What to do with open fireplace with back boiler?

FOTW

Hi I have a 16" open fireplace with a Grant Triple pass back boiler, it works great however they way our oil burner and back boiler are linked it makes it unsafe, the back boiler has no gravity feed in case of power or pump failure and both back boiler and oil boilers circulation pumps need to be on at same time or oil burner to heat rads. And the oil burner heats the back boiler. This is causing the rads rot prematurely.

We are disconnecting the current system and installing a new oil boiler with new pipes direct to hot press and rads. The back boiler will be decommissioned and left open so no pressure can build up if fire place is used.

However I would still like a solid fuel option even a small 5-6kw stove. We cant really modify the fireplace as its built from big blocks of heavy stone, not fake stone but proper chunky stones. Could a small stove be shoe horned into the 16" space I don't mind if it juts out a small bit.

There is a fairly large solid stone hearth in front off the fireplace as well.

Any idea what would be required to do this if possible at all?

Cheers for any advice.

dingdong1234567

Remove back boiler and install stove with back boiler built in. Raise hot water tank to provide gravity feed. This would mean utilising pipework already in place to existing back boiler, however you'll have to fork out for heighening of hot water tank in hot press etc.

FOTW

dingdong1234567 wrote: »

Remove back boiler and install stove with back boiler built in. Raise hot water tank to provide gravity feed. This would mean utilising pipework already in place to existing back boiler, however you'll have to fork out for heighening of hot water tank in hot press etc.

Hi cheers for the reply I wish it was that easy. Whoever installed the oil system T'ed it into the back boilers pipe work some where, hence when the oil is in use the back boiler gets heated up by the oil burner, and for the oil to heat the rads the circulation pump for oil and the circulation pump for the back boiler need to be on at the same time.

If we could find were the two systems have been connected together it might be easier to separate them so they run independently of each other. Finding this connection will be a hit a miss it could be any where in the foundations or behind the fireplace stone wall. Any ones guess is as good as mine.

I think the heightening of water tank may have been done already. As its top of tank is near top of hot press.

jimf

the only safe way to decommission a back boiler is to remove it

it was recommended before to drill holes in back boiler but this practice is now frowned upon

jimf

http://www.hse.gov.uk/services/localgovernment/boilers.htm

FOTW

Hi jimf yeah that's why I'm not so keen to keep the open fire place and would rather have a small stove installed with its flue up the chimney, if that's possible at all. I'm hoping this could be done with out having to rip to much into the fireplace surroundings.

jimf

FOTW wrote: »

Hi jimf yeah that's why I'm not so keen to keep the open fire place and would rather have a small stove installed with its flue up the chimney, if that's possible at all. I'm hoping this could be done with out having to rip to much into the fireplace surroundings.

cant see why not

with the boiler removed and the pipes capped that circuit is now out of the heating system this may suffice


im no plumber the other lads will be on later when they get up and will be able to advice u better

MerryHell

I seem to have an similar setup except it is LPG gas with a Grant 18 inch Triple pass boiler.
I bought the house earlier his year so I used the heating during the winter with no problems.
The Back boiler and the piping gets warm but not overly so.

The pump on the back boiler does not work so using the open fire is not an option.

My idea was to put a Stove in but the problem is that it wont fit into the fire place cavity cos the Grant is in the way.

The solution a plumber suggested was to position it on the Hearth using the back end connection to connect to the chimney pipe.

However he also advised me that I would need to de-commission the back boiler anyway if I ever wanted to get a new boiler fitted or change to oil as the regs don't allow these set ups any more.

FOTW

MerryHell wrote: »

I seem to have an similar setup except it is LPG gas with a Grant 18 inch Triple pass boiler.
I bought the house earlier his year so I used the heating during the winter with no problems.
The Back boiler and the piping gets warm but not overly so.

The pump on the back boiler does not work so using the open fire is not an option.

My idea was to put a Stove in but the problem is that it wont fit into the fire place cavity cos the Grant is in the way.

The solution a plumber suggested was to position it on the Hearth using the back end connection to connect to the chimney pipe.

However he also advised me that I would need to de-commission the back boiler anyway if I ever wanted to get a new boiler fitted or change to oil as the regs don't allow these set ups any more.

yeah its a pain in the backside. If our was hooked up correctly we wouldn't have a issue.

I've just decided not to use the fireplace this winter. Come next summer we're going to completely renovate the living room and install a stove with back boiler correctly.