heating hot water with wood burner

Helsbells · Post: # 77528Post **Helsbells** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 5:47 pm

I was wondering how you would use a wood burner to heat the hot water for the shower, radiators etc? I dont have a wood burner, but would like one and am wondering how it would work? Do you run pipes through it or what.
Thanks for any ideas.

Silver Ether · Tue Nov 27, 2007 6:34 pm

oh bugger I cant remember how it worked but we ran 4 large rads of ours ... oh hang on .... Just asked himself ... The woodburner we had this was 12 years or so ago had the boiler on the top and teh back of the wood burner and pipes delivering it to the rads....
We didn't heat water for washing etc just the rads and as WR say there is a whole lifetimes of knowledge around on woodburners ...

contadino · Wed Nov 28, 2007 12:41 pm

Just had ours plumbed in so in a good position to answer.

The back-boiler is mounted inside the stove and attached to the rear of the firebox. It's connected to the DHW cylinder via a couple of pipes (feed and return), and there's a temperature switch which switches on a little pump when the water in the back boiler gets sufficiently hot (and off again when it cools down.)

We don't have any radiators at the mo, but I don't see why I couldn't put one on the return from the tank to the stove.

I'm not sure whether this setup complies with UK building regs, so best check first.

Thomzo · Post: # 77580Post **Thomzo** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 12:48 pm

Helsbells, you need to get a stove with a back (or top) boiler. As Contadino says, it then has the pipes you need to add it into your hot water system. If you have an existing hot water system then you will need to check it is compatible with a solid fuel system as many aren't. I think it's to do with the temperature of the water coming out of the boiler potentially being too hot for the tank. If you are starting from scratch then you can specify the tank you need.

Cheers
Zoe

snapdragon · Wed Nov 28, 2007 8:03 pm

This is a site that I've been looking at with a view to running heating and hot water from a woodburner below a currently unused chimney, they seem to have a good selection and information

frozenthunderbolt · Wed Nov 28, 2007 9:58 pm

Get a "wetback" style fireplace plumbed into your hot water cylinder - uses a passive thermo cycle to assist in the heating of the water. if it over heats then it simply blows steam/hotwater out the overflow from your cylinder - in our system onto the roof to be collected by our tanks again.
That said we only have a fire 3 moonths of the year tops, and then generaly only at night.
still, worth looking at.

Helsbells · Post: # 77683Post **Helsbells** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 5:17 pm

Thankyou all so much for your responses, I will have to research what all of the things you mention are (as I am a bit stupid in terms of boilers and radiators etc. ) Also on major problem is the fact that we do nt have a chimey!!

Silver Ether · Thu Nov 29, 2007 6:41 pm

Helsbells wrote:Thankyou all so much for your responses, I will have to research what all of the things you mention are (as I am a bit stupid in terms of boilers and radiators etc. ) Also on major problem is the fact that we do nt have a chimey!!

oerrrrrrrrrrrr were will the smoke go and how does Santa get in ?

Thomzo · Post: # 77706Post **Thomzo** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 6:46 pm

The lack of a chimney isn't necessarily a problem. You will need a flue pipe but that can either go up through the ceiling or out through an outside wall and then up. Just consider where the flue will run when deciding where your stove will go.

The top of the flue should really be higher than the highest point of your roof otherwise you could end up with problems of the stove not drawing properly (ie. the smoke not being drawn up the chimney properly by the wind at the top of the flue).

Zoe

Sky · Post: # 83483Post **Sky** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 1:52 am

Yes you don't need a chimney for a woodburner just a flue (well that's the case in nz)

Here's ours

Helsbells · Post: # 84118Post **Helsbells** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 6:26 pm

Wow Sky that look great. As it happens my mum and dad are having a wood burner with a back boiler put in to their house, so when the times comes when we can get one, I can get my mum and dad to help.

frozenthunderbolt · Tue Feb 12, 2008 4:09 am

Sky wrote:Yes you don't need a chimney for a woodburner just a flue (well that's the case in nz)

Here's ours

Very similar to our except ma 'nd pa bought our cheap missing the handle and consequently made a new handle out of a paint roller handle.
Fine at first then melted a bit one night, to just the right degree apparently as it has been fine ever since!