Villager wood burner / back boiler. Help and advice needed.

[philh101]

Hi all,

We have a bit of a dilemma with our current setup and looking for a bit of advice.

Having recently moved into our new house we started to use the Villager wood burner which also contains a back boiler. Not long after starting the fire we noticed a lot of banging noises with the pipes which I don't think is a problem in itself. However, after using this on / off for a couple of days I happened to be in the loft and noticed a lot of steam and water coming out of the vented pipe (we have an open vented system).

I went closer to check this and noticed the water contents of the F&E tank to be hot and there seems to be a large amount of steam (I believe this is called pumping over). Since then I have stopped using the wood burner fearing that the plastic F&E might get damaged or even worse split and fall through the ceiling.

After speaking with some people the recommendation I am hearing is to disconnect all the pipe work and remove the back boiler. Although an option I can't believe for one minute this is our only option.

As far as I am aware our current back boiler setup only supplies hot water and this system is separate from our main boiler setup. To confirm this the pipe work behind our wood burner remains cold (even when main heating / hot water is on) until we startup the fire.

As you have probably gathered I am not a plumber and not someone who does a lot of DIY. However, one things that is confusing me is how you would prevent the water in the F&E tank from overheating like it currently does?

To be honest keeping the back boiler isn't a main concern for us, but I want to make sure we are not making the wrong decision.

Can you please offer any advice or recommendations of whether this is the best approach?

Please feel free to ask me any questions that might help diagnose our current system fault.

Thanks for your help in advance,
Phil

 

[mcmoby69]

as you have recently moved in, did your solicitor check that the woodburner has ben registered with building control?

the water is boiling in the pipes, it could be air locked, or if there is a pump, it may have seized or broke.

i also think the F&E tank should be galvanised NOT plastic.

read this
http://www.stovesonline.co.uk/wood_burning_stoves/High-temperature-headers.html

ideally you need a HETAS engineer , which i am not.

 

[philh101]

Thanks for your quick response.

I can confirm that the woodburner has been registered with building control and that this has been install for a number of years. This is one of the reasons why I am confused.

The back boiler system is gravity feed and the only pump is that connected to the main boiler which seems to be completely separated.

I had a heating engineer come round the other day and without looking too far indicated that the pipe running between the back boiler and the hot water cylinder must be capped explaining that would be the reason why hot water is being pushed into the F&E tank. This then led to a discussion resulting in the only solution being to remove the back boiler system. I'm still not convinced.

It sounds like from your description that this might not be the case as an air lock may also be the cause.

Also, thanks for sending through the link to high temperature header tanks. From the article it sounds as if this should have been installed and something to consider if I wish to keep the back boiler. Does that sound about right?

Also while reading this article I am of the impression that any existing F&E tank should be replaced with one of these if a woodburner with back boiler is ever installed on an open vented system. Is that statement correct?

Thanks again for your help,
Phil