Which Stove

Tester46

[move from renewables]

I am renovating my house and putting in a new heating system. I'll have:
1. solar panels for DHW
2. multi-fuel boiler stove for rads and DHW
3. Oil boiler for rads and DHW (as a back-up).

I need a multi-fuel stove that will heat ideally 8 rads (give or take) and puts out about 4kw into the room. Most of the ones I have seen put out either 2kw to the room (too little) or 6-8kw to the room (too much).

Any ideas?

bryston

Charnwood have a good range and are considered Upper end of the spectrum in terms of build quality.

http://www.charnwood.com/boiler-model-16b-woodburner.asp

They have been around for over 30 years which is a big factor as there are many new companies out there that may not be around in the future just when you need spares!!! Make a trip to Mourne Fireplaces in Nth Ireland and take advantage of the Euro rate...

Tester46

bryston wrote: »

Charnwood have a good range and are considered Upper end of the spectrum in terms of build quality.

http://www.charnwood.com/boiler-model-16b-woodburner.asp

They have been around for over 30 years which is a big factor as there are many new companies out there that may not be around in the future just when you need spares!!! Make a trip to Mourne Fireplaces in Nth Ireland and take advantage of the Euro rate...

Interesting thanks - just called them and they're checking prices for me...

bryston

Yeah, you get what you pay for with stoves really. I think it's important to remember that with boiler versions, everything gets more complicated if things go wrong further down the track (you have plumbers involved).

I am in the process of installing a Charnwood Island 3B (it's a big room).

The other high end UK based maker is Clearview http://www.clearviewstoves.com/

One thing I have learnt, be very careful about installation advice you get from any retailer. The people to talk to are chimney sweeps as they are getting called in to fix the mistakes that can take a year or two to show up with bad installs. I'm going for a high quality Stainless Steel chimney liner as it seems the best bet to avoid future problems.

bryston

Also, seriously consider one of these to mix the various heat sources...

http://www.systemlink.ie/zoned-heating-ireland.asp

Tester46

bryston wrote: »

Also, seriously consider one of these to mix the various heat sources...

http://www.systemlink.ie/zoned-heating-ireland.asp

How does this work? I plan to have two zones - upstairs and downstairs. The rads will either be heated by the stove or the oil boiler, but never both together. I also plan to put thermostatic valves on the rads.

Do I need a systemlink or similar?

Tester46

bryston wrote: »

Yeah, you get what you pay for with stoves really. I think it's important to remember that with boiler versions, everything gets more complicated if things go wrong further down the track (you have plumbers involved).

I am in the process of installing a Charnwood Island 3B (it's a big room).

The other high end UK based maker is Clearview http://www.clearviewstoves.com/

One thing I have learnt, be very careful about installation advice you get from any retailer. The people to talk to are chimney sweeps as they are getting called in to fix the mistakes that can take a year or two to show up with bad installs. I'm going for a high quality Stainless Steel chimney liner as it seems the best bet to avoid future problems.

Charnwood say to use a "Flexi Flue" - does this sound right toyou, especially for chimney cleaning?

Lashed

Not sure how much renovation you're doing but I think you would be much better off using a multi fuel stove, ie. oil and solid fuel boiler for both your DHW and rads and another small solid fuel stove for DHW combined with an ordinary immersion for summer.

I'm not sure you should bother with solar panels because at todays prices take 30-40 years to pay for themselves and thats provided nothing goes wrong with them in the meantime which is highly unlikly.

I say spend the money on insulation, good windows and heating controls.

bryston

Tester46 wrote: »

How does this work? I plan to have two zones - upstairs and downstairs. The rads will either be heated by the stove or the oil boiler, but never both together. I also plan to put thermostatic valves on the rads.

Do I need a systemlink or similar?

Systemlink basically takes the hot water from stove and oil boiler, mixes it and then sends the mixed HW out to each zone depending on load.

It means that if you have a roaring fire going and are not calling for much heat from the rads, your boiler may not go on (or would be very intermittent). It takes the load of the oil boiler basically. Alot of work to install and we are doing it as part of a large extension (still a pain to do though TBH).