An octogenarian lady who lives near me has recently had full oil-fired central heating installed in her house for free by the local authority. Sounds like a really generous scheme and indeed it is - but...
Before the central heating she had electric heaters and a solid fuel Raeburn stove in the kitchen. This stove had a back boiler to give hot water. The back boiler has been "disconnected" and she was told not to use the stove any more. She recently experienced a 3 day power cut - we are in deepest rural East Lothian - but these things happen often enough. During those 2 or 3 days she had NO HEATING AT ALL. Fortunately the weather was reasonable and she is a very determined lady.
Apologies for the longish introduction. Is it not quite safe to run the stove with a totally empty back boiler system? The metal will get hot but will that matter? There are copper pipes leading up to the attic where, presumably, there is an empty hot water tank. It would be a job of only a few moments to disconnect these - there are very accessible joints just above the stove level. Would such a system be safe to run?
Frank