boiler stove heating rads but only luke warm

angela59

Hi all,

We installed a Charnwood boiler stove about 3 years ago which is supposed to heat up to 13 radiators - we have 11 radiators - 4 of them are double, 3 single and 4 small. The rads are only every luke warm - never piping hot. Would it be worth my while to have a plumber look at the system to see if it was installed properly and also to install new radiators - they are 18 years old - this could be the problem also. Any advice would be appreciated.

Angela59

Outkast_IRE

You would want someone who would do their reasearch , but iv noticed a few things about these stoves ,
1. people always say oh it can heat xxx amount of rads , becuase thats what the salesman said . Do your own reaseach and find out a realsitic amount it can heat .
2. in my experience double panels arent considered when stating how many rads it can heat.

Its possible that new rads may help your problem as new rads may hold less water therefore bringing down the entire amount of water to be heated .

Is there a thermostat on the stove that will control heat ?
Is the stove cutting in and out a lot when heating the rads?

somehope11

angela59 wrote: »

Hi all,

We installed a Charnwood boiler stove about 3 years ago which is supposed to heat up to 13 radiators - we have 11 radiators - 4 of them are double, 3 single and 4 small. The rads are only every luke warm - never piping hot. Would it be worth my while to have a plumber look at the system to see if it was installed properly and also to install new radiators - they are 18 years old - this could be the problem also. Any advice would be appreciated.

Angela59

I had the same problem angela,my new stove was meant to heat 11 radiators,i only had 9 radiators so i thought that the stove would be more than strong enough.4 of my rads were doubles and seemingly that counts as 8 rads and with the other 5 singles it meant i had 13 rads.I had to take it out and pit in a bigger stove,im far from an expert on it so id say a good chat with your plumber would be the best idea.

Stove Fan

angela59 wrote: »

Hi all,

We installed a Charnwood boiler stove about 3 years ago which is supposed to heat up to 13 radiators - we have 11 radiators - 4 of them are double, 3 single and 4 small. The rads are only every luke warm - never piping hot. Would it be worth my while to have a plumber look at the system to see if it was installed properly and also to install new radiators - they are 18 years old - this could be the problem also. Any advice would be appreciated.

Angela59

Hi,

Did the rads heat up fine when the stove was installed 3 years ago?

What is the output of the stoves back boiler? What model of charnwood is it? Do the pipes from the back of the stove rise upwards to let out any air? Are the main pipes to hot water cylinder 1inch and heating pipes 3/4inch.

When the stove was installed and the old radiators drained was the water very dirty/black? If very black there would well be a sludge problem.

It could be well worthwhile having a plumber to look at the system.

Stove Fan:)

angela59

"Is there a thermostat on the stove that will control heat ?
Is the stove cutting in and out a lot when heating the rads?"

---

There is a thermostat on the side of the stove which controls the combustion more - it goes from 1 to 3.

No the stove doesn't seem to cut out - there is a circulation pump which once it reaches a certain temp kicks in and circulates the water.

---

"Did the rads heat up fine when the stove was installed 3 years ago?

What is the output of the stoves back boiler? What model of charnwood is it? Do the pipes from the back of the stove rise upwards to let out any air? Are the main pipes to hot water cylinder 1inch and heating pipes 3/4inch.

When the stove was installed and the old radiators drained was the water very dirty/black? If very black there would well be a sludge problem.

It could be well worthwhile having a plumber to look at the system."

From the time I got the stove in I was never that happy - we got it installed in summer and it was winter by time we got to use it - radiators never really heated properly - we accepted it but having read on another forum of someone similar I thought I'd post hear and get some advice. I'd have to check the output and the model but it is quite a large stove. There is a pipe which comes out back and rises a couple of inches but it is capped and on the other side the pipe goes up to the hot water cyliner upstairs. The pipes look about 1 inch. I'll get a different plumber to have a look and check it out - could be the stove is not sufficient size for the amount of rads also. Thanks for the replies and will let you know how I get on.

Angela59

angela59

The model of the stove is a Charnwood country 16B multifuel boiler stove. I turned off the radiators upstairs and had the downstairs rads running and the ran perfectly - lovely and warm - 3 double radiators - which equal 6 normal rads. I then did the reverse and turned off downstairs and ran upstairs rads - unfortunately the upstairs rads were only luke warm - there are 2 double rads and 5 normal rads which equal 9 rads. Perhaps the stove we have is not sufficient for the amount of rads. At the time we were told 13 rads if we heat with coal and logs but on googling the particular model - it says the charnwood heats 10 rads with logs and up to 13 with a mixture of coal and logs. Is there a good stove which can heat up to 15 to 20 rads - our house is 2800 square foot.