Boiler Stove, choice-hell!

boardlady

Hi, new to Boards and hoping for advice from those who know! We are hoping to install a boiler stove shortly. Existing heat is condensing boiler for oil and open fire. Downstairs is 10 rads and upstairs (attic conversion) is 6. We would entertain idea of heating one floor at a time though ..

The main problem we have is that the living room where stove would be located is actually quite a small room. If I put dimensions into one of those room size calculators some stove websites have, it suggests at 3kw output to the room. Is there a boiler stove out there that could heat our rads without driving us out of the living room with the heat??

All advice much appreciated.

Roadtoad

Here's what I would do, in fact I already have done.
I threw out the back boiler stove in the small living room and installed a closed room-only stove there (the open fire is long gone).
The condensing boiler got the multi-zone (inc water) treatment.
My thinking was that trying to heat a biggish house from the small living room was too much, I'd be kept warm chopping and fetching logs!
I'm very happy with the arrangement, although I wasn't able to incorporate a real fire in the kitchen.

This doesn't answer your question directly, but it way give you a fresh opinion or option.

boardlady

The condensing boiler got the multi-zone (inc water) treatment.

Can you explain this to me? Our boiler does heat and water.

Ubbquittious

boardlady wrote: »

The condensing boiler got the multi-zone (inc water) treatment.

Can you explain this to me? Our boiler does heat and water.

Go for one floor at a time. Back boilers are very efficient at taking the heat away from the stove itself and into the rads so it's hard enough to get the stove itself to give off enough heat to drive you out of the room

Roadtoad

boardlady wrote: »

The condensing boiler got the multi-zone (inc water) treatment.

Can you explain this to me? Our boiler does heat and water.

Zones: e.g. 1 Upstairs, 2 Downstairs beds, 3 Downstairs living and kitchen, 4 Water.
A control system that can heat them separately as chosen manually each day or by programming.

I presently have the water 'on the clock' and the rooms are controlled manually, so an hour before bedtime I'll select zone 1 for an hour or two. I'll turn on the kitchen/living room zone as needed, depending on cooking plans, a night in front of the tv kind of things.

If turning on the boiler always turns on all the heating and the water, its probably quite wasteful. A plumber/electrician will advise and fit the valves and controller. A visit to a local plumber's shop will set you up. You may be constrained by the present layout and not wanting to do a bunch of ripping out.

Now, back to the stove.........

upupup

boardlady wrote: »

Hi, new to Boards and hoping for advice from those who know! We are hoping to install a boiler stove shortly. Existing heat is condensing boiler for oil and open fire. Downstairs is 10 rads and upstairs (attic conversion) is 6. We would entertain idea of heating one floor at a time though ..

The main problem we have is that the living room where stove would be located is actually quite a small room. If I put dimensions into one of those room size calculators some stove websites have, it suggests at 3kw output to the room. Is there a boiler stove out there that could heat our rads without driving us out of the living room with the heat??

All advice much appreciated.

A boiler stove that will heat all of your rads(16) will be a lot of work! filling and cleaning.
You could use a boiler stove just to heat the 6 upstairs rads which would not be too much work