Woodburner problems

[Joy Yeomans]

hope you get it sorted dean, we were very lucky with our little house over many many years ago now that we were unfashionably wanting to fit a woodburning cooker/heating aga stove, when many were ripping them out and fitting oil/gas, our plumber who is a close friend had fitted many such systems to farm houses for many years from the 60s and 70s and fitted ours as a friend he also gave us invaluable advise about siting radiators sizes and fitting the whole system.

 

he also once told me that these so called "corgi" registered as it was and "hetas" as it is now arent worth the paper their written on - as they learn in the classroom and pay for their qualifications rather than learning from fitting and correct practice.

 

just my opinion - joy

[Craig Johnson]

he also once told me that these so called "corgi" registered as it was and "hetas" as it is now arent worth the paper their written on - as they learn in the classroom and pay for their qualifications rather than learning from fitting and correct practice.

 

just my opinion - joy

 

:thumbup1:

[Notmegov]

I've been asking all sorts of people - other HETAS engineers, other stove manufacturer's etc etc and the general consensus is that the Clearview 650 with wraparound boiler (which puts about 2 KW into the room and 10KW into the tank) is not big enough for the job, irrespective of how the pipes are set up.

 

Which is not what I was expecting, given that the engineer is supposed to have designed to system complete.....

 

A couple of people have said that it might work, but on more of a trickle basis, with rads turned down and on for a longer period and cooler upstairs. I may also need to take a rad out, leaving 9 rads.

 

To make matters worse, the flue liner installed is for wood only, not coal, so I can't 'boost' it.

 

Thanks again - all feedback welcomed - DEAN.

 

Hi just stubbled along this thread, I have by the sounds of it the same set up as you with a Clearview 650 with wrap around boiler.

 

The one difference is i had a esse centralizer installed just below the hot water tank, as people have said before this only release's hot water to the tank when the clearview is up to heat. It works a treat ok we burn allot of wood but we don't spend any money on gas etc etc.

 

One thing that does worry me about all these comments about valves etc is that the system must be open in case of a power cut.

 

any way good luck

[hardtop110]

One thing that does worry me about all these comments about valves etc is that the system must be open in case of a power cut.

 

The laddomat is designed to fail safe in case of a power cut.

[New Forest DEAN]

Thanks again.

 

NotmeGov - Can you give me a bit more info for comparison? how many rads does your 650 feed?, rough house size? thermal store or standard tank?

 

How do you run it - all day, part time etc?

 

Calculations and theory aside, its good to speak to someone with practical, hands on experience.

 

Cheers - DEAN.

[Alycidon]

he also once told me that these so called "corgi" registered as it was and "hetas" as it is now arent worth the paper their written on - as they learn in the classroom and pay for their qualifications rather than learning from fitting and correct practice.

 

just my opinion - joy

 

Dont dispute that, when I came into the industry 4 years ago I went onto a 3 day Hetas installers course on chimney and flue installation. I passed with Distinction depite never having touched a chimney in my life. However to become fully qualified you need to have 6-10 installations that you have done and been passed as safe by a building inspector submitted to Hetas. Subject to Hetas approval you may then sign off yoru work as safe to use. Hetas then conduct annual quality checks on an installation as it is being done.

 

If there are any complaints against a Hetas installer that are upheld the installer may loose his right to sign off work.

 

So Hetas qualification is fairly ease to gain at lower levels but there are ongoing quality checks and it prooves that training is undertaken.

 

Usually lads are taken on under the tutoridge of an experianced guy, doing it my way is exceptional.

 

A

[Notmegov]

No problem Dean, We have 12 rads! 4 of which are double ones, 4 smalls and the rest slandered. We have a slandered 135l tank directly above the Clearview.

 

As for running it all depends on the weather, at this time of year we fire the stove once every 2 days (at kids bath time) and that gives us enough hot water for 24hours and 2 bath sessions. During the winter i run the stove all day long with the c/h pump set to come on once the water in the hot water tank reaches 70 degrees (this is changeable depending on if we require heating more than hot water)

 

All our bed room rads are set on low (3 of them) we have 2 rads in the library/study that are also set on lowish. All the rest are set on full.....its cosy!!

 

Hope that's of some help to you

[New Forest DEAN]

Notmegov - that's great info', very helpful.

 

Your set-up does sound very similar (although we have a 250 ltr thermal heat store tank, also served by solar hot water on the roof - we are still getting a tank full of hot water every day, not bad for September) - we have 10 rads (4 doubles, 4 singles and a couple of small ones).

 

I'm guessing that with 14 rads, you have a 3 / 4 bed house? does it have a modern level of insulation? (mine is 1930's with no insulation bar a wee bit in the roof, no double glazing).

 

I wasn't expecting to have to run the wood burner all day in the winter (ideally only for 4 -5 hours in the evening), so it sounds like you are running it quite hard?

 

Wood - difficult question, but roughly how much do you get through a day? (I'm going to have to mix a bit of coal because my oak pile has only about 6 months seasoning).

 

Sorry for the questioning, but first hand experience is very helpful.

 

Thanks again - DEAN.

[StephF]

Had a customer today who has a clearview that takes 15" logs sideways, she is burning my 15-20% firewood, and had used short 10" logs I sold her (she didnt ask for 15").

Anyway she said her stove was not getting very hot and could it be the logs where not the longer ones as recommended that go accross stove and you bring forward and stack new logs at back as brochure instructed! i really was not sure, normally really dry logs just burn hot and fast! We are going to take her some 15" logs so she can try them. I have another clearview stove owner who changed to 15" logs, and he seems to think it made a difference.

[niftysteve]

he also once told me that these so called "corgi" registered as it was and "hetas" as it is now arent worth the paper their written on - as they learn in the classroom and pay for their qualifications rather than learning from fitting and correct practice.

 

just my opinion - joy

 

Dont dispute that, when I came into the industry 4 years ago I went onto a 3 day Hetas installers course on chimney and flue installation. I passed with Distinction depite never having touched a chimney in my life. However to become fully qualified you need to have 6-10 installations that you have done and been passed as safe by a building inspector submitted to Hetas. Subject to Hetas approval you may then sign off yoru work as safe to use. Hetas then conduct annual quality checks on an installation as it is being done.

 

If there are any complaints against a Hetas installer that are upheld the installer may loose his right to sign off work.

 

So Hetas qualification is fairly ease to gain at lower levels but there are ongoing quality checks and it prooves that training is undertaken.

 

Usually lads are taken on under the tutoridge of an experianced guy, doing it my way is exceptional.

 

A

 

i qualified in Feb this year and have just had a Hetas inspection