system.