The History of Central Heating

It is believed that Central Heating first started with the Romans. They invented a system called the Hypocaust.  It was an underfloor heating system that also warmed the walls. The Romans did this by raising the floorsurface on pillars of bricks. There was a fire outside the building, and the hot air from the fire was passed under the floor and up through the walls.

Rich Romans liked to be warm and comfy. They had central heating at home, in villas and in public baths. The heating system was kept going by slaves, who kept a fire blazing in furnaces. The warm air moved around the building through spaces under the floors and between the walls. The underfloor space was made by raising the floor on top of piles of tile or stone.

A similar system of central heating was used in ancient Korea, where it is known as ondol. It is thought that the ondol system dates back to the Koguryo or Three Kingdoms (37 BC-AD 668) period when excess heat from stoves were used to warm homes. By the 12th century, Muslim engineers in Syria introduced an improved central heating system, where heat travelled through underfloor pipes from the furnace room, rather than through a hypocaust. This central heating system was widely used in bath-houses throughout the medieval Islamic world.

By around 1700 Russian engineers started designing hydrological based systems for central heating. Around 1716, came the first use of water in Sweden to distribute heat in buildings. Angier March Perkins built upon this concept and installed some of the earliest steam-heating systems in the 1830s. And today we now have radiators which provide the heat to our home. It was invented by Franz San Galli, a Polish born Russian businessman. The radiator was invented around 1855-1857, and was the most significant step in the final shaping of our modern central heating.

Central Heating 24-7 have Plumbers and Heating Engineers to install your Central Heating System

We are pleased as we know you are, that central heating has come this far as not only the Romans like to be warm and comfy. Our network of professional Heating Enigneers and Plumbers all over the UK can install an Energy Efficient Central Heating system to suit your home and your pocket. Call us today. We are here to assist you.