Replace back boiler with gas fire front with wood burning boiler stove. Possible?

[Lvincent]

Hello,

My partner and I are due to complete on our first house which has a back boiler in the sitting room fireplace with a gas fire front.
The water tank is situated in the sitting room around 4-5 metres away from the boiler. We would want to move this either to the kitchen or upstairs to a cupboard as it is unsightly in its current location.

We would appreciate help with the following. (Please forgive any ignorance or incorrect terminology on our part. We have no idea of what is involved and what would be realistic!)

Would it be possible to remove the back boiler and install a wood burning boiler stove connected to existing/modified pipework in its place?

We would want a combi boiler for back up heating/hot water which we would want to install in the kitchen next door. Could the combi boiler be connected to provide a limited supply of hot water to the tank when the wood burner is not in use? Would moving the water tank make any difference to the above?

We would appreciate any and all help in helping us avoid looking like complete twits when we eventually contact the professionals.

Many thanks.

 

[SteveP86]

What tank do you have in the sitting room is it a full blown hot water cylinder or something? I can't get my head round how someone would fit any kind of tank in that room. You say upstairs so surely an airing cupboard in a bedroom would be the logical location?

 

[polesapart]

Would it be possible to remove the back boiler and install a wood burning boiler stove connected to existing/modified pipework in its place?

Yes. With certain modifications to pipework and system.


" Could the combi boiler be connected to provide a limited supply of hot water to the tank when the wood burner is not in use?"

Yes, again technically feasible.

 

[Doggit]

There are wood burning back boilers, (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CASTMASTE...ING-MULT-IFUEL-CAST-IRON-STOVE-/281912841460?) but by adding a combi boiler, you're mixing two different types of system.

If you used the back boiler to heat the hot water in the tank, then you'd use a system boiler instead of a combi, and that would be linked to a cylinder stat on the water tank, that would know if there's hot water in the tank. The only drawback to this, is that if there's hot water in the tank, and you run the stove, then the danger is that you'll be trying to heat hot water, and stoves tend to work on the principle of hot water rises, and the cold water then falls back to the stove.