Home Central Heating

Though the hypocaust was the first proper heating system it is not in common use today and it was not developed on for the systems we use today.  The hypocaust system went out of use after the Romans left Europe in the fourth and fifth centuries AD.  Heating technology then regressed to primitive fires for more than 1000 years.  It was technological advances made during and after the 17th century that led to the design of the modern central heating systems we have today rather than the earlier advances of the Romans.

Early research with central heating originated with steam-based systems, as they can be fairly straightforward.  In 1594 Hugh Platt developed a steam-based heating system for a greenhouse.  After this is was not until the 1700’s when a system was created by Colonel Coke in which steam pipes were fed from a central boiler in order to heat rooms in a house.  James Watt then used the steam-based system to heat his study and afterwards a factory in Manchester.  In 1795 Mathew Bolton, Watt’s associate laid a steam-based heating system in a friend’s house.

Although steam heating systems do have a low heat capability and quick response times they are more frequent in the heating of large buildings.  Steam systems operate at or above 100°c and this is hot enough to cause considerable burns making them potentially dangerous.  They are not a popular form of heating for domestic homes in the U.K.

Early installations using hot water instead of steam began in the 20th century but were often limited by the expensive and often unreliable pumps and the lack of availability.  This remained until the 1950’s when inexpensive electric pumps were widely available and home central heating became popular.