Hi

Is wet central heating an absolute necessity? I was wondering if I
could heat my house with a couple of wood burning stoves. I think I
might be able to design things so there is circulation of hot air
upstairs, and cooler air back down.

I could also fit electric underfloor heating as backup for the
occasional chilly morning.

T

On Thu, 07 Jun 2007 08:27:08 -0000, wrote:

|!Hi
|!
|!Is wet central heating an absolute necessity?

No, there are *several* alternatives

|!I was wondering if I
|!could heat my house with a couple of wood burning stoves. I think I
|!might be able to design things so there is circulation of hot air
|!upstairs, and cooler air back down.

Look at *old* American films, that is how it was done there for decades.
Boiler in the basement, flues for hot air through the house. Not sure
about fire resistance regulations in the UK.

My upstairs heating zone is only on during *very* cold weather air
circulation up the stairs works well in my house.
--
Dave Fawthrop sf hyphenologist.co.uk 165 *Free* SF ebooks.
165 Sci Fi books on CDROM, from Project Gutenberg
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page Completely Free to any
address in the UK. Contact me on the *above* email address.

In article . com,
wrote:
Is wet central heating an absolute necessity?

No. Otherwise life on earth would only have begun relatively recently.

I was wondering if I could heat my house with a couple of wood burning
stoves. I think I might be able to design things so there is circulation
of hot air upstairs, and cooler air back down.

You might. But adding decent air ducting is expensive and takes up a deal
of room. Which is why hot air systems ain't popular in the UK - without
all the other reasons.

I could also fit electric underfloor heating as backup for the
occasional chilly morning.

Fitting underfloor heating is a very expensive option too.

The beauty of a 'wet' system is it's cheap and easy to install after the
house is built. And is an easily designed and controlled system -
regardless of how the water is heated. The only real downside is visible
rads.

--
*I'll try being nicer if you'll try being smarter

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

wrote:
Hi

Is wet central heating an absolute necessity?

No.

I was wondering if I
could heat my house with a couple of wood burning stoves. I think I
might be able to design things so there is circulation of hot air
upstairs, and cooler air back down.


That should work.

I could also fit electric underfloor heating as backup for the
occasional chilly morning.

Cheaper to fit gas or oil...

T

On Thu, 07 Jun 2007 08:27:08 -0000 someone who may be
wrote this:-

Is wet central heating an absolute necessity?

I have lived in a number of houses that didn't have it fitted.

I was wondering if I
could heat my house with a couple of wood burning stoves.

You can do. Arrange to get wood locally, when word gets round you
may have more than enough. Local companies can be a good source as
they have to pay to get rid of wood and giving it to you will be
cheaper.

Wood burning stoves can power a wet central heating system BTW.

I think I
might be able to design things so there is circulation of hot air
upstairs, and cooler air back down.

This can also be done in a more controlled fashion via a heat
recovery system, which has the advantage that the ducts will be
smaller then for a natural draught system.

I could also fit electric underfloor heating as backup for the
occasional chilly morning.

Underfloor heating reacts relatively slowly and thus is the least
desirable thing for occasional use.


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

On 7 Jun, 11:25, David Hansen wrote:
On Thu, 07 Jun 2007 08:27:08 -0000 someone who may be
wrote this:-

..

Wood burning stoves can power a wet central heating system BTW.

I think I
might be able to design things so there is circulation of hot air
upstairs, and cooler air back down.

This can also be done in a more controlled fashion via a heat
recovery system, which has the advantage that the ducts will be
smaller then for a natural draught system.

I could also fit electric underfloor heating as backup for the
occasional chilly morning.

Underfloor heating reacts relatively slowly and thus is the least
desirable thing for occasional use.


I had been planning to heat a thermal store directly with a Sumo from
Dowling Stoves - http://www.dowlingstoves.com/the_sumo.htm. I planned
to rig the store up so that when it gets to a certain temperature,
water is pumped through radiators (upstairs only), perhaps fitting a
towel rail as a heat leak. The other heat source would be a solid
fueled Rayburn.

As for warm air circulation, I think I have a layout which could
encourage it through the house, without the use of ducts. All I need
to construct is a floor opening in the upstairs corridor ~1m2, which
will let cooled air (and light as an added bonus) in downstairs.

