Hmm, I find an open fire with a properly designed back boiler to be an excellent source of cheap comfortable heat. If the back boiler is feeding a heat bank, it's also a good way to provide UFH as well.
The problem is the sheer amount of work keeping an open fire going, procuring fuel (i.e. splitting logs or shovelling coal), maintaining the fire and disposing of the ash. If you don't mind the work, then they're fine!
For me, I enjoy doing it a couple of days a year, but would find it a chore if done daily.
Christian.
Pot, Kettle, Black.
Have you worked out how you can run a multi-killowatt Myson kickspace from a 2Amp fuse yet?
MBQ
Well, my Myson Kickspace is run off a 3A fuse. It draws less than half an amp and emits around 2kW of heat.
Christian.
The message from snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com contains these words:
Er - they only draw enough for the fan - the heat is from the CH radiator circuit.
Tiles at ambiant temperature will still feel cold as they conduct heat away from the skin. They need to be closer to body temperature to be comfortable.
If you look carefully, you will see I have two open fires and a woodburner. Plus an oil fire aga, UFH on 95% of the ground floor, a few towel rails in bathrooms, and fan blown wall mounted heaters upstairs.
The comment you replied to above is, if you look carefully, not mine at all.
Come and see for yourself.
Because we like it?
Because its a bit of a pain to keep going 24x7.
In Denmark,once I visited a flat that was totally UFH and nothing else. My sisters house in Sweden is totally UFH and nothing else. They are all well able to keep theplaces at 22-25C when its -15C outside.
Y
Its all very well settling down in a room at 22C exactly with the rain pissing down outside,or sleet bouncing off the windows, but adding a bloody greatr 10KW of log fire to the mix is psychologically marvellous, and modern things like thermostsats then reduce the UFH to nothing at that point, saving expensive oil.
It most certainly is all of tat, but low maintenace it ain't, and, if you have to buy your wood at market prices, its pretty expensive too.
Fortunately arouddn here trees fall down all the time, and a bit of time with a chainsaw and a landrover nets me the odd ton of wood for winter, for a few hours work.
And its usually quite sociable too,
It is, but it can be streamlined..I have a huge pile of wood down the garden, and about once a week/tendays/month (depending on how cold it is) a SORN registered Series III Land rover gets fired up, and trundles down there with the chainsaw and bomb. Half and hours excessively physical work nets a land rover full of wood, which is then carefully parked by a suitable door at the side of the house.
Ash is a problem - we normally empty the open fire about twice in the winter - by then its a a wheelbarrow full.
Actually lighting it is simple once you have the knack. It does take an hour or two to start producing sensible heat though.
Stoves are even less work..as long as teher is a place to stack cut logs near them, they can be throttle back to burn at whatever temp you want.
HOWEVER they are certainly more work than a CH boiler, and more polluting in all except CO2. (in the sense that their CO2 comes from renewables).
A lot depends on a good supply of local cheap fuel. I would not consider having one in a town for example.
When they break down do you have to remove the units above the Myson to get access?
No. I installed mine after the units were in place. They simply slide out. The water connections are by flexible hose and the power connection by flex. The only things holding it in place are the screws to the plinth.
Christian.
_I_ know that.
In another thread noelog obviously didn't, but persists in berating people for posting about things they don't know about. Oh never mind.
MBQ
well wise guy there are myson electric heaters and thats what I thought the OP was installing. It later became clear that it was just a water filled rad with an electic fan.
maybe you could work out yourself how to run a 2 kw heater on a 2 amp fuse.
read the full thread before you jump in.
Easy, use a 1000v supply.
Next.
:-)
Nice one, Cyril..
This fellow used Polyplumb as well. Amazing.
I agree with Christian.
I full agree.
Again, I agree.
I consider an Aga a totally useless super expensive waste of time. Most people burner food on it, not cook
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