I'm after advice on a new Central Heating system

[stevehuws]

I've just been looking into the costs of installing a wood boiler and reality bit (hard).

Seeing as I don't have £10 000 lying about, I need to change my plans. I think that a gas boiler with a couple of solar panels for the summer is a much more realistic proposition.

I've been directed to the Gledhill Solar heatstore.

Would I still need something like this or is it now overkill?

Thanks for all the replies, it's an interesting discussion.

steve

 

[elecguy]

If your just looking for a gas boiler/solar panel set up look towards Vaillant or Glowworm, they provide all you need in one kit.

You can mix and match various components but its far simpler to keep it all the same, it also means the warranty/service backup is far easier.

You unfortunatley cant use solar to pre-heat water entering a combi, WRAS just still wont approve this, I think Alpha managed to slip one through the nets before they clamped down but i would steer clear of these setups.

I would recommend a Vaillant or Glowworm setup opposed to any other.

 

[elecguy]

Oh and I would have the inglenook as a plain open fire, theres nothing better than sitting and watching a roaring open fire in the middle of winter.

I do like stoves, but would never re-place my open fire with one.

 

[simond]

Very basic/the most basic heatstore.

Designed to scale up.

Solar HW will never pay back your investment, unless you have 10 people showering every day - or a swimming pool.

When I see solar HW on a roof, I don't think how clever the owner is, I think they have been bent over.

Solar PV is another matter, and another post.

 

[John67]

I would still try and stretch the finances to a thermal store, this enables the solar panels to provide more hot water and any excess can go towards the central heating in spring and autumn when its on, this makes payback on solar much quicker.

Get a thermal store that has connections on it for woodburning stoves for possible later use.

I would never recommend an open fire because it draws all the heat from within the house.

Did you try Boru stoves for a price? Not bad stoves for the price and irish made

 

[SimonH2]

I've just been looking into the costs of installing a wood boiler and reality bit (hard).

Seeing as I don't have £10 000 lying about, I need to change my plans. I think that a gas boiler with a couple of solar panels for the summer is a much more realistic proposition.

I've been directed to the Gledhill Solar heatstore.

Would I still need something like this or is it now overkill?

I'm with John67, go with a thermal store, run the boiler into it direct (ie don't use a coil to separate boiler loop and store), run the heating off it. The way the DHW coil is setup, the bottom of the store tends to stay reasonably cool - so you can get the best from the solar even on a moderate day. And run the central heating with TRVs on all the rads and a fully modulating pump (eg Grundfos Alpha 2).
Pick a suitable location, and select the right store, then you can add a wood burner later - it's almost a matter of adding two pipes.

BTW - you may or may not have noticed that the host of this forum does solar panels and thermal stores