More than warn water

[ditchy]

Maybe this is a stupid question to answer in a general sense but i am after any tips and advice on

 

how to get water in the calorifier hot and not just luke-comfortably warm from the back boiler ?

 

My system has a pump which at the minute runs slow. It can be adjusted up.

 

All rads are off.

 

I'm burning coal on a penguin stove 22mm that reduces to 15

 

Calorifier is aprox 40ft away.

 

Rads etc bled and reevoir toped up.

 

How long do you usually find it takes from cold with your system?

 

 

 

[b0atman]

How hot is pipe from fire is back boiler bled of air ?

[David Mack]

Rads etc bled and reevoir toped up.

If rads can get toasty hot, but the calorifer is only ever luke warm I suspect you may need to bleed the coil inside the calorifier which carries water from the back boiler. How you do this depends on the pipework layout, and whether the calorifier loop is pumped or gravity fed, but I suggest with the circulating pump turned off, you crack the upper connection to the calorifier coil. If air comes out, or an air/water mix, let it flow until it is all water. You may need to top up the header tank afterwards.

[MtB]

What sort of pump do you have?

 

MtB

[ditchy]

Hi

I have a 12v jabasco pump, centrifugel thing.

 

The pipes feed and return are just warm to touch.

 

On the feed pipe it has a branch t-ing up with the bleed screw on that and I think thats the only high bleed at that end . This is the same at the stove end.

 

Ill try and bleed these again and report back.

[MtB]

Hi

I have a 12v jabasco pump, centrifugel thing.

 

The pipes feed and return are just warm to touch.

 

On the feed pipe it has a branch t-ing up with the bleed screw on that and I think thats the only high bleed at that end . This is the same at the stove end.

 

Ill try and bleed these again and report back.

 

 

Hmmm I was vaguely expecting you to say no pump!

 

But Jabsco pumps are usually impeller pumps, and very noisy.

 

What switches yours on and off?

 

 

MtB

[ditchy]

Yes u can hear it whine. In fact only I can hear it and highlight that to everyone. Heres the link to the one installed

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/central-heating-pumps/7066934/

 

I turn it on with a switch around 5- 10 mins after lighting the fire.

 

How long should it take to get hot water?

 

MTB: do you think that the pump needs to be fast or slow? I have arguments for both.

Edited October 9, 2014 by ditchy

[peterboat]

My last stove couldnt get the water hot enough unless on coal or smokeless fuel. My new stove can achieve hot water very easily nothing has changed other than my new stove is a woodburner rather than a multifuel stove, the backboiler on the new stove is smaller than the old one so it has to be down to stove design in my case

 

Peter

[ditchy]

Ok thanks for all your help. Like you say, its probably down to individual set ups... My radiators at the back are plenty warm enough once going. I think ill not let my stove simmer too much when I want hotter water.

 

How many hours roughly does it take to get a tank of hot water from a wood or coal stove for youi guys??

[DHutch]

We can boil the water in our calorifier, one bonus of being steam.....? I just warn people it can be hot, and plan to fit a mixer tap in the bathroom when it re-fitted.

 

 

But as said, if your radiators are getting hot (hotter than you want your hot water to be) then it sounds like a circulation issue, due to poor layout, poor pump, or an airlock.

 

 

 

Daniel

[junior]

Is any part of your back boiler covered by a fire brick?

 

I ask because mine used to be at least half covered by a fire brick. I used to get annoyed at only having luke warm water in the calorifier, so I removed the fire brick (and stupidly threw it away). I then had months of problems with it getting to hot and boiling up the expansion tank and spewing all over the engine room.

 

Over the summer I have spent much effort finding the right size fire brick to go back in. It is slightly smaller than the one that was previously in there, the idea being that it should allow move of the back boiler to see the flame, but not so much of it as to cause the problems I had when I removed it completely. I also drained and flushed and replenished all the coolant in the back boiler and pipes.

 

So far it seems to have done the trick and I have nice free hot water!