Stove with back boiler for CH?

[Hitch]

We're looking at a house which uses a very large multifuel stove with a back boiler to fire the CH.

We have a log burner in our current house and whilst I like it I can't imagine it would be much fun to have to light a fire to get the CH on in wintry months or tend to the fire to ensure the house stays warm.

Am I missing something or is it just a massive trade off in convenience for the benefit of low fuel costs? The chap has sheds full of mixed timber so must have a source.

[CypSIdders]

Well if it's a Multifuel stove, in the winter you'll burn anthracite or similar, the stove will need stoking once in the morning and once at night, it diesn't need to go out for months!
If it's only a wood only stove, you'll be stoking it more often, so you need to be there to do it!

[Hitch]

Will look into it. The chap says he puts some 'cobs' on it from a local fuel supplier before bed time. I'm guessing they're slow burning compacted pellets of some sort.

[Rickyy]

Could always install a multifuel thermal store and add a gas/oil boiler to the equation. Saves you messing about with the stove everytime you want the heating on.

[Hitch]

Yeah I think it is pretty low tech at present. It looks as if the back boiler feeds copper pipes which head directly to radiators so it is either on and hot (I assume variably so) or off and cold. There's an immersion for water on a timer.

[Simpo Two]

Hitch said:

We have a log burner in our current house and whilst I like it I can't imagine it would be much fun to have to light a fire to get the CH on in wintry months or tend to the fire to ensure the house stays warm.

Am I missing something or is it just a massive trade off in convenience for the benefit of low fuel costs?

That's how it was until central heating was invented. A stove has no benefits now other than focal point and character when alight.

[CypSIdders]

What stove is it?
Aga's for show, Rayburns for glow, (to coin a phrase)!
We've got a Rayburn multifuel, in the winter it's stoked up with anthracite, it runs 24/7 for months.
It produces enough hot water for 10 radiators, plus enough for baths and showers, all in a Victorian, 3 storey terrace.
TBH we never have the radiators on, on the top floor, it would be too warm!
It takes 2 bags of anthracite a week, stoked up once in the morning and once early evening! (FYI, 1 bag of anthracite, currently = £16, so running it during the winter months cost £32 per week.)
We also have gas CH for hot water in the summer, (whenever that's going to happen),  There is a system of thermostats and pumps, which ensures you can't overheat the water, both systems can be run separately or side by side.
IMO, the constant, background, heat from the Rayburn warms the house much better than the gas ever could!

Just viewed a house that was using a Parkray for their CH needs, the owner was burning peat briquettes, to bank it overnight, he claimed it was cheaper than wood or coke!

[basherX]

We had a multi-fuel stove in with CH from the boiler in the last house we lived in. In fact I (and my father) replaced the previous open fire (with back boiler) for a more "modern" multifuel stove.

It worked and it wasn't, as I recall, ruinously expensive aside from us being scammed out of a grand by a rogue trader initially (long story).

I love a real fire and it is true that you can keep the thing running all day but in our case the reality was that unless we stoked it up before heading out to work in the morning it was out by the evening. Heating a house when you're not there is, of course, not ideal.

So we frequently found ourselves setting and lighting the fire when we got home which is both a pain in the arse and takes time to then heat the whole system and therefore the house.

It also means that keeping the house above freezing if you go away during a cold snap is a concern- our house was part of a terrace but we did go away one December to return from sunnier climes at 1am to a house that was hovering well below 10 degrees. Really unpleasant.

Current house has three multi fuel stoves for when we want and gas central heating for proper heating which is a much better set up imho. If I had my time at the old house again I'd have put in Calor or something even though that also can be a bit pricy

[stevesingo]

I have a Woodwarm Fireview putting 5.8kW to the room and 12.3kW to the hot water in the 485lt thermal store. From the thermal store I run two heating circuits and domestic hot water. Also fitted in the thermal store are two 6kW immersion elements running on a timer at night for cheap electric for the summer time and top up on demand.

Expensive to install, but works well and not expensive to run. Without lighting the fire and using heating, electric for hot water is about 70p/day. As mentioned above, a couple of bags of anthracite a week in the winter.

[Hitch]

Thanks all. I get the sense that it works perfectly for the two retired people who are there but with three young kids and me working away a lot my wife would quickly get pissed off at a cold house and fire starting so convenience is a big thing.

[Brads67]

I run a thermal store based system with a number of coils. One fed from a solar thermal panel, one from a system gas boiler and one from my multi fuel stove.

During the winter the fire stays on all the time and the house is never cold, neither is the hot water. My bill for last winter was £300. Gas boiler was virtually unused.

During summer, the panel provides all my hot water, again boiler is off.

Running hot water from a stove also makes you think about your usage. i.e the kids learn not to stand under a shower for 45min, like they used to with the old electric one.

[Rosedene]

I was brought up in a house that was heated by a solid fuel stove. The original stove was a victorian thing complete with claw feet and went by the fabulous name of The Modern Mistress. They were standard issue in the Highlands and Islands. Ran on peat which we cut ourselves, smoked like a kipper and was pretty useless. Then we had a solid fuel Rayburn, which was far better. I would say that in these modern times they are probably too much effort, shame though.