cylinders, boiler stoves and heat genies. Advice please

[ajohnb]

Hi,

Moved in to 1980s bungalow in the last year. Doing renovations and manging things myself (I'm a qualified sparky -- clueless about plumbing until recently!)...

New bathroom with all new domestic plumbing going in. Cylinder position is changing and new cylinder going in. Need to switch from gravity domestic to pressurised as well (unvented cylinder fed by mains). Hoping we won't have to touch the heating side too much (open vented, oil boiler and ciculation pump -- currently no motorised valve(s)).

Thing that's complicated things is we want to put the new cylinder in now but at a later date plan is to put in boiler stove to help heat DHW and rads. New cylinder could go next to where boiler stove will be installed, but ideally we'd put it in the utility, 18+m from boiler stove and not practical to chase the concrete floor between the two...

Heard that a "Heat Genie" (by SystemLink) could be a good solution, as that way the stove can heat the cylinder without relying on a gravity circuit (??)

Anyone have any experience with heat genies or have any advice/tips on the best way to go about things?
Plumber who is putting in bathroom (and is/was going to put in new cylinder) doesn't have experience with boiler stoves. Another plumber I contacted isn't prepared to connect a boiler stove to an unvented cylinder -- but have heard (including from someone from cylinder manufacturer, Joule) that there are safe ways to link boiler stoves and unvented cylinders (just need to know what you're doing it seems)..

Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for any suggestions,

Andy

 

[Limecc]

I was all set to buy a Clearview Pioneer 400 with boiler but finally decided against. Why? For a number of reasons:
1. A boiler reduces combustion temps, soots up the glass and reduces the capacity of the firebox. To compensate it would be a very greedy consumer of wood, up to double according to Clearview.
2. The best I would get is a tankful of hot water, 8000 btu's couldn't supply any radiators.
3. The Pioneer, although a great design is now outdated and isn't as efficient as newer rivals which look better having a bigger viewing area.

I just had a heat-only Worcester Bosch gas boiler installed, and have an immersion heater as backup. The cylinder stat means the cylinder is not being heated continually as it would with a boiler stove.
I can turn off the central heating when the log burner is lit and use it just for hot water on a timer.

For the log burner I've purchased a DG Ivar 5 with multi-fuel grate in case I want to burn something else other than wood. Unlike the gas boiler this will be a 95% self-install. It's 2022 regulation compliant. Compared to the Pioneer it throws more heat into the room rather than the surrounding brickwork. One log will keep it going overnight until morning, saving lighting effort. No airbrick or secondary air needed, it's nominally rated 5kw not max rated.

See the FAQ at Clearview stoves website and Stovefitterswarehouse for some great info.

 

[Limecc]

One thing I might add. We too are in a similar bungalow and managed to get the cylinder in the roof and some creative woodwork got the header tanks high into the apex so I've retained a vented system. Not that I need it particularly now I abandoned the boiler stove idea. I've got a shower pump and good mains pressure.