How to disable a back-boiler?

[Daniël Bos]

Hi guys,

 

I bought a second hand hunter herald 14 last week. I'd not seen it or any pictures and when I went to collect it I found it has a wraparound boiler.

 

I don't need the boiler right now and was wondering about the best way not to ruin it so I could plumb it in at a later date.

 

I thought about filling it with dry sand or vermiculite? It looks quite hard to remove and I'm on a very tight budget.

It's to go in a yurt so no worrying about building regs or stuff like that.

[Goaty]

I would be inclined to remove it then stick it back on at a later date. If you put ballas in and it gets in valves and plumbing at a later date it could be costly. Have you tried looking up a parts diagram. Maybe an easy way to remove it.

[Daniël Bos]

Just had a look, the sides and back are the back-boiler. They're not a separate inset type but an integral part of the stove....

[Woodworks]

You could line inside the stove with some fireproof sheet to protect the boiler from the heat.

[Amelanchier]

I don't see how running it dry would ruin it - I'd imagine you'd be well below its tolerances in a yurt. We looked at the HH14 before we bought our HH8 and decided it was overkill. IIRC the output of the HH was sufficient to heat DHW, 10 odd rads and the room its in...

 

Sounds like the perfect excuse to have a yurt extension with a hot tub...

Edited September 24, 2013 by Amelanchier

[muttley9050]

Make sure its not capped off and run it dry.

[Pumpy]

Ayup Dan, not seen you since I dropped off your Hannah at Kettering Station after the ReGenAg course couple of yrs back

 

I think you'll melt in your yurt with that mate, it's huge, ours heats half the house and DHW. I think the boiler steel is a bit thin to run dry, it'll warp and may disintegrate if fired dry very often (like the baffle plate did in our Esse), you could try getting some fire bricks cut to form a box to line it and protect the boiler.

 

I have just pulled a pretty good multi-fuel stove off a narrowboat would suit you better, it needs new glass and the boiler is already burnt out so would need a plate welding on the back, half the grate is melted but it'd still be OK, yours if you want it (can't remember the make off the top of my head but it's a goodun as it has good air controls) I'll have a walk down after my tea and get the make of it if you want it.

 

Pete

[Daniël Bos]

Cheers Pete :thumbsup:

How are you doing?

 

Our yurt is 24ft, built very tall and not insulated. I need it to be acceptably warm ish for the odd weekend throughout winter for courses.

[Pumpy]

Just had another look at it, it's a French Chappée 8088 stove, wants the back cutting out and plating, bit of welding here n there as the back corner has cracked, but I think it would function OK with a bit of TLC and new glass

[pycoed]

What ever you do, do not cap the boiler connections

 

 

I've been running an old Rayburn with the back boiler disconnected for a couple of years (wood only ) & it seems to be holding up OK.

I used to work with a bloke that fitted a Parkray, filled the back boiler with dry sand & capped the fittings. It blew up, caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to his house, wrote off his car, which was outside the window, & burnt him so badly he was in Chepstow (the burns unit then) for months & never worked again. Also broke his sternum, shoulder , skull, both cheek bones & his jaw. Steam explosions are seriously bad news.

 

 

What ever you do, do not cap the boiler connections