Wood fired central heating
A boiler stove is a popular way of powering central heating and hot water. You might want a high output boiler stove to power your whole house, or you might like to just be able to top up your hot water and/or heating using a smaller stove. I have a woodburning cooker stove with a boiler which heats the hot water in my house, and also powers 3 radiators.
Domestic heating accounts for over 20% of the UK's carbon emissions so this is one place where you can really make a difference. Of course it does make sense to start out by insulating your house really well in the first place before deciding how to provide central heating and hot water. A well insulated house will need less firewood in the long run, which will save you time, effort, and money. The following items on this page form integral parts of an intelligent low carbon heating system.
| Gasification boilersA log gasifier or log boiler is a large woodburner which lets you burn big load of firewood at high efficiencies. This means that you do not need to load a log boiler as frequently as you would a boiler stove. A log boiler would normally live in an outbuilding or utility room and be connected to an accumulator tank. Which lets you produce hot water during the summer months without overheating your house. Log boilers tend to be more automated than traditional boiler stoves and I think that this is part of the beauty of the log boiler – it reduces the amount of time your have to spend running it, but you are still using the most readily available (and potentially the cheapest) carbon neutral fuel. Visit our Gasification boilers page, or click on the picture for more details |
| Accumulator hot water tanksAn accumulator tank (also known as a heat store) forms the centre of the heating system and lets you link multiple heat sources to the system: for example a boiler stove for heating and hot water, solar panels for hot water, a conventional (gas or oil) boiler as a backup, an electric immersion element - again as a backup. Visit our Accumulator hot water tanks page, or click on the picture for more details |
| Boiler stovesA wood boiler stove provides heating and hot water and, unlike a heat pump, requires no electricity to run. Visit our Boiler stoves page, or click on the picture for more details |
| Load units and load valvesHere we have load units and load valves which make your boiler stove or log gasifiyer run more efficiently, last longer, and improve the charging of heat accumulators too. Visit our Load units and load valves page, or click on the picture for more details |
| Boilerstoves websiteBoilerstoves.co.uk gives a good overview of the subject of wood fired central heating. Using boiler stoves and log gasifiyers is a potentially complex subject – boilerstoves.co.uk is a good place to start if you are getting information overload on Stovesonline....just click the picture or the link below to open boilerstoves.co.uk in a new window. Visit our Boilerstoves website page, or click on the picture for more details |
| Mixer valves and thermostatsMixers take hot and cold water and mix them to give the desired temperature. They are often used at taps to make sure that the water does not come out scalding but here we put them to quite different uses; to reduce the flow temperature going to radiator and underfloor heating circuits which reduces the rate at which hot water is pumped from your heat accumulator. Visit our Mixer valves and thermostats page, or click on the picture for more details |
| High temperature headersHigh temperature header tanks are essential for vented boiler stove installations. These copper high temperature F&E tanks can easily take temperatures in excess of 110ºC – which standard header tanks cannot. Visit our High temperature headers page, or click on the picture for more details |
| Linked systems & LinkupHere we have some devices which let you linkup multiple heat sources in the same heating and hot water system. The best way to do this is with an accumulator tank, but there is not always room for one, and the project is not always big enough to warrant one. We offer here the Esse Centraliser, which allows you to linkup open vented systems, and the SystemLink SystemZone, which allows you to linkup open vented or pressurised systems. Visit our Linked systems & Linkup page, or click on the picture for more details |
| Rockwool pipe insulationRockwool pipe insulation provides very good insulation against heat losses through hot water pipes. Rockwool pipe insulation is able to withstand the high temperatures that can be achieved in heating and hot water systems and comes in decent thicknesses. Visit our Rockwool pipe insulation page, or click on the picture for more details |
| Zone valvesHere we have some zone valves designed for heating systems. We only offer large bore zone valves suitable for larger heating systems as these are often more difficult to source. Visit our Zone valves page, or click on the picture for more details |
