Gas Safe registered plumbing and heating contractors serving Upham and the Meon Valley. Boiler installations, system design, underfloor heating and more.
Upham is a scattered parish rather than a compact village, spread along the lanes between Bishop's Waltham and Winchester, and very little of it is on mains gas.
Properties here are spread out. Upham and Lower Upham sit a mile or so apart, with farms, cottages and converted outbuildings dotted along the lanes between them. That spacing shapes almost every job we do in the parish.
Off the gas grid, oil is the default and LPG is the common alternative. Both bring their own requirements. Oil tanks need to be sited correctly and bunded where the regulations call for it, and the run from tank to boiler is often much longer than it would be in a village with a gas main. Long runs need thinking about rather than simply extending.
The chalk underneath is the other constant. Water here is very hard, and the effect compounds over years rather than showing up immediately. Scale builds in heat exchangers, in cylinder coils and in shower valves, and the first symptom is usually reduced flow or a boiler that short cycles rather than anything dramatic. On a system being replaced anyway, it is worth deciding what protection goes in at the same time.
Where Upham has a genuine advantage is space. A heat pump needs an outdoor unit with clear airflow and somewhere sensible to put it, and rural plots usually have both. The constraint is normally inside rather than out. Low flow temperatures need larger emitters, and an older cottage with thick walls, small rooms and limited wall space may not have room for radiators of the right size without compromising how the rooms are used.
We would rather survey a property and tell you a heat pump is the wrong answer than fit one that disappoints every January. Sometimes the honest recommendation is a modern oil boiler and better controls, and occasionally it is insulation before anything else.
Exposure is worth a mention too. Rural properties tend to have pipework running through unheated outbuildings, garages and lofts, and an empty holiday period in a hard frost is where that shows. Lagging and a sensible drain-down point cost very little at installation.
We cover Upham and Lower Upham along with Owslebury, Morestead, Baybridge, Durley and Bishop's Waltham.
Supply, installation and replacement with up to 10-year warranty
Full heating system design, layout and conversion
Modern radiators with precision soldered pipework
Wet systems for new builds, extensions and renovations
Renewable heating for energy-efficient homes
Frost-safe fittings with neat concealed pipework
"Joe is the most reliable, competent and dedicated plumber and heating engineer that we have used. His attention to detail with pipework and heating system installation is impressive."
"We were so impressed by the pipework that we decided to expose it as a feature. The great thing about Joe is the support he provides after the job."
"Joe works meticulously and always does a fantastic job. He offers reliable and sensible advice for your budget and we trust him wholeheartedly."
"Fantastic company! Friendly as well as doing a great job. Good to see a company happy to do the little jobs as well as the big ones."
Sometimes. It depends on how well the property holds heat, whether there is wall space for larger radiators and how you use the house. Rural plots almost always have somewhere sensible for the outdoor unit, so the outside is rarely the problem. We survey first and will tell you plainly if the answer is no.
Yes, over time. Scale builds in heat exchangers, cylinder coils and shower valves, and it shows up as reduced flow or a boiler short cycling rather than as a sudden failure. If a system is being replaced anyway, that is the moment to decide what scale protection goes in alongside it.
Lower Upham, Owslebury, Morestead, Baybridge, Durley and Bishop's Waltham, along with the outlying farms and cottages between them.