Public ignore oil-fired heating units

Press, 26 June 1978, Page 7

Public ignore oil-fired heating units

! Rocketing oil prices have: t( halted the production of oil- ] 11 fired central-heating units in j (Christchurch, and some deal-; ilers have turned to selling] i isolid-fuel burners. As One dealer said: “You! ! (have to join the . hunt.” An-' i other dealer said some tI “good units” were still sell-I -ling, but the “get-rich-quick] ’ 'merchants” had left the ] scene. . However, there seemed to be no trouble servicing! existing units, unlike Dunedin owners, who were re- i ported recently as ha' ing di-1 fficluty getting ’heir units repaired. j “Two or three” servicers] (were still on the road, and] one said he was working! 1 “seven days a week ’ coping! with the annual rush as win-1 (ter set tn. ; The slump in sales has es- ] .pecialiy hit the hot-air oil] :units. The sales engineer of] IA. and T. Burt, Ltd (Mr F. | ■ Paine; said that his company’s hor-wate- O’l unit had! (always been in the higher] I price bracket, and the com-] jpany had never sold many. (“But even these sales have' diminished,” he raid. Servicing existing units ini Christchu.'Ln is affected by a I scarcity of parts ’or some I models, according tc the] installation manager of Colt] Ventilation and Heating! (N.Z.), Ltd (Mr P. Young). |i Fie cited one case where an ■ (existing burner had had to J

;be replaced with another: ■ model because there were no] 'more parts. Possibly 89 oer ctnt of. J the equipment being serviced] 'was of a type that was no ■ 'longer oi the r>a:ket. he ■ said. Tins contrasts with, 'hot-water units which, apart; I from imp-jvemer.ts in the j electric controls, have re-i imained unchanged. Mr Young said that people; ] were no longer putting in oil! ; burners. “There are not even | any inquiries.” he said. On (the other hand, there seemed Ito be a rising demand for ; solid-fuel burners, which were manufactured in WelI lington and Oamaru, or im--1 ported. ( The , Christchurch City I Council had issued a small ; list of approved solid-fuel ' burners, but there were ! many “unapproved” burners (selling — and contributing (to pollution, said Mr Paine. The manager of the Avon Central Heating Company, i Ltd (Mr D. P. Mangles), said (his company “dabbled” in | solid-fuel burners, but he ■ considered oil burners more (efficient and cleaner. I In spite of the rise in oil (prices, oil burners could still (compete economically with I electricity, he said. An oil (unit heated the whole house i while electric units heated (single rooms. Oil units were | also left on for 24 hours, (while other heaters were 'geneally turned off at times.