Make my Wood burner Rayburn heating system work?
Posted: Sat Nov 11, 2017 7:20 pm
Hi all,
Hoping I can get some good advice here. I am an enthusiastic amateur so please be patient with non use or incorrect use of technical terms, as I have learnt most of this of the internet. I have a bit of a problem with my wood burning rayburn. I bought it enthusiastically for a 100 euros only to find I had to I spend quite a bit in restoring it to working order. I have run copper pipes from the back boiler (22mm or somewhere in that region) to a pump. I have a tap stat on the copper pipe to start the pump when the pipe gets hot. After the pump I have 20mm ish pex piping (the red and blue stuff), running up to the attic where I have an 'expansion vessel (red ball shaped thing). I have about 8 radiators coming of this arrangement.
Anyway I started the rayburn, and after about an hour the red pex pipe burst (exploded) above the pump ( I don't know if the pump was on or off at the time).
Q1. I am thinking that I had to much air in the system which prevented the water circulating, would that have caused the problem?
Q2. I don't have a hot water storage tank as I can't afford one right now, I thought it unnecessary but am worried it is necessary to act as a kind of heatsink?
Q3. Any other ideas?
I know I am a numpty, I have learnt a lot from my mistakes over the last 5 years but this one is a cracker, and I don't think I can afford to learn via trial and error on this one.
Any advice would be gratefully received.
Hoping I can get some good advice here. I am an enthusiastic amateur so please be patient with non use or incorrect use of technical terms, as I have learnt most of this of the internet. I have a bit of a problem with my wood burning rayburn. I bought it enthusiastically for a 100 euros only to find I had to I spend quite a bit in restoring it to working order. I have run copper pipes from the back boiler (22mm or somewhere in that region) to a pump. I have a tap stat on the copper pipe to start the pump when the pipe gets hot. After the pump I have 20mm ish pex piping (the red and blue stuff), running up to the attic where I have an 'expansion vessel (red ball shaped thing). I have about 8 radiators coming of this arrangement.
Anyway I started the rayburn, and after about an hour the red pex pipe burst (exploded) above the pump ( I don't know if the pump was on or off at the time).
Q1. I am thinking that I had to much air in the system which prevented the water circulating, would that have caused the problem?
Q2. I don't have a hot water storage tank as I can't afford one right now, I thought it unnecessary but am worried it is necessary to act as a kind of heatsink?
Q3. Any other ideas?
I know I am a numpty, I have learnt a lot from my mistakes over the last 5 years but this one is a cracker, and I don't think I can afford to learn via trial and error on this one.
Any advice would be gratefully received.