Boiler Stove or Room Heater
Boiler Stove or Room Heater?
In addition to a stand alone room heating stove, Many stoves are available with a boiler to run radiators or heat hot water, or both.
This needs to be connected to a heating system and hot water tank by a competent solid fuel plumber but once installed can supply all your hot water an heating needs. You can have a solid fuel only heating system or you can mix solid fuel with other fuels such as oil, gas, electricity or even renewable fuels such as solar.
Boiler stoves can be made in two ways,
A clip in boiler: For many smaller stoves there is an option of a clip in boiler, this can usually be retro fitted at a later date, Generally these are small boilers which are able to run hot water and maybe one or two smal radiators. These are usually installed by removing the stoves rear fire bricks or baffle and replacing it with a water jacket that feeds hot water into the system. This means that because the boiler is taking some heat away from the stove, the output to the room is reduced compared to the output it would provide if there was no boiler inside.
A factory fitted boiler: Larger boiler stoves often have their boilers factory fitted. The boiler (depending on it´s size) can replace the side and rear fire bricks or the baffle (sometimes both), these will usually be physically larger units as they will need to be able to burn enough fuel to produce a high output to water plus some heat to the room.
It is a good idea to have heat loss calculations carried out by a competent heating engineer prior to purchasing a boiler stove, from that they can advise the amount of heat you will need from your appliance both to the room (based on room size) and to water (based on radiator sizes) so that you can choose a stove to suit you. Some stove manufacturers will give a guide as to how many radiators a stove can heat but this is not an accurate calculation as radiators can differ in size from one room to the next and the larger the radiator the more heat is required to warm it.
Although burning solid fuel is not an exact science due to variations in fuel it is important that your stove is suitable for it´s intended use, a boiler that is too large will produce too much hot water and this will adversely effect the heating system. A boiler that is too small will prevent the radiators getting hot.
Boiler outputs are measured in either KW or BTU´s, they may be displayed in manufacturers literature in one or both units.
To convert BTU to kW simply multiply by 0.000293.
To convert kW to BTU simply multiply by 3414.
North Wales Stoves recommend you consult a qualified heating engineer prior to purchasing a boiler stove to ensure the appliance is suitable for your requirements.
We have a wide range of boiler stoves available from a variety of manufacturers at our HETAS registered showroom please contact us or visit us for more information.
