maximum distance of cylinder to boiler stove

angelmum

sorry for asking questions again but having trouble getting plumber in the house at the moment and we really want to sort out of setting up the stove before it gets really cold

our tank in the attic is around 9 metres away from the sitting room downstair where we are planning to place the stove. we asked one plumber and said that it's too far away and we can't put a pump either as its against the regulation and told us to buy a non boiler stove.

is there any other set up that we can do install a boiler stove as we're planning to use it as our central heating system.


any advise would be appreciated

thanks and regards

shedweller

What regulation states that you can't pump water through a stove? I would have thought that would be standard?
Anyway 9 metres away is a bit of a stretch but your tank is upstairs so it should thermosiphon ok, if thats what the regulations want AND the pipework is set up in such a way as to allow thermosiphoning to happen. This means no downward pipework on the hot pipe from the stove. It must all go upwards.

I have a boiler stove and it heats my house quite well. It's also pumped.
I set up mine to bring on the oil boiler pump (not the burner) outside when the stove heats up. This also switches over a three way valve so the water is redirected through the stove, then back to the oil boiler and into the house. There is a slight heat loss but i cut down oil usage when the stove is going. The benefit of this is that the oil boiler outside doesn't fire up as the water is hot enough when the stove is going. Plus there is only one pump. It works well for me anyway.

kscobie

By tank i presume you mean cylinder, 9 meters is a longish run, but if the flow and return is kept in 1" copper, and a constant rise on the flow, and with no restrictions ie pump/valves etc on the run, it may be ok. Get another plumbers opinion, but if you get the same verdict again, the first guy may have been on the ball

kscobie

shedweller wrote: »

What regulation states that you can't pump water through a stove? I would have thought that would be standard?
Anyway 9 metres away is a bit of a stretch but your tank is upstairs so it should thermosiphon ok, if thats what the regulations want AND the pipework is set up in such a way as to allow thermosiphoning to happen. This means no downward pipework on the hot pipe from the stove. It must all go upwards.

I have a boiler stove and it heats my house quite well. It's also pumped.
I set up mine to bring on the oil boiler pump (not the burner) outside when the stove heats up. This also switches over a three way valve so the water is redirected through the stove, then back to the oil boiler and into the house. There is a slight heat loss but i cut down oil usage when the stove is going. The benefit of this is that the oil boiler outside doesn't fire up as the water is hot enough when the stove is going. Plus there is only one pump. It works well for me anyway.

Might want to see what the return temp is on the oil boiler is when in this setup, because if the return is below 40deg C for a long time, it can cause condensation to build up and corrode the boiler shell.

Carlow52

kscobie wrote: »

By tank i presume you mean cylinder, 9 meters is a longish run, but if the flow and return is kept in 1" copper, and a constant rise on the flow, and with no restrictions ie pump/valves etc on the run, it may be ok. Get another plumbers opinion, but if you get the same verdict again, the first guy may have been on the ball

<open rant: 2 wrongs dont make a right

Group think is what has this country bankrupt

the op states that we can't put a pump either as its against the regulation and told us to buy a non boiler stove.

As a blanket policy this is a combination of laziness and ignorance. close rant/>

Op does not help the case with not being clear on tank versus cylinder.

The simple plumbing requirements here are an inch pipe from the outlet of the stove up straight, as an expansion pipe, looped over into an open system header tank in the attic. The HW take off can be as a tee of this pipe

There is a cold feed from the open system header tank that 'tees' into the return pipe into the stove .

there is no pump or any other stuff between this Tee and the stove.

If the power to any pumps is cut the stove can 'boil' out through the expansion pipe and the water is replaced from the header tank.

Of course this assumes that the OP is in residence to cut the draft to the fire once the power gets cut.

If not and he has just loaded up a few bags of coal and left the draft on full and gone to the pub, if the power dies the header tank may not have enough water to handle the steam and the firebox will melt but there wont be an explosion due to pent up steam.

angelmum

sorry for all the confusions. i meant cylinder. we've been ringing plumbers for the last 2 weeks now and only one came in the house. was hoping to buy the stove as soon as possible as it takes a long time sometimes for delivery but i guess we really need to wait for other plumbers to call in

thanks for all your help

Stratus

Totally agree, Well put Carlow52 the perfect system, what would make it easier to though would be to know whether the house is a 2 store or bungalow or dormer and if it is the later 2 is there enough room in the attic to get the required rise on the flow from the stove/boiler to the feed & expansion tank and then enough room so as to have the return pipe falling back to the stove/boiler and this will have to be take from the lower connection on the cylinder and ideally not rise above that connection on its return to the stove/boiler if you still want to be able to enjoy those pints by candle light confident in the knowledge that even though your pump has stopped running that the natural convection currents created by the rising hot water and the heavier cold water will keep your heating safe and your house in one piece:)

angelmum

just an update another plumber came in the house as like carlow52 said putting a pump won't cause any explosion and won't cause any damage to the house if anything happens (although he said there's a slim chance of it) as long the right safety valves are in place and told us its ok to put in a boiler stove. the house is a dormer bungalow, floor to ceiling height is 2.57 meters. the cylinder is downstairs straight 9 metres run to the living room

gar.a

Angelmum... How did that set-up work out for you? I'm in a similar situation with a 9 meter run (+ 3 meter rise) and have been told by a few industry guys that it's simply too far!

angelmum

hi gar a we ended up just putting a non boiler stove as the cost of installation for the boiler one with our set up is just too much for us. it is possible with pumps and the right valve or you could change it twin coil system but its too expensive for us. try to get some quote from installers and see if it would suit you. hope this helps

gar.a

Thanks Angelmum, I've purchased the stove/boiler already but only realized the distance to cylinder issue when I read about it in the manual. Pitty I wasn't made aware of this at time of purchase. Looking into different options at the moment so hopefully there's a way around it...

angelmum

no worries its just by chance for us as well that one of the many suppliers we talked to pointed it out to us. but thats feasible its just a matter of getting the right plumber that could give you a decent price to set it up.