Several of these Perkins HPHW systems
installed in the Victorian era survive to this day.
They have to
date all been found in Churches and Chapels
located in the south of England. The fact that these
systems installed during the 19th century are still
heating their original buildings in the 21st century
is a lasting tribute to the innovative design of their
inventor Angier March Perkins.
Although these systems were originally
designed to operate at high temperatures, with today’s
lower acceptable temperature limit requirements for
exposed pipework, and the introduction of pumped
circulation and temperature controls, their
flexibility of use has allowed them to remain in
operation for over 160 years.
|
St
Michael’s & All Angels. Bampton
Devon
St John the Baptist. Yarcombe Devon St John the Baptist. Newport Devon St Margaret's Northam Devon St Mary’s. Bruton Somerset St Mary’s. East Brent Somerset St Michael’s & All Angels. Bampton Devon |
St
John the Baptist Halse Somerset
St Peter's Broadstairs Kent St Stephen Winsham Somerset St Mary's Bampton Oxfordshire St Michael the Archangel. Mere Wiltshire St Michael & All Angels Guiting Power Gloucestershire |
Sinuous 10 tube high pipe coil fixed to timber panelling. |
Sinuous low level 4 high pipe coil on floor brackets fixed to the back of pews |
Arrangement of pipework at low
level beside the raised pew
islands
and formed around base of the column. |
A continuous spiral loop pipe coil heater (these can sometimes to be hidden behind enclosure casings) |
Twin expansion tubes |
Typical screwed pipe socket joint showing the marks of
the assembly tool. |
Single expansion tube |
4-circuit brickwork furnace with oil burner Bampton Devon |
2-circuit brickwork furnace with oil burner Yarcombe Devon |
2- circuit brickwork furnace with oil burner Newport Devon |
4- circuit iron furnace with oil burner Northaw Herts |
It
was known that the Perkins family were not interested
in installing their Patented heating systems but must
have found it financially acceptable collecting
royalties, to allow other firms to manufacture both
the tubes and fittings and carry out the installation
of the HPHW heating system. They may well have allowed
smaller firms to simply install the system after
purchasing the material from another manufacturer. The
firm of Renton Gibbs Liverpool carried out numerous
installations of HPHW heating systems in
Churches throughout Radnorshire and Herefordshire at
the end of the 19th century, based
on the design of the Perkins system.
An
estimate and invoice submitted by J Longbottom &
Co of Leeds has been found in the archives of the
Wiltshire History Centre. It is for the installation
of a Perkins system in the
Parish Church of All Saint's, Liddington
Wiltshire, in the year 1901. The estimated cost for
the supply and erection of the complete heating system
is the princely sum of £58.00.
A visit made to the
church found the pipework system to have be removed
many years ago. The only remaining item from the
original system in the basement was the furnace
complete with its 3 pipe circuits and the cast iron
firing doors with their Longbottom inscription.
Wiltshire Record Office 1123 / 58 Wiltshire Record Office 1123 / 58 June
2003
Updated September 2019 |