Wood Burning Stove Tapped Into Existing Central Heating

UnderPressure

Hello

Looking for a bit of advice, we had a new oil fired boiler fitted 3 years ago at a cost over over 5k, it is a good boiler being over 98% efficient however it is not efficient when it come to it's oil drinking habits! It can guzzle through 500 litres of oil in 4-6 weeks depending on the weather and that is not having it on constantly! The price of oil is ridiculous and is only set to get even higher in the coming years so I really want to find another option.

I love the idea of having a wood burning stove in the living room in place of the open fire, I want one with a back boiler and am hoping it will be possible and not too costly to tap this into the existing central heating for both hot water and radiator heat, I am looking st this monster on Ebay that is rated at 30kw and can power upto 18 radiators:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/30KW-Coseyfire-Boiler-Multifuel-Woodburning-Stove-Stoves-Log-Burner-205kg-/390717385544?pt=UK_HG_FireplacesMantelpieces_RL&hash=item5af8922b48

We have a total of 10 radiators currently and I would like ih the future to add another 2 so it will possibly power 12 radiators in total.

I do however want to set the system up so that at a flick of a switch it can be powered by either oil boiler or wood burning stove, what are your thoughts on this? Is it possible? Will it cost an arm and a leg? I was thinking in my "simple way" that it would need wood burner, flue, chimney liner then a plumber in to tap into existing pipe work for central heating any thoughts? Anyone ever done this? Does it really "have" to cost an arm and a leg? I would have a total budget of around £1500 ish so there would be a good £800ish there just for labour, surely that would be enough? I could do some of the simpler stuff myself.

Advice, wisdom, ideas, prices all appreciated.

Thanks in advance

justwilliam46

This would also be my ideal setup. I think you are right about the arm and a leg and it would also depend on what sort of boiler you have. I don't think it would work with a combi boiler but a vented system with a hot water tank is possible.

The annoying thing for me is, my house actually had such a system years ago but was ripped out and replaced with oil before I moved in - probably when oil was 17 pence a litre. Still, I look forward to more replies on this.

highrisklowreturn

Why do you want a 30 rad boiler for a 12 rad system?

800 quid wouldn't cover parts, labour and sign off, in the best of all circumstances, unless you find an honest plumber, have a good chimney, and a vented central heating system.

muckybutt

It's perfectly do-able

Two systems spring to mind either a Dunsley Neutraliser http://www.dunsleyheat.co.uk/neutralizer.html or a H2 panel http://www.h2panel.co.uk/h2index.htm.

Not a diy job but should be fairly straight forward for a decent plumber, we have looked at using the h2 panel to link our multi fuel to a pellet boiler, the panel cost is in the £500 bracket.
The neutraliser I haven't an idea of cost but have known customers that have had them linked to their oil / solid fuel systems and they have not complaints.

gamston

i have an oil boiler and multi fuel stove on the same CH system
my stove is just cut into to the main heating pipework, and use's a few radiators and the water heater as an heat sink for when the stove is alight and the oil boiler and pump is off
not saying its a great system, but it works ok

UnderPressure

Thanks for the replies so far, I appreciate your input :beer:

highrisklowreturn wrote: »

Why do you want a 30 rad boiler for a 12 rad system?

800 quid wouldn't cover parts, labour and sign off, in the best of all circumstances, unless you find an honest plumber, have a good chimney, and a vented central heating system.

The stove is rated at 30kw and can power 18 radiators, my thinking was if it is capable of powering 18 rads then 12 should be a breeze for it.

It is not a combi boiler and we have a hot water tank all was replaced 3 years ago.

muckybutt wrote: »

It's perfectly do-able

Two systems spring to mind either a Dunsley Neutraliser http://www.dunsleyheat.co.uk/neutralizer.html or a H2 panel http://www.h2panel.co.uk/h2index.htm.

Not a diy job but should be fairly straight forward for a decent plumber, we have looked at using the h2 panel to link our multi fuel to a pellet boiler, the panel cost is in the £500 bracket.
The neutraliser I haven't an idea of cost but have known customers that have had them linked to their oil / solid fuel systems and they have not complaints.

