sitting room fireplace

LinoRichie

Hi All,

Any advice, comments welcome. Excuse my total ignorance of these things.

We have a standard 3 bed, SD house in the suburbs, 15 - 20 years old.

In the sitting room we have a gas-fuelled fire. I think there was some kind of back-boiler in there at some stage as well but this looks to have been disconnected (is this for the rads or hot water or both?).

We are looking at getting a new fireplace and I thought I might take the opportunity to investigate what options we have.

I'm really not up to speed on all this but is it physically possible to replace the gas fire with some kind of wood pellet or biofuel alternative (or something else)?

Should I be looking for something to just heat the room or is it feasible to re-connect the back boiler to also include water heating?

Which options require a chimney and which don't? We have a chimney there at present for the gas fire - would this need to be modified in some way for wood pellets or biofulel?

Thanks.

gizmo555

LinoRichie wrote: »

I'm really not up to speed on all this but is it physically possible to replace the gas fire with some kind of wood pellet or biofuel alternative (or something else)?

Should I be looking for something to just heat the room or is it feasible to re-connect the back boiler to also include water heating?

You can have either a stand-alone wood pellet stove or one which includes a back boiler. There is a grant available for these. I don't know if it's possible in your particular situation to reconnect a new wood pellet stove to existing plumbing - you'd need to get professional advice.

See this guide on the SEI website for more info.

http://www.sei.ie/Renewables/REIO_Library/WPBuyersGuide.pdf

AckwelFoley

What heats your rads at the moment?

You can use a woodpellet stove to heat your house, you are probasbly looking for something with an output of aprox 50,000 btu to heat a small SD house. IMO you would be making a good investment if you are going toput in a stove to put in one with a boiler in it to heat the house and hotwater aswell. You may need to replace your copper cylinder if you dont have a spare coil in it to take the new connection however you may not - it depends on what the primary heating system is

LinoRichie

thanks for the feedback

you'd need to get professional advice.

sorry to be totally ignorant but professional advice from who - a plumber presumably?

What heats your rads at the moment?

we have a gas boiler

You may need to replace your copper cylinder if you dont have a spare coil in it to take the new connection

sorry, ignorance again but where is the copper cylinder and what is it's function? Is it part of the (disconnected) back boiler behind the fire?

also, would the chimney that the current gas fire uses suffice for a wood pellet burner or would this need modifications also?

AckwelFoley

sorry, ignorance again but where is the copper cylinder and what is it's function? Is it part of the (disconnected) back boiler behind the fire?

Where your hot water is stored for your baths showers etc.. its in your hotpress

also, would the chimney that the current gas fire uses suffice for a wood pellet burner or would this need modifications also?


I dont know without seeing it. Do you have a chimney stach or is it simply a pipeup the wall?