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Houses, flats and rentals

A house gets the same instruments as a packing office

The commercial side is the larger half of this business. That is the reason the residential work is good rather than a reason it is neglected — the measurements, the records and the refusal to guess all come from the same habit.

What we come out for

The calls we take most

No heat

A furnace or wall heater that will not light, lights and shuts down, or runs without warming the house. Diagnosed and priced before anything is fitted, with combustion tested and the heat exchanger inspected on anything that burns gas.

A room that is unbearable in a heat spell

Usually one or two rooms and usually west-facing. We establish whether the problem is the room or the house before anybody prices a system, because those two answers differ by a factor of five.

Damp, condensation and stuffiness

A long cool damp season produces plenty of this, and it is nearly always ventilation rather than heating. Extract that actually extracts, outside air where the code requires it, and a plain account of what a dehumidifier will and will not do.

A second opinion

You have been told the system needs replacing and you are not sure. We measure it and tell you what we find, including when the first contractor was right. That happens and we say so.

Annual service

Burners, heat exchanger, flue, coils, drains, filter fit, electrical connections, charge and combustion, with the readings recorded so this year can be compared with last year rather than remembered.

Rentals and small portfolios

Owners and managers who are not local. Tenant reports the fault, we attend, we report with photographs and a price, and nothing is authorised that you have not seen in writing.

Straight answers

Four things we say to homeowners

  • Two rooms is not a whole-house problem

    If the complaint is a west bedroom and a home office, price those two rooms first. The difference is large and the outcome is frequently better.

  • Heating ducts may not carry cooling

    Ductwork sized for heating alone often cannot move the air cooling needs. It is knowable in an afternoon with a manometer, and anybody who does not measure is hoping.

  • Age alone is not a reason to replace

    A system that holds its charge, moves the air it should and passes its safety checks works, whatever the year on the label. Age changes the arithmetic on an expensive repair and nothing else.

  • A gas appliance with no carbon monoxide alarm is the one urgent item

    Everything else here can wait for a convenient week. That cannot. Fit one, and have the combustion tested and the heat exchanger inspected.