Well, it is almost the end of my first winter with central heating and I have not been disappointed. Hydro Central Heating installed the central heating system (powered by a boiler and radiators) and it works exactly as I expected it to work (having lived overseas briefly a while ago). There is no section of my house that is ever cold and there is no room that is uncomfortably hot, either. The whole house is constantly a warm, comfortable temperature, day and night. It would not be an exaggeration to say that I cannot envisage, even after this short time with the system, ever living without one. It is an absolute joy to live in an environment which is as comfortable as my house now is. Another massive advantage is that the system is not very dependent on electricity. Not only is my electricity bill down, but it is extremely cheap and simple to back-up the system for loadshedding and power cuts. As a result, my house is never cold, even during outages.

I would like to make a special mention of the people who run Hydro Central Heating. Patrick Hawes is extremely knowledgeable about his product and took lots of time to speak to me, accommodate my precise requests and explain the process. David Hawes, who took primary responsibility for the installation process from beginning to end, was courteous throughout, extremely sensitive to the needs of our household during the installation (because it is never easy having workmen present in a household, especially with young children and pets there) and tirelessly made sure that any snags were sorted out. In any situation in which a 100-year old house has a central heating system retrofitted there will be snags.

I always take the view that one cannot judge a contractor by whether snags come up – they always do; one should judge a contractor by the way in which it deals with the snags. Hydro Central Heating passed this test with flying colours; it is my view that they are the most professional, friendly and efficient people that I have ever worked with on any project involving building or workmanship. Patrick and David made sure that every concern that I raised was addressed, either through an explanation of the proper functioning of the system, or by coming to make a necessary change. I recall one time when David came out at 7pm on a Friday night, after the boiler stopped working, only for us to discover that tree fellers had inadvertently disconnected our gas supply! Irene, who handles the admin, was always very kind and accommodating. In short, they are true professionals and it was a great pleasure working with them throughout the process.

I cannot recommend Hydro Central Heating, or the central-heating product that it sells, enough. It is definitely great value for money and I would try to encourage anyone who has the financial means to purchase the system to see it as an investment well worth making.