A
acorn
Hello, This subject has probably been covered plenty of times so please excuse my ignorance!
I live in rural France and currently do not have any form of heating other than portable oil-filled electric radiators and a woodburner (Villager Bayswater) in the kitchen.
I intend to install some form of central heating and since oil / gas / electric are far too expensive would like to use a woodburner with backboiler for my central heating needs.
I have just bought a Villager AHI (integral backboiler) which I hope to install sometime this year. However, to make the best use of it I am considering installing a thermal store so that I can have a warm house in the mornings before the AHI is lit. I have a few questions about the best way to run the system though….
a) Since domestic hot water here in France is usually supplied by a mains pressure ‘chauffe-eau’ I intend to keep it that way and use the thermal store JUST for heating. I believe that unless I couple the thermal store to a solar supply (which I don’t intend to do) the cost of heating the thermal store just for hot water in the summer would not be economical. This is why I think it would be better to leave the hot water system as it is.
b) So, bearing that in mind the thermal store would just be for heating only. I would like to run approx 12 radiators. Theoretically if they were all running at the same time how big would the thermal store need to be?
c) At the moment the Bayswater in the kitchen is alight from 8am-8pm every day throughout the winter. I am considering putting the AHI in the kitchen and moving the Baywsater into the lounge to use as a ‘feature’ stove. If the AHI is lit for the same amount of time, i.e 12 hours a day, I imagine that would be more than enough to heat the thermal store … but what happens to the excess heat thereafter? Does it then get pumped round the CH system so that I have a continuously warm house whilst the AHI is lit, with the benefit of stored heat to use the following morning.
d) If I don’t need to light it for any length of time then I wonder if it would be better installed in the lounge where we could light it in the evenings only to provide enough heat to charge the thermal store … but would there be enough heat in the thermal store to supply heating to the whole house until the following evening when the AHI will be lit again?
e) Finally (for now) due to space / load restrictions the thermal store would have to be located on the ground floor approx 5 metres horizontally from the AHI. I know it needs to be open-vented to I can install a F/E tank on the upper floor directly above the thermal store. But what happens in the event of a power cut? Would I be better off running an additional gravity feed circuit to a couple of heat-leak radiators in the room above the AHI (with it’s own small F/E tank)? The AHI has 4 tappings so one set could be used for the pumped thermal store supply / return, and the other to run a small gravity feed circuit if necessary.
Thanking you in advance for any useful information!
I live in rural France and currently do not have any form of heating other than portable oil-filled electric radiators and a woodburner (Villager Bayswater) in the kitchen.
I intend to install some form of central heating and since oil / gas / electric are far too expensive would like to use a woodburner with backboiler for my central heating needs.
I have just bought a Villager AHI (integral backboiler) which I hope to install sometime this year. However, to make the best use of it I am considering installing a thermal store so that I can have a warm house in the mornings before the AHI is lit. I have a few questions about the best way to run the system though….
a) Since domestic hot water here in France is usually supplied by a mains pressure ‘chauffe-eau’ I intend to keep it that way and use the thermal store JUST for heating. I believe that unless I couple the thermal store to a solar supply (which I don’t intend to do) the cost of heating the thermal store just for hot water in the summer would not be economical. This is why I think it would be better to leave the hot water system as it is.
b) So, bearing that in mind the thermal store would just be for heating only. I would like to run approx 12 radiators. Theoretically if they were all running at the same time how big would the thermal store need to be?
c) At the moment the Bayswater in the kitchen is alight from 8am-8pm every day throughout the winter. I am considering putting the AHI in the kitchen and moving the Baywsater into the lounge to use as a ‘feature’ stove. If the AHI is lit for the same amount of time, i.e 12 hours a day, I imagine that would be more than enough to heat the thermal store … but what happens to the excess heat thereafter? Does it then get pumped round the CH system so that I have a continuously warm house whilst the AHI is lit, with the benefit of stored heat to use the following morning.
d) If I don’t need to light it for any length of time then I wonder if it would be better installed in the lounge where we could light it in the evenings only to provide enough heat to charge the thermal store … but would there be enough heat in the thermal store to supply heating to the whole house until the following evening when the AHI will be lit again?
e) Finally (for now) due to space / load restrictions the thermal store would have to be located on the ground floor approx 5 metres horizontally from the AHI. I know it needs to be open-vented to I can install a F/E tank on the upper floor directly above the thermal store. But what happens in the event of a power cut? Would I be better off running an additional gravity feed circuit to a couple of heat-leak radiators in the room above the AHI (with it’s own small F/E tank)? The AHI has 4 tappings so one set could be used for the pumped thermal store supply / return, and the other to run a small gravity feed circuit if necessary.
Thanking you in advance for any useful information!
