Wood buring stove

94beaver

Hi, I really want to get a wood burning stove but can't decide if it would be better to get one with a back boiler on, and if that would be to much work plumbing them to my radiators?

Do i have to do alot of work to my chimney or is it a case of 'plug an play'.

Any advice would be great! then i can convince her
:beer:

Hermann

94beaver wrote: »

Hi, I really want to get a wood burning stove but can't decide if it would be better to get one with a back boiler on, and if that would be to much work plumbing them to my radiators?

It could be quite straightforward or it could be very complicated, it depends on what you already have in place and what sort of system you want to end up with.

You have to careful with woodstoves as the boiler is connected in such a way that its protected from overheating or just plain old exploding!

The design of the connecting pipework needs to allow the the boiler to safely circulate/expand/vent/heat dump no matter what happens ie pump failure or a power cut. This can be quite simple to implement but again it all depends on what you've already got.

94beaver wrote: »

Do i have to do alot of work to my chimney or is it a case of 'plug an play'.

Again it all depends on what you've already got. It could be just a short length of flue to the chimney and a connecting plate or you may have to line the chimney with a flue, or twin wall flue.

94beaver

I dont have nothing in place at the mo just a 500mm x 500mm hole with a crap electric heating over that.

so i dont have to connect it up to my central heating?

Hermann

It depends on what your chimney is like, sometimes you have to line them sometimes there is no need to to, as I said it will depend on whats there and its condition.

If you want the wood stove to heat your radiators you need the back boiler to be plumbed in to the existing system in a safe and controllable way. It depends on how your existing rads are plumbed and on the physical layout of the property to determine whether its simple or complicated.

Tell us more about what you've already got in the way of radiators/boiler and what sort of property is it.

94beaver

Thanks Hermann

We have two up two down property, with bathroom on the groung floor out the back. The boiler is relativly new, i was hoping to keep the old central heating? in place but not to sure how it all works.

Dont know weather it would be better to just have a normal wood burner instead?

Hermann

If I had a reliable source of free wood and was putting in a wood burner I 'd make sure it had a boiler as well.
Your wood stove could save you a fair bit money in heating both the house and your hot water especially if the woods for free.

Its not usually complicated to combine both a wood stove and traditional (gas?) boiler into your existing system so that you can use the wood stove when its lit and use the other boiler when its not.

It will mean some new plumbing, some new valves and perhaps a new controller, along with the woodburners flue sorting out.

It really needs some detailed knowledge to asses whats needed and to design a safe way of adding it in, its unlikely to be difficult to do it just needs doing right so it can't explode on you!

Have a good read through Navitrons Biomass forums for some good info on using wood boilers and combining them with other boilers ......
http://www.navitron.org.uk/forum/index.php?board=20.0

Best bet is probably to get a woodstove installer to give you a quote and also a plumber give you a quote for the plumbing side.

94beaver

Yes i will do just that.

Thanks you have been a great help!

fireside_2

Stoves with back boilers can often be linked to existing central heating systems if these are powered by conventional boilers i.e. no condensing/combi boilers. A Dunsley neutraliser facilitates this, installed by a competent person such as a HETAS engineer. Chimneys need to be swept and smoke pressure tested before installing a stove. Ask the Solid Fuel Association on 0845 601 4406 for advice.

94beaver

yeah someone said i could just plumb it on to my flow and return but we have a combi boiler, but i cant see that working because we will have to have the boiler on surly?

94beaver

does anyone know if inset convectional stoves are any good?

and do they have back boilers?

Hermann

94beaver wrote: »

yeah someone said i could just plumb it on to my flow and return but we have a combi boiler, but i cant see that working because we will have to have the boiler on surly?

Back to the "it depends on what you've already got" bit.

You're likely to need a tank of some sort and it can be arranged so that both the wood burner or your existing combi can heat the water or radiators. Space may be a problem though in a two up two down.

For some ideas of whats possible have a look at the heatweb site. There are mainly talking about using a 'Thermal Store', which sounds ideal for you, but maybe a bit costly. You could use a simpler set but it shows whats possible.
Use the 'schematic designer' HTML Version link then when you click on the options such as 'wood burner' it adds or removes them.. Multiple clicks cycels through different ways of connecting up.

Also read the 'Wood Burning Systems' article.

http://www.heatweb.com/

You don't have to use their gear but its a useful site to get an overview of whats possible.