On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 02:04:20 -0700 (PDT), John Nagelson
wrote:

On Apr 10, 9:13*am, RobertL wrote:
On Apr 10, 8:52*am, John Nagelson wrote:

Using those fuels for direct heating is another matter. *For
electricity I'd use PV panels, possibly a wind turbine if I lived
somewhere extremely windy.

I used to live off grid on *a boat and did heating by coal and oil and
electricity from PV. Cooking from bottled gas. *You can get oil fired
boilers that do not use any electricty (Kabola for example).

I'll be using solid fuel and maybe also oil for heating.

Very interested in an oil-fired boiler that does not use electricity.
Where does the force come from to work the water pump? Does it include
a small generator to output a current to do this? (I've always thought
that would be a good idea). Or does it do it without involving
electricity at all??

It could work by natural convection of the water, as all central
heating did before the 60s, when water pumps were too noisy. You
needed large diameter pipes and put the boiler low down - often in the
basement.

--
Max Demian