CASE STUDY: Barn to Boiler Room

Barn to Boiler Room

A three bedroom cottage with two bathrooms has a remote boiler room connected to the house by a heat main. This supplies two radiator circuits and a mains pressure cylinder for domestic hot water.

The boiler is a Baxi solo Innova 30 which burns logs from the owner’s woodland. One charge per day heats a 1500 litre thermostore cylinder from which are drawn the heating needs of the cottage. This cylinder is also heated by solar panels installed later as a second phase. These are able to take the place of the boiler and also generate enough to meet the needs of the cottage. 

Where the heating flow is drawn from the top of the cylinder, a thermostatic valve governs the temperature of the water. This provision ensures the safety of the household and preserves the temperature within the thermostore.

In the cottage, programmable thermostats maintain separate temperatures for upstairs and downstairs by opening motorised valves which in turn start the pump to draw heat from the thermostore in the boiler room. Thus, in this installation, the solar panels provide heating for both domestic hot water and two radiator circuits.

PROS:

-          Solar panels preheat the thermostore and reduce batch burn time

-          During the summer the solar panels create more than enough hot water

CONS:

-          Labour intensive during the winter months

-          Needs a lot of space to store logs, house equipment

-          Needs a south facing roof

-          No automation

GOOD FOR:

Rural, detached medium sized house with outside storage.

For more information on this case study or others, please call us on 01579 345018 or email sales@stoveshop.co.uk