Plumbing a solid fuel stove

torrentum

Hi all

I'm looking for advice on installing a solid fuel stove.
I'll be going in my sitting room. I was chatting to a plumber on the phone. He told me that I'll need to dig up the floors as the pipes need to go down. Is that true? I was hoping to have the hot water pipe going up, and the return going down to the stove, with a pump somewhere on the system to help it along?
He also said, that since I have oil fired central heating, that I'll have to replace my water cylender to a 2 coil system (or something along those lines). Is he correct in saying that? If I was to choose to disconnect the oil altogether, and just go with the stove as my only source of heating, would I need to replace the cylender then?
I'd appreciate any advice I get here.
Thanks a million in advance.

Carlow52

Run a few searches in this forum for the answer to this question, it has be covered loads of times

sky6

You will definitely need to run a pipe up with expansion to the attic Tank as hot water rises as it expands.
You can then run drops to Rads in other rooms from the same pipe.
The pipe size from the Stove to the cylinder should be no less than 1" inch.
You will also need safety valves fitted to the Stove or somewhere to exhaust with safety.
As the Stove is in effect an open fire you cannot control the heat output, you will need the Cylinder to have open expansion. unless you have an old type Boiler system yours is most like a sealed system with an expansion vessel.
The Two heat sources can be combined, but this is not a job for a DIY ER.
Unless done properly it can be Fatally Dangerous.
And make sure any Plumber you get has experience of working with open fire systems.
The Safer option is a two coil system where each heat source works independently of each other or together.
You should be able to find plenty of info on the Web. particularly Drawings showing the pipe layouts.
Good luck with it.

rugbylad

Yes there are more like this on forum.
But agree with sky6 BUT nothing in Hot water outlet, ie will vent to expansion if too hot!.
Can also feed seperate hot water coil in tank.
You only need 1 (one) stat on tank for hot water on controller.
Pipe from Stove is usually 28mm min and does go UP !.
Check your plumber knows about stoves many don't.
Check your chimney has good draught and might need lining especially if you burn wood due to resin.
Rgds, Save more energy with LED lights.

torrentum

sky6/rugbylad - thanks so much for your replies.