Multi fuel boiler stove question

Rovver125

We live in a solid stone, semi detached cottage built around 1875.

The central heating is all run by our boiler stove, which we realised recently was a bodged diy installation.

We have an engineer coming back for a second visit on Monday to give us quotes for installing a whole new biomass system & also a quote for another boiler stove setup. Will also be getting another couple of companies in to quote.

The colder weather recently has meant that we would ideally like to be running the stove overnight, however, the engineer advised of a couple of issues which concern us. Going to speak to him about it again on Monday, but looking for thoughts & advice in the meantime.

Firstly, the header tanks upstairs are both plastic. We're aware these should be metal & should the system overheats & vents to these tanks there is a chance they could melt. We hope this is unlikely to happen.

Secondly, there is no heat leak radiator in the system.

Third & most concerning point for overnight running is that the pump has to be turned on manually via a fused switch & has no pipe stats.

We're unsure what this means for running the stove overnight, does anyone know if it's ok to just leave the pump on, or is this not a good idea? Have been running it mainly on logs & it's been heating the house & water fine, but finding now the colder weather is starting that we're waking up to a cold house & it takes a long time to heat up in the evening, going through a ridiculous amount of logs!

Ideally want to leave it ticking over on coal during the night & day whilst we're at work, but obviously concerned about the above issues!

It will be next year before we can afford to install a new system.

Many thanks in advance for any replies

Rovver125

*BUMP*

Mainly looking for advice on the pump/pipe stats issue if anyone knows?

muckybutt

You are correct to be concerned !

The header tanks should definately be metal construction, in the past there have been cases of people getting severe burns from tanks melting - it does happen.

The heat sink rad is a must ! in the event of a power cut the rad will dissipate the heat via gravity, the pump obviously wont work during a power cut which is why the biggest and closest rad to the stove upstairs should be the heat sink.

I have seen a few installs where the pump has just been on a switch fused spur - it's not ideal in effect similar to a power cut if the pump isn't switched on and you stoke the stove up and it get going then you have a hell of a lot of water that is going to boil especially as you have no heat sink rad as well, I would certainly get that changed to incorporate a pipe stat. Never leave the stove running with the pump off.

As for keeping it in during the day and night, unlikely to be able to do that with wood ! slumber burning or cool burning of wood is not recommended in any way shape or form as it can lead to big problems down the line. If you are wanting the heat during the day and overnight then go down the route of smokeless fuel like taybrite or phurnacite that kind of thing, you wont get a roaring fire like you do with wood but you will get the prolonged heat.

Rovver125

Thanks muckybutt, I've got it running on anthracite at the moment, but that was the main query, how safe it is to leave overnight on this given the extremely poor diy installation we have. I'm aware wood is no good for slumber burning overnight & we have only ever used this for evening fires when getting home from work, letting it die out before bed time.

At the moment we turn the pump on once the water pipes start getting hot & when it's dieing down late in the evening & the pipes cool down, switch if off again.

Like I said, got a guy coming back Monday to do proper quotes & I think we need to somehow find the money to get this done asap.

I will speak to him about the possibility of installing pipe stats to get us through this winter. I have no confidence in running it continuously at the moment. He confirmed all my research in saying that it's so poorly installed it would be better just to start again. As you say, my biggest concern is what happens if there's a power cut.

Previous owners had it running 24/7 during the winter, I think they've been lucky that they've never had any serious issues with it!

Another question, is it usual for the flue temp to drop when running it on anthracite? When I lit it this morning with kindling & heat logs the flue temp raced up to about 375 deg. but since adding the anthracite, which is now glowing nicely with gentle flames, the flue temp has dropped back to 100 deg.

Can't wait to get all this sorted, it's a perpetual source of worry in this house at the moment!

muckybutt

Given it's current condition I would not run it overnight...it aint worth the risk!

Flue temps are they in C or F ? ours runs quite happily at 250F on solid fuel, banked up and left for an overnight burn it drops to about 180 - 200F

At least you know how to run a stove and you have had the sense to get it checked out. :T

Rovver125

That was celcius, so pretty similar to yours. Wasn't trying to get it roasting hot in here today, just take the chill off, but as it was it went from 16 C when I got up & lit it this morning to about 21 C once the fire was established. 23.8 C in here now & winding it down ready to turn the pump off before bed.

Thanks for the replies muckybutt, as you say, not really worth the risk running it overnight or when we're out for now. Will see what the installer says tomorrow. Difficult choice ahead now whether to stick with a multi fuel boiler or go down the biomass route.....