Everything's gone wrong, need advice pls.

put_the_kettle_on

We're in a pickle just now and to be honest, I can't see the wood for trees.

In essence we bought a rural house and it had a kerosene outside boiler with a tank. That could run the central heating which also gave hot water but no separate switch for just hot water.

Indoors, there is a Stanley Errigal which runs on turf but we don't have our own bank so it's very expensive to run. The Stanley also gives central heating and water but in reality it barely heats 2 or 3 radiators as its boiler is so small. The result being, last winter the house was icy.

We also have in the back ( tiny ) kitchen an electric cooker which we use a lot because the Stanley isn't always hot enough.

My problem is; the ancient kerosene boiler has died.

The Stanley's boiler is cracked.

And the old electric cooker packed in yesterday.

I was looking at Senko heating/cooking stoves but a new one is out of my budget. I'm wondering if they crop up second hand at all ?

The Senko seems very efficient but am I hanging on to outmoded technology ?

Is there another, single solution that I'm unaware of ?

What would you do ?

Something a friend of mine did in an old rural house, but costly.

Removed the old kerosene boiler and stove and replaced it with a backboiler pellet stove unit in the kitchen which did all the rads and then space heated the kitchen and hall

put_the_kettle_on

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121325260#Comment_121325260

I'll google them or at least have a look for how much they are second hand. Thanks very much for the suggestion:)

notthereyet

I had same problems last Christmas, stove back boiler started leaking than oil boiler started to cut out and than the emersion packed up all same week. I cut off water to stove myself left pipes opened going in and out of stove, big change to stove now throwing out great heat for very little fire.

put_the_kettle_on

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121326035#Comment_121326035

That sounds a good idea ! It definitely sounds like the cheapest solution I'm going to find.

Thanks for the info :)

Wearb

Even with pipes left open, it's very dangerous to use a boiler stove as a non boiler stove.

put_the_kettle_on

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121333138#Comment_121333138

Crikey, ok. Back to the drawing board.

monseiur

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121333287#Comment_121333287

Replacing the back boiler in stove with a fire brick is not a major or expensive job seeing that you have already disconnected all pipework. Having a stand alone stove (without boiler etc.) is good to have in the event of a prolonged power cut which inevitably happen in mid winter and very bad weather. You'll have heat, means to cook a meal and boil a kettle for tea and the hot water bottle😊

put_the_kettle_on

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121348019#Comment_121348019

That's good to know, Monseiur. It opens up the option again of keeping the stove.

At the moment, we're leaning towards replacing the Stanley with a large multi fuel stove that is big enough to heat all the rads.

I'm scouring the usual sites for a second hander that's cheap enough.

monseiur

Solid fuel stoves like Stanley Errigal will not heat rads sufficiently whether you're burning turf, coal or timber even with a full time stoker on duty😊 Seeing that you already have an oil fired system in place you should consider replacing oil boiler with a new one or if you keep an eye on the likes of Done Deal you may pick up a good second hand one at half the new price. As I'm sure you're aware, oil boilers basically have two parts - One being the heavy cast iron ''box'' which the water flow thru, the second major part is the burner which is mounted on the cast iron boiler. Unless your boiler is cracked (leaking water) chances are it's fine and just needs a good clean. So you may just need a new burner which should cost €400 to €500 fitted & commissioned depending on make model etc.

You say that your Stanley boiler is cracked, a new one should cost no more that €250 Fit new fire bricks, dampers, seals etc. while you're at it. All parts for these stoves are available off the shelf. Stanley stoves are ideal for heating domestic hot water and of course cooking. If you decide to fit a new back boiler you should consider connecting it to your hot water cylinder directly to heat domestic hot water only. It's what plumbers call a 'direct cylinder system' Basically the water flows from attic storage tank into copper cylinder in hot press, two pipes are fitted between cylinder and boiler. The water flows from cylinder to back boiler and as it heats it returns to cylinder. All this is done by gravity so no pump is required - you'll have hot water even during a prolonged power cut provided there's water in the attic storage tank of course 😁 If you have poor quality turf add some coal or well seasoned timber - you'll hardly ever have to use your electric cooker during winter.

Double check that your attic is well insulated, at least 12 inches (300mm) is required. You may need to pump cavity walls with extra insulation. Grants are available for all this including upgrading your central heating system. Check the SEAI site for details.

put_the_kettle_on

@monseiur Wow, that's a great reply. Thank you for all that information.

We are waiting for the plumber to come and sort the oil boiler. That's high on the priority list.

I've bought a cheap electric stove so I'm ok for cooking again and it takes the pressure off us for sorting out the Errigal. To be honest, and I may get chucked out of Ireland for saying this, my experience with the Stanley Errigal hasn't been positive. I find it haphazard to cook on and last winter we froze.

Thanks for nudge to contact SEAI, I've been meaning to for a while. The house has been lined inside with plasterboard leaving a gap between that and the original walls. This gap is lifting with mice, as is the attic. I was wondering if I could get the gap filled with something rodent proof ? Is there such a thing ? The mice drive me crackers scratching about in the walls.

I do have a cat, a Siamese. When we moved here he did catch and eat a mouse but it gave him the squits for a week and he can't bear to even look at a mouse now. So I dunno what to do.

Lancashire-lad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121359921#Comment_121359921

Hi @monseiur please may I pick your brain, has you seem to be knowledge on soils fuel boiler.

When I removed the back coal save, from the back of my open fire. I can now see the metal back boiler. I could not see it when I put the coal saver in place last year. So what was covering the back boiler has burn away.

Would it been normal fire cement ?

As you can see from the pic I have block up the hole under the boiler yo stop it drawing to much. Because the stove in the backroom give us a enough hot water.

monseiur

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121362036#Comment_121362036

I'm no expert but if back boiler is no longer required/used you should consider taking it out and replacing it with a standard fire back. A back boiler without water could explode. Have a plumber check it out if you intend using it again. It's rather unlikely that the boiler was ever covered with fire cement as it would defeat it's purpose of extracting the maximum heat from fire.