# Changing heating system from oil to solid fuel



## rosemary (9 May 2011)

Hello. we have an old renovated house with a firebird combi oil system, We are spending a fortune on heating, and also have a wood/turf burning stove for extra heat. We have underfloor heating downstairs and radiators upstairs. We don't have a water tank. My question is can we change our system to a solid fuel system, but also keep an oil boiler in case we away. Also do we have to bypass the underfllor heting and get rads downstairs. I know it is going to be messy one way or the other but we simply cannot afford to keep going the way we are. Thanks for any advice and please don't get too technical on me!!
We would like to try a solar system for heating water maybe but we facing north and also have a small budget


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## villa 1 (9 May 2011)

You will need to disconnect the mains water supply from the oil fired combi and connect the oil boiler(combi less) to the solid fuel stove using an open heating system incorporating a gravity fed dual/triple coil cylinder. You will need to fit a cold water storage cistern, and new hot and cold supplies.
This is your best option but unfortunately it will cost. You will not get the same heat output from the stove in comparison to the oil boiler, so don't be fooled by sales talk, they're bluffing.
You say that your house is north facing, if so is there any part of the roof south facing? If so you should consider fitting solar panels/tubes to supplement your hot water use.
Whatever you do employ the services of a reputable time served plumbing contractor with relevant experience in dual heating/solar installations.
Hope this isn't to tekkie


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## Shane007 (21 May 2011)

rosemary said:


> Hello. we have an old renovated house with a firebird combi oil system, We are spending a fortune on heating, and also have a wood/turf burning stove for extra heat. We have underfloor heating downstairs and radiators upstairs. We don't have a water tank. My question is can we change our system to a solid fuel system, but also keep an oil boiler in case we away. Also do we have to bypass the underfllor heting and get rads downstairs. I know it is going to be messy one way or the other but we simply cannot afford to keep going the way we are. Thanks for any advice and please don't get too technical on me!!
> We would like to try a solar system for heating water maybe but we facing north and also have a small budget


 
As Villa1 says, you will have to change the system to an open vented system if you are adding solid fuel and UFH does not work well if open vented. It is most definitely better to keep as pressurized.

If you remove the combi system, you will have to install a hw cylinder, preferably close to and above where the solid fuel is being installed to ensure a gravity circuit when there was a power cut, i.e. no power to the circulating pump.

You could tie in all systems with a buffer tank and get one with a domestic hot water coil at the top. But on a small budget, there is no easy answer.

It might be worth looking at your existing controls for the UFH. This could be where you are using a lot of oil unnecessarily. I recently upgraded an UFH heating system for a client that was using SIX fills of oil per annum and now they will use two.

Solar on north facing roofs will not work. If you do not have a south facing roof, you may have an east and west facing roof. If so, you could install what we call an East/West Configuration System. This basically brings down heat from the east facing roof in the mornings and then switches over to the west facing roof in the afternoons. It works very well but it does push the cost of the installation upwards also.


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## DGOBS (22 May 2011)

Hasn't Stanley brougth out an indirect heat exchanger recently to achieve this?
sure I seen in somewhere


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