I could just not fit the CH part of the system and see how it goes.
The trouble with that is I really need to size the stove's boiler
correctly from the start.

T

HI Tom

On Thu, 07 Jun 2007 12:41:48 -0000, wrote:

On 7 Jun, 11:25, David Hansen wrote:
On Thu, 07 Jun 2007 08:27:08 -0000 someone who may be
wrote this:-

.

Wood burning stoves can power a wet central heating system BTW.

I think I
might be able to design things so there is circulation of hot air
upstairs, and cooler air back down.

This can also be done in a more controlled fashion via a heat
recovery system, which has the advantage that the ducts will be
smaller then for a natural draught system.

I could also fit electric underfloor heating as backup for the
occasional chilly morning.

Underfloor heating reacts relatively slowly and thus is the least
desirable thing for occasional use.


I had been planning to heat a thermal store directly with a Sumo from
Dowling Stoves - http://www.dowlingstoves.com/the_sumo.htm. I planned
to rig the store up so that when it gets to a certain temperature,
water is pumped through radiators (upstairs only), perhaps fitting a
towel rail as a heat leak. The other heat source would be a solid
fueled Rayburn.

As for warm air circulation, I think I have a layout which could
encourage it through the house, without the use of ducts. All I need
to construct is a floor opening in the upstairs corridor ~1m2, which
will let cooled air (and light as an added bonus) in downstairs.

I could just not fit the CH part of the system and see how it goes.
The trouble with that is I really need to size the stove's boiler
correctly from the start.

T

I've not used a solid fuel stove with a heat store - but from
experience of using a 12kw Hunter stove with pumped radiator central
heating - you need to be careful with your 'heat leak' installation.

You need to design for the situation where the stover is burning well
- and you lose mains power to the circulation pump. Your 'heat dump'
radiator needs to be on a gravity circuit, and capable of 'losing' the
stove's heat on its own - to avoid boiling the system.

In our installation the radiator was installed in the hallway - which
was the other side of the wall from the fireplace. On the odd occasion
when we lost mains it was always in the depths of winter, and
sometimes when we were 'out' - can get scary !

Regards
Adrian

On 7 Jun, 13:49, Adrian wrote:


I've not used a solid fuel stove with a heat store - but from
experience of using a 12kw Hunter stove with pumped radiator central
heating - you need to be careful with your 'heat leak' installation.

You need to design for the situation where the stover is burning well
- and you lose mains power to the circulation pump. Your 'heat dump'
radiator needs to be on a gravity circuit, and capable of 'losing' the
stove's heat on its own - to avoid boiling the system.


Part of the rational for using a thermal store is to provide somewhere
for a full charge in the stove to go in case of a power cut. The store
would be almost directly above the stove, and gravity fed. The heat
leak radiator should rarely be needed.

But, if stove heats my house without the need of a CH system, I can
specify a smaller boiler, and allow more heat directly into the room.

T

wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi

Is wet central heating an absolute necessity? I was wondering if I
could heat my house with a couple of wood burning stoves. I think I
might be able to design things so there is circulation of hot air
upstairs, and cooler air back down.

My house in France is heated by a wood fire. There is a heat exchanger in
the flue and, when the flue gasses hit 30C, a fan switches on that
circulates warm air through ceiling ducts. A cord of wood is cheap there and
the building is single storey, so there is plenty of loft space for the
ducting. However, the ceiling around the air ducts gets dirty surprisingly
quickly.

Colin Bignell

On Thu, 07 Jun 2007 10:08:18 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article . com,
wrote:
Is wet central heating an absolute necessity?

No. Otherwise life on earth would only have begun relatively recently.

I was wondering if I could heat my house with a couple of wood burning
stoves. I think I might be able to design things so there is circulation
of hot air upstairs, and cooler air back down.

You might. But adding decent air ducting is expensive and takes up a deal
of room. Which is why hot air systems ain't popular in the UK - without
all the other reasons.


And putting ducts where you want them upstairs would mean cutting away
joists half the time.


I could also fit electric underfloor heating as backup for the
occasional chilly morning.

Fitting underfloor heating is a very expensive option too.

The beauty of a 'wet' system is it's cheap and easy to install after the
house is built. And is an easily designed and controlled system -
regardless of how the water is heated. The only real downside is visible
rads.

And the leaks ... and the siezed up corroded valves ... and ....

DG