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Solid fuel boiler what size to go for???

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  • 13-02-2019 8:03pm
    #1
    wallycool
    Registered Users Posts: 84 ✭✭


    Hi
    I have put a deposit on a muilty fuel boiler 34kw . The man selling this system advises me to get this size boiler .
    My houses size is 3200 sq feet . 15 rads 3 zones ,1200 x 500 and under floor heating.
    Was talking to my plumber and he said that 34 kw is to small if he was using an oil boiler .
    Can anyone please Advice on this ?
    My head is melted , one lad tells you one thing and another lad tells you another .


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    #2
    blackbox
    Registered Users Posts: 4,141 ✭✭✭blackbox


    If you're planning to heat rads for the whole house with a solid fuel heater you're going to be busy keeping it fed.


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    #3
    monseiur
    Registered Users Posts: 1,214 ✭✭✭monseiur


    You will need a full time stoker for this otherwise you'll have a cold house half the time especially in the mornings.
    Unless you have an endless supply of free fuel think twice before fitting - solid fuel is not cheap and quality can vary.
    Consider a good oil boiler unless there's a gas main passing your door.
    Oil is reasonably priced at the moment (granted no one can predict what the future holds) and you'll have heat when you need it and at the desired temperature just by setting the time clock, stats etc.
    You can always fit a small solid fuel stove in your kitchen for effect / focal point etc.


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    #4
    cranefly
    Registered Users Posts: 258 ✭✭cranefly


    wallycool wrote: »
    Hi
    I have put a deposit on a muilty fuel boiler 34kw . The man selling this system advises me to get this size boiler .
    My houses size is 3200 sq feet . 15 rads 3 zones ,1200 x 500 and under floor heating.
    Was talking to my plumber and he said that 34 kw is to small if he was using an oil boiler .
    Can anyone please Advice on this ?
    My head is melted , one lad tells you one thing and another lad tells you another .

    Is this a stove you are talking about, fitted in a living room or kitchen, or, the type you can put in the garage, or even outside.


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    #5
    wallycool
    Registered Users Posts: 84 ✭✭wallycool


    cranefly wrote: »
    Is this a stove you are talking about, fitted in a living room or kitchen, or, the type you can put in the garage, or even outside.
    It's a boiler in the garage .


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    #6
    cranefly
    Registered Users Posts: 258 ✭✭cranefly


    wallycool wrote: »
    It's a boiler in the garage .

    Someone with more experience with this type of boiler would be better suited to answer your question, from my point of view, as long as all the heat from the boiler is going to heat water for heating, then 34kw should be fine, although an awful lot of how well this type of system works will depend on the plumbing, i am not sure if todays plumbers know enough about solid fuel heating systems as they did 20 years ago, so the older the plumber the better.


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    #7
    Roen
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,620 ✭✭✭Roen


    I know running a large house is expensive but you'd nearly have to pay a lad to shovel fuel into that all day.

    I'm guessing you're rural due to the size of the house. If gas isn't available then oil might be your best port of call.
    I know oil is a crap shoot when it comes to future pricing but don't forget smoky coal is going to banned outright soon and I can't see the price of smokeless stuff dropping.
    Forget trying to keep that in timber unless as stated you have an infinite free supply.


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    #8
    wallycool
    Registered Users Posts: 84 ✭✭wallycool


    I have timber and turf that I buy in bulk . I have stoves in the house at the moment and house is full of baskets of turf sitting around and alot of ash so for €1600 I decided to get this system that is out in shed and I can draw fuel to it with a loader and put it in front of boiler for burning.


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    #9
    NIMAN
    Registered Users Posts: 33,106 ✭✭✭✭NIMAN


    You're getting a 34kW boiler for €1600?

    That sounds VERY cheap. I know some folk who got it done and the entire job was more than twice that for a smaller boiler.


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    #10
    antoinolachtnai
    Registered Users Posts: 9,774 ✭✭✭antoinolachtnai


    It depends what you are paying for your timber and turf. In general, it's not much cheaper per unit of energy than oil.

    Unless you really know a lot about what you are purchasing I would advise that you buy the boiler through the guy who is going to put it in. You want one person or company who will stand over the system and who will maintain it over the years.


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    #11
    Latro
    Registered Users Posts: 207 ✭✭Latro


    I have experience with solid fuel, auto feed coal fired boiler. I'm very confident that 34kW is way way oversized.
    Also as Blackbox in post 2 said you'll be very busy minding it. You'd better be prepared.

    Cost-wise I'm skeptical unless you have free or nearly that fuel supply. If you are not getting the timber/turf at substantial discount there is no way this set up would be cheaper than oil, plus you will have to work a lot to keep it going.

    How old is your house? Any idea of heat loss?
    You mentioned underfloor heating. If it's fairly new house 14kW A2W is no brainer.
    Other than that consider oil but if you really need 34kW as per your plumber advice that is going to be very expensive place to heat.


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    #12
    cranefly
    Registered Users Posts: 258 ✭✭cranefly


    You do realize, you can have both an oil burner and a solid fuel system working to compliment each other, this would mean an extra cost for the oil burner, but i am sure you could find a good deal on one, then just the extra cost your plumber would charge to install it along with the solid fuel boiler, using the oil for an hour or so, to kickstart the rads, then let the solid fuel stove take over for the rest of the day, it really does make a difference using both, we have 13 rads, and an insert boiler stove an esse 350gs 16kw. of that 12kw goes to heat the water and nearly 4kw goes to the room the stove is in. Even on cold nights, one hour using the oil, then lighting the stove, wait an hour or just under until the stove is good and hot, turn the oil off, and the stove keeps all the rads really hot for the rest of the night.

    Here is the thing though, our insert stove should, on paper anyway not be big enough to heat all 13 rads, but it does, we use smokeless coal only, normally a full bucket load per night, maybe an extra half bucket if it is below 0 degrees, we put the full bucket in, in one go, so it is really stacked up, we find this really gets the boiler going well.

    Our house was built in 1995, and back then plumbers knew all about plumbing back boilers into old fire places, i really do believe this makes it work as well as it does, some people when they get a boiler stove complain that it is not as hot as they expected it to be, this could be down to how the plumbing was installed. If we were to have the same system installed today, i do not think it would be as good, and we would not be without the look of a real fire in the living room, and the particular kind of heat you get from solid fuel, their is nothing like it.


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    #13
    listermint
    Registered Users Posts: 33,687 ✭✭✭✭listermint


    I'd never ever put one of these in my house. Seemed all the rage about ten years back. Now people are pulling them out.

    Sole reason level of effort . You waste all your time tending to what is basically a fire that you don't get to enjoy your house.

    Too much manual work involved.

    No thanks


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