Fit woodburner instead of gas fire and back boiler
This is a Member submitted Post
Hi
Very interesting site for owners and potential purchasers of BISF houses – thank you!
We are prospective purchasers and have a question about replacing the gas fire anad back burner. I have seen a post that describes taking out the system and old flue.
What I would like to know is how easy is it to simply take out gas fire and back boiler and replace with a woodburner with back boiler?
Has anyone done this?
It seems logical to me that it would be easy in that the pipework and hot water tank etc are all in place already. I am a tree surgeon so have abundant free wood so it seems an obvious thing. Grateful for any speedy replies as my potential purchase is sort of a littel dependent on me being able to fit this woodburner system.
regards
Hi,
I am also a person seeking to put in a wood burning stove. I have asked several professional installers about it and it seems quite simple, but I already have a separate Gas system in place, it is only the fire I want to get put in not a boiler as well.
In my old system there was a back boiler and this had a flexible flue pipe that was fed through the cast Iron flue, and fitted to the back boiler, now I just have to get a more modern flexible flue pipe fed through the cast Iron flue and have the fire place made a bit wider and I am on track to have a fire fitted. I have taken a long time and asked many questions to make sure of my facts, but or some reason women have a problem when it comes to asking for specifiactions on these jobs as I was exasperated with asking questions to which I was not able to get the precise answers. But finally I got there. Maybe they thought the information would be too much for me…
lol.
Hello Plum2Pudd
The warmest of welcomes from all of us here from the BISF House – Non Standard House community. We are so glad that you have found the site to be useful and informative!
I’m no expert on Log Burners but I have seen them installed in various different ways inside BISF houses. Most have simply used the existing cast iron flue pipe to run the Log Burners own fluepipe through, going right up and out through the chimney but I would have thought that if installing in this way, the log burner flue must be sectional in order to feed it up the BISF flue.
I have also seen others fitted to external walls which then vent straight outside but choosing the right wall can be problematic purely for location / aesthetic purposes.
I take it you are thinking of using the existing back boiler pipework and radiators. I don’t see this being a problem as the original open fire used to heat the back boiler without any problem but I would suggest that you have the existing pipework pressure tested first to avoid any accidents.
Also you will need a suitable hearth and back plate as all BISF interior walls are constructed from studwork and plaster board / hardboard depending on the materials used which of course is flammable.
Other than that I see no reason why not but I strongly suggest speaking to an expert installer first as he can provide you with accurate information.
The diagram shown above shows a modern system which also incorporates a gas boiler and both heat sources work in tandem.
I hope this helps a little but please keep us informed on how you get on.
Regards
Marc