I will check out those links thanks, I did like the look of this one on Ebay though and TBH it seems like a complete bargain but if another system is going to be easier to achieve my end goal then I am open minded.

gamston wrote: »

i have an oil boiler and multi fuel stove on the same CH system
my stove is just cut into to the main heating pipework, and use's a few radiators and the water heater as an heat sink for when the stove is alight and the oil boiler and pump is off
not saying its a great system, but it works ok

This is exactly what I was thinking, I am no expert though so may have it completely wrong but I thought if it is tapped into the existing pipe and then has a way to control either the oil boiler pump or the stove pump (presume it would need a separate pump?) it would all work with the existing pipe work?

Greenfires

What's the score with your wood supply situation? Feeding a 30kW stove is going to be like throwing buns to an elephant - you're going to be looking at tonnes per year rather than cubic metres.

UnderPressure

Greenfires wrote: »

What's the score with your wood supply situation? Feeding a 30kW stove is going to be like throwing buns to an elephant - you're going to be looking at tonnes per year rather than cubic metres.

This is another area where I need some guidance and had not taken into account the amount of wood such a big stove would consume (doh!)

I live very rurally in Pembrokeshire, we use no heating at all between April and October, so it will be made up of:

Buying in bulk when prices are right.

Collecting locally out and about on my travels, I see loads of it just on the side of the road or limbs that have fallen from trees and been left to rot.

During the summer we have the local council that do a lot of work on trees throughout the county, they tend to leave whatever they cut again at the side of the road for people to take.

Requesting on Freecycle

Using not only logs but any other wood I can lay my hands on such as old furniture, pallets etc etc etc

I have a working relationship with a chap who supplies logs for a living so in theory he could pay me in logs.

Saw mills often sell job lots of off cuts very cheaply

The short answer is I should have a good supply of wood and it is something I will work on all the time however it may well not amount to tonnes............

I was also thinking of utilising anthracite and again buying bulk to keep the cost down as low as possible, I can easily spend £1500 a year on oil so there is scope for purchasing fuel as well.

Greenfires

I think to be honest, you could probably spend most of your life collecting enough wood to feed that thing. Many people end up being surprised by the amount of wood they get through when they get a stove fitted - and the majority of those people will be having much smaller stoves than that one. In economic terms - the oil boiler will probably be cheaper I'd say - and that's coming from someone who spends half his life promoting woodfuels!

Most wood that you can scavenge - and remember that it generally belongs to someone, and if it's been cut up they'll have money in it one way or another - is that you'll need to season it before use. Have you got room to season multiple cubic metres of logs? It can come as another surprise just how big a chunk a cubic metre is! bear in mind that most builders "tonne bags" are not even 3/4 of a cube.

UnderPressure

Thanks for your reply

Plenty of room to store wood whilst it is seasoning both at home and also away on some land I have access to, the stuff from the they guy who sells it for a living is already seasoned and ready to go, this is the exact reason why I want to make the system so that it can use either the oil boiler or the burner so I have the choice and can then work with what I have.

I know I can get a plentiful supply just not sure it will be enough in the early days, hence why I can buy some in or if worst comes to the worst fall back on the oil, I would love though to not have to buy another drop of oil as long as I live!

So I take it the higher the rated kw the more "fuel" it will need to perform adequately? I wonder If I can find a compromise.........

suki1964

Tbh £1500 a year on oil isn't that unreasonable

I have oil and two stoves heating our house.

Wood I can't afford so use smokeless and anthracite mostly

We use around 1800 litres of oil a year, heating the house to 16/18 degrees from Sept to May and hot water all year

The solid fuel costs adds around £50 a month to the heating bill from October to April.

Total cost is around £1200 a year

The only reason we have the stoves is that we can heat the sitting rooms to a much warmer temperature without wasting the heat in rooms which are never used. It's a big house and mostly just one person at home at anyone time

Factor in the cost of the install and cost of stove etc it may be a long time before you notice any savings.

Add to that the time and effort running a stove takes


However I love my stoves and even when I get covered head to foot in ashes on a windy day, or soaked through filling the coal scuttles, I'd not be without one now