Forced hot air heating?

We looked at a house last night that had forced hot air. 

I lived in a house in RI that had this and my main complaint was that is was very drying.  Not such a big deal here, I might like it.

But I was just wondering if anyone had any opinions on it in the UK?  It uses gas to heat, it was inspected recently, it looked like the vents could all be closed and there was a timer on  boiler, or whatever it is.

It isn't an old house, well late 80's early 90's so I have no idea why it has forced hot air, but the guy said a lot of places in our area built at that time have it. 

Also, it is end of a row, so we won't have the other house on one side to help keep us warm. 

Thanks to anyone who can help.

We had forced air in our flat.  It warmed the place up a lot quicker than radiators but my kids had a lot more problems with eczema and asthma for what it's worth.

Yeah, I figured that.  I suppose I am worried about the cost as well.

Right now we have one gas panel on the wall in the living room.  It sucks, but at least we didn't spend much money on heating since we were always bundled up. 

I can't really comment on the cost because it was a flat and held the heat a lot better than my old brick house.

I don't think it's very efficient and it's also incredibly drying.  As an experiment I once left a tangerine out to see what would happen to it.  After 2 weeks, it was like a small, shrivelled, little rock.  I still have it in fact.     God knows what that type of heating does to your skin.

We have a dehumidifier running almost everyday in our house now, so maybe the drying will be a good thing.  Last winter we had water running down the windows every morning.  Since this place is in the same development I am hoping it has the same issues. 

there was a timer on  boiler, or whatever it is.

Boilers involve water.  If it heats the air directly, without water, then it's a furnace. 

It isn't an old house, well late 80's early 90's so I have no idea why it has forced hot air, but the guy said a lot of places in our area built at that time have it. 

That does sound a little unusual for such a new house.  Maybe some local reason, such as the developer responsible for all those houses preferred it, or had a deal with the manufacturer or something.

Forced air heating enjoyed a certain popularity in Britain in the 1960s/early 1970s, although many of those systems were electrically powered -- A giant, centralized version of the storage heater which could be charged up overnight on cheap-rate power, but with fans and ducting to distribute the warmth around the house.

Well we didn't get the house anyway.  It was gone in less than 2 days.  Ho hum.