If you happen to be a summer baby and prefer to stay warm all year round, then you are going to need some form of heating in your home during the cold winter months. For most UK residents, central heating is not a luxury, it’s essential. Whatever your home heating requirements happen to be, you need to consider whether your system is capable of getting you through the coldest winter weather!

Fortunately, there are lots of central heating solutions available to suit every home heating situation and every pocket. Cost is usually one of the most important considerations and if you fail to budget carefully you could easily end up spending a lot more than you bargained for.

Consider the most popular choices currently available, namely, water-heated systems, under-floor heating or central air systems. All these heating systems can now be ordered from the comfort of your own home, and if you have the will, the expertise and the patience, you can even consider doing the installation yourself.

Firstly, let’s consider a central heating solution based upon an air-conditioning system. Most of these systems require complicated installation of circulation ducting around the house to help ensure the even distribution of heat. Some allow the control of temperature for individual rooms throughout the house, but not all. The great thing about central air-conditioning is that it will provide cooling in summer months as well as heating in winter so you can maintain comfortable temperatures all year round.

Under-floor heating systems are a popular choice with some households because they are so unobtrusive. Special elements are installed to heat the room up from underneath the floor. The temperature for each room can be controlled individually and you can also choose to restrict the number of rooms heated if you have a tight budget to consider. This can be a cost effective and efficient way to heat your home and will definitely be popular with your family pet as they will be warm wherever they are in the room!

The UK’s most popular central heating choice is a network of radiators linked to a water heating system. These are designed to pump warm water throughout your house by a circuit of copper piping and radiators to provide your entire home with heat and hot water. Modern central heating systems often feature ‘combination’ or ‘condensing’ gas boilers and these provide some of the most efficient and environmentally friendly solutions for home heating. They are also easy to install, easy to use and largely maintenance free. Other boiler options include oil burning, solid fuel burning and electric powered boilers.

Finally, one important factor to consider when choosing which heating system to install is how cost-effective and energy efficient it will be to run. Systems that run on electricity can be very expensive indeed, especially if you intend to run them continuously. Oil and coal fired systems can be similarly costly and sometimes subject to wild price fluctuations. Wood burning boilers can be cost-effective if you have ready access to a cheap supply of fuel but this can be difficult for town and city dwellers. Gas is not only the all round best value, it’s readily available to all but the most remote of households and incredibly energy efficient. For further information about gas boilers and detailed reviews, visit the boiler review section of this site.
 

Guest Article by Max Rickman