Celebrating 150 Years Of Baxi

When Richard Baxendale started his railway waggon business in 1866 in Chorley, Lancashire, creating heating solutions was the last thing on his mind. In fact, it was many years before the family business took its first steps into the heating sector.

Most 1930s family homes were heated using coal fires, with hot water provided by a back boiler or a range cooker. Fires were not efficient, so John Baxendale (the grandson of Baxi’s founder Richard) tried to improve them.

His idea was for an underfloor draught fire. He lowered the grate to floor level and drew an air supply from underneath the floorboards. This allowed the rate the fuel burned to be controlled. All fuel was burned to dust, and the grate only had to be emptied once a week. In 1935, when the Baxi Patent Fire was launched, it was an instant hit.

Solid fuel was a popular choice right up to the 1960s. The widespread burning of coal caused smog, and the Clean Air Acts of 1956 and 1968 limited its use in built-up areas. By the end of the 1960s, there was growing demand for gas and oil heating appliances. This was helped by the discovery of natural gas in the North Sea.

Baxi took the opportunity to develop its own range of gas heaters. In 1966, the company launched the Baxi Bermuda.  It combined a room gas fire with a back boiler that could fit behind the hearth to provide both heating and hot water.

In 2005, changes to the Building Regs required the installation of condensing boilers and Baxi responded by creating a new range of high-efficiency boilers. With concern growing over climate change, the introduction of high-efficiency boilers was followed by interest in renewable heating solutions.

150 years after they launched, Baxi is still continually looking to develop cleaner, more efficient products, to ensure they remain a household name for many years to come.

Celebrating 150 Years Of Baxi With L&W Heating

For more information about the Baxi Boiler range contact L&W Heating and Plumbing engineers on one of our numbers below:-

Wigan Central Heating Engineers 01942 417220
Warrington Central Heating Engineers 01925 394260
St Helens Central Heating Engineers 01744 776140
Newton Le Willows Central Heating Engineers 01925 394260