Disconnecting heating system

[laurahan]

Hi all,
Need a bit of advice!
My house has a radiator in each room, warmth is supplied via a back boiler behind an open fire in the living room, the water is then pumped through the system, it takes a long time to warm up to a sufficient temperature, and even then it barely makes a difference to the overall temp of the house, last winter (my 1st winter here) I found I couldn't leave the house for having to constantly add fuel to the open fire in order to keep the temp high enough, not good! I ended up having to use standalone electric and oil heaters which contributed to my massive (£1000) energy bill for 4 months over winter. Considering I live in a 2 bed cottage with only 2 rooms downstairs and didn't feel warm all winter I feel like I have paid a lot of money for nothing.

We don't have a gas supply here, and ive had several plumbers come round to quote me for having an oil system put in, however they each said that it wasn't a feasible option due to the layout of the kitchen and various other factors.
My last option are storage heaters, however I have no idea where to start with going from unused radiators to fully functioning storage heaters by the winter. I know all the existing rads will have to come off but what about all the pipework which is left? also the back boiler, ive heard they can explode if the open fire is used without the pump system being on? Would I need an electrician to disconnect the pump or could it just be left?

If anyone can tell me how they would go about this job I would be grateful!

 

[Agile]

You should go about it with professional advice!

A BBU on an open fire only gives a very small amount of heat and is not expected to give proper heating. Even so best to keep it and NOT to remove anything.

You should concentrate on reducing heat losses by improving insulation and draught reduction.

The Green Deal might help!

Tony

 

[laurahan]

Thank you for your reply, I will get in touch with a plumber and electrician and see what they suggest. I am starting to worry as the memories of last winter are flooding back and I would like to get this sorted before the weather turns again, plus I really cannot afford to use the freestanding electric heaters for another winter.
We have already had the kitchen rad taken off as we had it replastered before xmas, we didn't see much point In putting it back on the wall as it is in a bad condition, and we haven't used the 'heating system' since November last year, I just wish that I could have a warm house without having to keep an open fire going all day, during the winter at night we would have froze if it want for the expensive electric heaters. I had no idea it would be this difficult really. Ive had the house insulated as much as possible, its nearly 200 years old so the walls couldn't be insulated, but i've had the loft done, not that its made any difference!

 

[Jackrae]

If you want to keep a fire then change the open one to an enclosed stove. You are currently losing 80% of the heat generated up the chimney. An enclosed stove with boiler should manage to meet your heating needs with minimal disruption.

Get in touch with a proper heating company, plumbers plumb, electricians blow fuses

 

[laurahan]

Thank you for your reply, I would love an enclosed stove but my main concerns are the cost of having the fireplace widened, the open space at the mo is 26 by 16 ins, I doubt this is big enough, I can't even have a very big fire in there anyway. Plus I wonder how I would heat the house overnight, I think it would be very all or nothing, I'd just love the house to be kept at a reasonable temp thoroughout the day and night like homes that have central heating.

 

[Jackrae]

Then you've narrowed down your choices, oil boiler or LPG boiler (expensive)

 

[Agile]

Many enclosed stoves can be mounted like in the room with the flue pipe coming out of the back or going up towards the ceiling!

It all depends on the flue requirements.

Tony

 

[SimonH2]

If your heat source is larger than the heat demand, then a storage cylinder of some sort would allow you to buffer the heat during a good burn and use it up during the night (or save some for early morning). Ideally you want the stove to be gravity circulated anyway as that avoids the need for (nearly) all the safety gadgets that go with having a pumped system.

At it's simplest, you have a tank of water, the hot water from the stove gravity circulates into the top of the tank, while the cold water in the bottom goes down to the stove to be heated. You then connect your heating circuit (with it's own pump) to the tank so it can draw hot water from the top and return cold to the bottom. As the CH circuit is independent (flow wise) of anything else, you can fit TRVs on all rads and use a modulating pump (eg Grundfos Alpha) for a quiet system.

If you decide to add other heat sources (oil or LPG boiler, immersion heater) then these can be added to the tank without affecting the stove. You then have multiple heat sources and can use whichever is most convenient and/or cost effective.

At it's most basic, all this tank needs to be is a cylinder full of water (with F&E tank). Make it a thermal store or heat bank and you can draw your hot water from it - for a capital cost of course. Just be aware that many plumbers will automatically dismiss any mention of thermal store - but then you really need to be talking to proper heating engineers, not plumbers.

And changing the rads for ones with a higher nominal output will allow them to be run at lower temperatures. Or put another way, when using the stored heat from the tank, "bigger" rads will extract more usable heat from the store as the store can be run down colder for the same heat output. Just don't expect miracles - if you do the maths, to get useful storage of heat needs quite a lot of water (ie big tanks) !