radiators from an open fire

Old_Git

I have a house with radiators form a central heating system ,but I was told by the previous owner that the open fire heated the upstairs radiators .I haven't tried this as yet . I spoke to a neighbour who was a builder and he said for it to heat the radiators it needed a pump and there is no pump.

Can an open fire heat upstairs radiators without a pump being installed .

PaulF81

Yes. Heat convection. If you are on microbore i wouldn't count on it working though, and its not going to be a very efficient means of central heating... Luke warm at a push.

Cardew

As said above, it can work on heat convection.

HOWEVER

You need to have the system investigated before you light the fire.

If your upstairs radiators are heated from your CH system you cannot combine the two heat sources(CH boiler and fire) without a complex and expensive device like a Dunsley neutralizer.

The problem is that water in the fire jacket can boil if it has no outlet(i.e. radiators off) and then can literally explode.

I can't think any plumber would allow such a system to exist - but there are a lot of DIY 'idiots' about.

Check it!

elsien

I used to live in a house where the radiators worked off a back boiler on the open fire. Awful system and they only ever got lukewarm.

retiredin2011

You don't live in Fife do you?


I had that heating for 15 years.


Open coal fire heated the water which circulated round the radiators.

elsien

Sunny Bolton. A council maisonette in what was euphemistically known as a hard to let area, ie don't touch with a bargepole. It had a boarded up broken window when I moved in which was still awaiting repair when I left 3 years later. And when I was burgled it was the neighbours who'd done it. Ah, the memories!

Cardew

Before 'proper' Central Heating became widely adopted, the system of radiators fed from an open fire was commonplace.

highrisklowreturn

As the man says above, this used to be the most common form of heating, giving way to glass fronted fire, then oil and gas.

I removed oil to go back to glass fronted fire and haven't been happier. Someone boasted to me the other week about their gas bill 'only' being £600 for the year - they looked shocked when I told them my coal bill was £200 for 1 tonne to do me for the winter.

The upstairs radiators should heat up without a pump - the pump exists to push the hot water into the downstairs ones and out ofd the hot water tank so it doesn't overheat. How effective or good it is would depend on different CH set ups - but I know a guy who has an open fire with b/b and whilst it heats the living room, it also gives a bathfull of scolding water every half hour meaning he has to drain the tank.

penrhyn

Radiators on these old systems were sometimes made of copper, worth checking.