Heating and Plumbing in Whyteleafe (CR3)
Whyteleafe runs up both sides of a dry valley cut through the North Downs, and much of the housing climbing those sides is Edwardian or interwar. That means solid walls in a good many cases, and it means the water arriving at your kitchen tap is a figure worth measuring rather than assuming. Both decide what boiler actually makes sense.
Before anyone picks a boiler
A combi heats water as it passes through it, so what it can deliver is limited by what your incoming main gives you.
That is a flow rate, measured in litres a minute at the tap, and it is not the same thing as pressure — a house can have plenty of pressure and still fill a bath slowly. It takes a few minutes to measure at the survey and it settles an argument that otherwise turns up on the first cold morning after the new boiler is in. If the figure is healthy and one bathroom is in regular use, a combi is usually the simple answer. If it is modest, or two showers get run at the same time, a system boiler with a hot water cylinder will keep more people happy. Fitting a bigger combi does not create flow that the main is not delivering.
Radiators, and why a like-for-like swap can leave rooms cold
The Edwardian and interwar houses on the valley sides are largely solid brick with no cavity, and a solid wall loses more heat than a cavity wall of the same size. If the radiators were sized years ago, or sized by whoever happened to be fitting them at the time, a new boiler on its own will not warm a room that has never been warm. The way round it is a room-by-room heat loss calculation: measure the room, note how it is built and how much glazing it has, then check what the radiator in it can actually put out. Modern boilers also run more efficiently at lower flow temperatures, which asks more of a radiator rather than less. Sometimes the honest answer is one larger radiator in the room that has always been cold, not a whole new central heating system.
Floors up, walls chased, and everything put back
Pipework in houses of this age runs under boards and through joists, and on a property built into a valley side the runs are rarely straightforward. Lifting the floors, chasing the brickwork, boxing pipes in and putting plaster, boards and skirting back afterwards is our own team's work, and it is a bigger part of a heating job than it looks from the doorway. It is also the easiest part to leave out of a figure, so it is worth asking anyone pricing your job exactly where the making good sits in their quote, because somebody has to do it and it is not free.
More in Whyteleafe
Everything we do in Whyteleafe is on the Whyteleafe area sheet, and the full detail of how we approach this trade is on the heating & plumbing page.
Common questions
Q.01Will a combi boiler suit my house?
It depends on the flow rate at your incoming main and how many bathrooms get used at once. We measure the flow at the survey rather than guessing, and if it will not support a combi we say so and price a cylinder instead.
Q.02Do the radiators need changing when the boiler does?
Not always, but they should be checked rather than assumed. A room-by-room heat loss calculation shows whether the radiator you have can heat the room, which matters more in a house with solid walls.
Q.03Who puts the floors and the plaster back?
Our own carpenters and plasterers. Gas and heating are specialist trades, so the engineers who run the pipework and commission the system are brought in and managed by us. We survey the job, price it and stay the firm you deal with from first visit to final test, and the lifting, chasing and making good is ours and is in the price.
Q.04Are you local to Whyteleafe?
Yes. We are at 27 High Street in Godstone, a short drive away. Call 01883 337 700 and we will come and look at the job.
Thinking about heating & plumbing in Whyteleafe?
Tell us what you are planning. We come out, look at the job properly and give you a price for it.