My house has a solid fuel central heating system, which runs off the backboiler behind the open fire. It's pretty good, although it's a bit of a PITA to wait for the water to heat up each morning after I've lit the fires. :D

Anyway, because of the way it works, there's no control on the temperature that the water gets heated to. This means that sometimes the water is close to boiling :eek:, meaning that when I use my power shower bubbles of air interfere with the impeller pump. :(

So, what I wanted to ask is, is there a simple way to filter the water somehow so that the air bubbles are released out of the system, and the water supply to the pump is constant?

If you reduce the temperature then the air problem will go away, also the pump won't be rated above 60 deg. You will need some kind of motorised valve and stat on the hot water tank or a TRV type valve with a sensor on the tank, unfortunately not one for DIY installation.

Mog

why have you not got a boiler? - all seems a bit antiquated to me. How long is it in the morning before you get hot water then?

mj - I had this kind of system in my first house - built in 1939 with back boiler and heating added in 60's - Neighbours had a rayburn that kept water hot all night - installed in the early 80's...... maybe not that antiquated.


Mark0 - We used to run the hot water for about a minute and then leave it for 5 minutes - The cold water entering the tank would cool the heap enough to stop the bubbles - probably cheaper in the long run to go with Mog

Why have we not got a boiler? Cos the house didn't come with one. :rolleyes: That's what you get for buying a stone cottage in the middle of nowhere. So all our central heating's done from the back-boiler. :D We get hot water within about 45 minutes of lighting the fire, and usually there's plenty left over from the previous day. Only downside is having to keep the fire going 24/7, and the amount of logs we get through. But I'm buying a chainsaw today, and there's a massive forest with loads of scavenging opportunities just across the road/burn outside our house. :D

Sounds like a 'stat on the tank is the best thing, but as you say it's not a DIY job. The long-term plan is to replace the stove in our kitchen with an oil-fired Raeburn which would give us better control over the water and heating. But unfortunately I don't have the £4k :eek: spare to install one at the moment. ;)

Mog, I think you're right about the 'running for 5 minutes' solution. Fairly bizarre though - I never thought with a back-boiler that the problem would be the water being too hot. :D