[marjories wee acres]

So this is the thing , we`ve got solar panels attached to calor gas boiler and two wood burning stoves,
 we also have pv cells but they seem to be just to save your tiles getting wet !
  any ways so back to the plot we still find the gas is too dear so as a result the house is cold if wood burners are not on and plumber says we should leave boiler on for longer, but for next winter i am thinking of changing one of the wood burners for one with back boiler , this i feel would make so much more sense as the boiler ie gas one would then just switch on to top up temp when required .now does anyone know how this can be done ,the system we have is a sealed system without cold water tank , i can understand it would involve the use of electric valves etc but wondered if there was a company that made a single unit specially for this use and if not ,with all the wood burners going in why not ? 

[Dan]

Someone on here posted about the Broseley Safe Cold Water System:

http://www.broseleyfires.com/Link-Up-Systems.html

Not sure if that's what you're looking for, but sounded similar!

[FiB]

we have donewhat you are thinking of, but broke the sealed system and have a small expansion tank in the loft for emergencies.  We have a cheap boiler stove (Prity) which is fantastic. 2nd winter now and gas useage down to quarter of what it was ( we basically just have it on for a couple of hours in the morning when its cold, then light the boiler woodburner when the hoouse feels cold.  takes half an hour to make a difference (longer if its heating the hot water first).  couldnt be more pleased!!!  Took quite a few heating enginerrs to find one who would do it though. 

[goosepimple]

FiB's right, finding the heating engineer to do it can be a problem - best to work with some renewable systems people if you can. 
 
We looked into all this extensively last year and in the end we decided not to do it - by the time we changed everything it was going to cost a fortune.  We move around a lot and not sure if we'll be here in 5 years from now and for that reason we didn't go ahead. 
 
Costs depend on your existing system and the amount you have to invest to change it.  Remember, whatever your heating you need to keep it in the building.  We spent quite a bit of money reinsulating all the walls in the house with insulating board and more insulation the roof, the idea being that we need the heating on less. 
 
Stoves companies aren't interested in converting your woodburner (not enough in it for them) although we know Morso's are able to be adapted - it would have to be a plumber.  You  need to cost it all out really.  There's a recent post on here too about using dried horse poo for heating instead or as well as timber, fuel for free.  That's fuel for free, worth a thought 

[honeyend]

We have a bungalow which is basically a shed, single skin no insulation. We spent £900 on insulating the outside walls with celtex insulated plaster board. Did it our selves and just go a plasterer to do the hard bits. Because of the door and window depths we could only use the thinest broad and it has made such a diffrence even without heat you could tell the difference. Before tinkering look at insulation and keeping the heat in.