Comfortable

Many Kiwi’s have never experienced the comfort of warm water central heating. We are used to a log fire in the living room or a night store in the hall or an air heat pump up the wall. This approach produces a patchy temperature through the house.

But when a home is warmed evenly throughout with warm water central heating, it is a totally new feeling. The warmth that is evenly spread throughout a dwelling, so that you don’t know where it's coming from, is totally silent and yet permeating the entire home and enveloping the body.

It becomes a pleasurable feeling that just makes sense. How do you want to live? Waking up in the morning. Returning in the evening. It’s a lightbulb moment when people discover the difference.

People who know this would never go back to air heat pumps, log fires, or even ducted forced-air heating. These are all fantastic compared with nothing. But are sadly lacking when compared with the feeling of warm water central heating.

This is why most of the world uses warm water central heating in their homes and businesses.

To feel comfortable in a room we need a balance of air temperature and the temperature of the surfaces in the room – the walls, floors and ceilings. If the air temp is around 22°C but the surfaces are cool, it will not feel cosy.

We feel most comfortable when we receive heat radiantly (like sitting in the sun). See the graphic showing the zone of cosiness.

Warm water central heating systems are high in radiant heat. They warm the surfaces in the rooms rather than just the air which is why they feel more comfortable.

Systems that blow air don’t warm the surfaces in the room as much so we generally need the air temperature higher to feel the same comfort as a radiant system.

There are no drafts with a warm water central heating system. You will never be caught positioned under a grill blowing hot or cold air at you, drying your eyes or throat. You will never be hot at the head and cold at the feet - that unfortunately is the symptom of living with air heat pumps.