Heating radiators from open fire - how?

Eliza_2

I have oil fired central heating but no oil. I also have an open fire with a back boiler. I also have an immersion heater which heats just the top part, enough to wash up. However when the open fire is on, the water heats the rest of the hot water tank very nicely. I've also noticed that when the pump is on for the heating (no boiler firing as of course I have no oil) the radiators are very slightly warm when the fire is on, so there's obviously a connection.

My question is how do I persuade the radiators to heat more when the fire is on - is there some sort of setting somewhere that I need to switch to redirect the heating system via the fire (yes, I know, it's never going to be that straightforward) but without being able to see all the pipes etc, I can't fathom how this all connects up.

Would be very grateful for any bright ideas

Thanks

Liz

ValHaller

This will require substantial plumbing modifications and you just won't get enough heat out of the fire for the whole house anyway.

Eliza_2

Thank you - I was assuming the connections were already made as the radiators do slightly warm up when the fire is on. There are 4 radiators in the house. Happy to have just one turned on if it gets warm enough!

jayyar66

I am making a lot of assumptions here, but typically in this type of installation, the back boiler water jacket is usually only quite small. To get more heat from your fire you would need to increase the size of the water jacket. As the flow/return pipework is already there at the fire it MAY be feasible to replace your open fire with a wood or multifuel stove that has a larger heat output to water. HOWEVER, there are some significant considerations with systems of this type and it certainly won't be cheap. Best advice is to contact a local heating engineer with the relevant experience or have a look on the HETAS website for installers.

Mr_Ted

jayyar66 wrote: »

I am making a lot of assumptions here, but typically in this type of installation, the back boiler water jacket is usually only quite small. To get more heat from your fire you would need to increase the size of the water jacket. As the flow/return pipework is already there at the fire it MAY be feasible to replace your open fire with a wood or multifuel stove that has a larger heat output to water. HOWEVER, there are some significant considerations with systems of this type and it certainly won't be cheap. Best advice is to contact a local heating engineer with the relevant experience or have a look on the HETAS website for installers.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::T

To quantify, the factors, for ANY heating system are requirement(output) and source input, you cannot get more out than is put in(no matter what the jacket size is);)