THE PERKINS PRESSURISED HEATING SYSTEM
IN IRELAND

The Heritage Group was most surprised and pleased to be informed about the heating firm Mid Ulster Heating Services Ltd located in Northern Ireland who not only maintain historical Perkins HPHW sealed heating systems, but also have the workshops, equipment and expertise to manufacture, assemble and install the banks of pipework coils that comprise the furnace of the heating system.

The furnace coils are the most vulnerable part of the pipework system and after 100 years of exposure to very high combustion temperatures can eventually fatigue and fail.

The banks of pipework that will form the new furnace coils are assembled in their workshop to match the number and shape of the circuits that comprise the arrangement of the existing furnace pipework layout. The heating system is then re-commissioned and returned to working order.


The design of the Perkins refurbished pipework system is not compromised in anyway and continues to operate with gravity water circulation as was first intended when it was installed over 100 years ago.

The vast majority of the Perkins systems they maintain and repair where necessary, date back to the late Victorian period and have been installed in churches of various denominations throughout Ireland. The Belfast firm of Musgrave & Co Ltd were major manufacturers of Perkins HPHW heating systems and installed them throughout the UK from their various regional offices.

Many owners whose buildings are heated by a Perkins system installed during the Victorian period can easily believe that should their heating system develop a problem or fault then they will be unable to have it repaired, and will therefore consider having to contemplate the expense of a new heating installation.  However, as can be seen from the photographs on this webpage that this is not necessarily the case. Heating firms can still be found that have the facilities to carry out repairs and/or partial replacement to a Perkins system.



List of Churches with Perkins Heating Systems



All Saints Church of Ireland
Ballywatt Church Hall
Ballinderry Parish Church
2nd Broughshane Pres Church
Ballyclaire Pres Church
Ballintoy Pres
Ballybay Pres
Carlisle Rd Pres Londonderry
Dromore Cathedral
Dervock Pres Church
Eniskillen Pres Church
Fitsroy Pres Church
Minterburn Pres Church
Moneymore 1st Pres
Moneymore 2st Pres
Monaghan Church of Ireland
Mountjoy Pres
Moria Holy Trinity
Myorie Pres
Newtownbreda Pres
1st Omagh Pres
Redrock Pres
Richview Pres
Randlestown Oval Pres
Roseyard Pres
St Johns Parish Moira
White Head Pres
Woodvale Pres
Ulsterville Pres
Pres - denotes Presbyterian Church



One typical furnace of a Perkins heating system that is undergoing a complete
renewal of its bank of coils
is at St John's Presbyterian Church, Newtownbreda,
Belfast, Northern Ireland.


The 8 photos below show the bank of furnace coils before their removal.









Another example of a completely new furnace built for a Perkins heating
system, with its bank of coils
and refractory brickwork enclosed in a steel
casing is at Broughshane Presbyterian Church, Ballymena, Northern Ireland.

The 9 photos below show the bank of furnace coils, refractory brickwork
and steel casing during assembly and the finished furnace.








Updated September 2019