What is Central Heating? Central Heating means heating from a central source. Even the Romans had central heating, this was in the form of an open fire under the floor. The heat from the fire was channelled through large ducts built into the floor giving a type of under floor heating. Most modern central heating systems use water as the medium to get heat from the central source (boiler) to all the areas to be heated. The correct term for a boiler is a Heat generator because the water is not “boiled”, although water in a modern central heating system can reach 100 deg.°C and above, the normal running temperature is about 78 deg.°C There is no such thing as a standard central heating system, you can tailor the system to suit your needs and, if working correctly, it should look after itself with regards to turning itself on & off automatically, should use no more fuel than necessary for your needs and always have the house at the correct temperature. It should also provide all the hot water you need, when you need it. A centrally heated house will normally be cheaper to run than any other form of heating. For instance independent fires, even just one fire can be more expensive to run than a well designed central heating system with good quality controls.