RoySlough Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Hi, we are getting quotes for a new central heating system for our stone built house.One of the options is for a wood burning fire in the lounge with a back boiler to heat the water for the radiators around the house.I have no experience of one of these wood burning/water heating fires.What happens overnight? Is the system cold in the morning until you put more wood on the fire?Can you leave it burning at full belt during the night or when out for the day OR do you leave it with vents closed when unattended and can it therefore sufficiently heat the water?Basically can anyone provide their experience of one of these types of fire/heating systems.Thank You Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 You will find that after two hours at full throttle there won't be much wood left in the fire, definatly won't last the night. Normally you 'choke' the fire down overnight and get up early. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 I should have said that if you want something 'automatic' then go for pellets if you have the space to store them, alternatively look at oil or gas. You could do something quite different that is cheap to run and thats air to air heat pumps (better know as reversible inverter clim). Even better if you have a well in your garden go for water source heat pump. Of course this all assumes you have gone to the highest possible insulation for your house or a par with RT2012. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoySlough Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 [quote user="Quillan"]You will find that after two hours at full throttle there won't be much wood left in the fire, definatly won't last the night. Normally you 'choke' the fire down overnight and get up early. I should have said that if you want something 'automatic' then go for pellets if you have the space to store them, alternatively look at oil or gas. You could do something quite different that is cheap to run and thats air to air heat pumps (better know as reversible inverter clim). Even better if you have a well in your garden go for water source heat pump. Of course this all assumes you have gone to the highest possible insulation for your house or a par with RT2012.[/quote] Thank you, This is what I thought would occur with a wood burning fire solution, i.e. in the morning it would be cold until I load it with more fuel. The cost to buy and install a pellet burning boiler seems to come out at around 15,000 euros whereas the wood burning fire option is around 2,000 - 3,000 euros.(ignore the cost of Radiators etc. as this would be common to all solutions) I could go on holiday during winter for many years before I spend the extra money for a pellet burning solution. I had looked briefly at Air source and Ground source heating but because this is a stone built house with not so good insulation I have been told/read that trying to heat the house with these "blower" type heaters will not work very well. Also Currently I only have a 6Kw power supply so installing air/ground source heaters would need an upgrade from EDF (opinions welcome here also) Thanks for the post it all helps in trying to decide the best option for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 We had a Turbo Fonte that heated a few radiators in France. I would put a big piece of oak or something slow burning to burn overnight and would just put some small pieces of wood on in the morning and it would simply start again. We would have the fire on for months. (edit: ps they use lots of wood too!)The radiators, well, I cannot remember it being a problem really. The fire was so hot that it kept most of the house warm anyway, so maybe the bathroom, for example was not warm on a morning, but it was never cold either, and as soon as the fire was lit, it was soon warm anyway.The only problem and the reason I wouldn't have one again is that our system was electricity dependant for the pump for the radiators and we often had cuts, so would have to dampen the fire down, even in mid winter if we had a cut. We did have a system at one point where batteries would keep it going, but, frankly I didn't like it. I know that there are systems that don't need electrically powered pumps, so IF I was tempted again, I would look into them. Personally we have a soap stone fire at the moment, best we could get at the time, but IF I could I would have a soap stone fire from Willach KG, or NunnaUuni or Tulikivi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoySlough Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 [quote user="idun"]We had a Turbo Fonte that heated a few radiators in France. I would put a big piece of oak or something slow burning to burn overnight and would just put some small pieces of wood on in the morning and it would simply start again. We would have the fire on for months. (edit: ps they use lots of wood too!)The radiators, well, I cannot remember it being a problem really. The fire was so hot that it kept most of the house warm anyway, so maybe the bathroom, for example was not warm on a morning, but it was never cold either, and as soon as the fire was lit, it was soon warm anyway.The only problem and the reason I wouldn't have one again is that our system was electricity dependant for the pump for the radiators and we often had cuts, so would have to dampen the fire down, even in mid winter if we had a cut. We did have a system at one point where batteries would keep it going, but, frankly I didn't like it. I know that there are systems that don't need electrically powered pumps, so IF I was tempted again, I would look into them. Personally we have a soap stone fire at the moment, best we could get at the time, but IF I could I would have a soap stone fire from Willach KG, or NunnaUuni or Tulikivi. [/quote]Thank you, All helps to decide. Any other experiences wlcomed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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