Insert stove with back boiler.

Realdeal.

Hi, need to overhaul a very inefficient heating system, gas central heating+immersion. We have an open fire in the sitting room with a big old back boiler that is part of the central heating system but the pump has never worked (was in the house when we moved in) In the winter we light a fire usually turf every evening. There are about 12 radiators. Question is would fitting an insert stove with back boiler where the old back boiler is, be possible without too much disruption of the whole heating system. Rads also need to be balanced and the whole system cleaned!! The existing back bolier could be 20yrs old, initially we thought of putting in a stove to make the open fire more efficient, but can't do that without removing the back boiler.
Any thoughts or suggestions?

cranefly

It sounds a good idea. We had nearly the same set up as you except we have oil rather than gas, you say you light the fire in the winter but the pump has never worked, does the fire heat the radiators and the immersion tank, or has the boiler been put out of action by drilling holes in it. if the immersion is higher than your fireplace then it would probably heat the tank without the need for a pump, but i am guessing it would need a pump to heat the rads, or if you have rads upstairs, their might not be the need for a pump for those rads.

As the pipework is already in place then a boiler insert would be a good idea in my opinion, we got an esse 350gs insert boiler installed in our old fireplace that had a back boiler as well, it was a 2 day job, but well worth it, even if you went for a stove without a boiler i think the old back boiler would need to be taken out as well, so a boiler stove would just connect to the existing pipework. Some stove shops will fit stoves as well and check that the chimney is ok.

Realdeal.

Thank You Cranefly. The boiler has not been decommissioned, it probably does heat the water in the immersion above it somewhat and it might on a good day after burning tons of fuel warm some of the radiators upstairs. I feel fixing the pump would not really improve things as the open fire will never generate enough heat. Will have a look at the boiler you installed.

sky6

Realdeal. wrote: »

Thank You Cranefly. The boiler has not been decommissioned, it probably does heat the water in the immersion above it somewhat and it might on a good day after burning tons of fuel warm some of the radiators upstairs. I feel fixing the pump would not really improve things as the open fire will never generate enough heat. Will have a look at the boiler you installed.

The Pump is probably just stuck due to not been used for sometime. You could try tapping it with a hammer while switching it on and off at the same time, This often does the trick and gets it turning again. Either way swapping out the pump is quite easy and a cheap fix.
As to the efficiency of the Back Boiler, A lot depends on the type and size of House plus the cleanliness of the Boiler and chimney plus the Fuel burned.

celiam

Realdeal. wrote: »

Hi, need to overhaul a very inefficient heating system, gas central heating+immersion. We have an open fire in the sitting room with a big old back boiler that is part of the central heating system but the pump has never worked (was in the house when we moved in) In the winter we light a fire usually turf every evening. There are about 12 radiators. Question is would fitting an insert stove with back boiler where the old back boiler is, be possible without too much disruption of the whole heating system. Rads also need to be balanced and the whole system cleaned!! The existing back bolier could be 20yrs old, initially we thought of putting in a stove to make the open fire more efficient, but can't do that without removing the back boiler.
Any thoughts or suggestions?

I thought you couldn't have gas central heating and solid fuel heating. One is a closed system and the other is open