open coal fire back boiler

[angosmyth]

hi, i recently moved into a house. the house is about 25yr old. it has a back boiler in the fire but it is disconnected. it wasnt disconnected for any particular reason. it was fully functional before it was disconnected. the previous owner was getting new rads fitted beside the fireplace and he got the 2 pipes coming from the fire place seperated and capped off because he didnt believe in open fires and didnt like the idea of a back boiler.. this was about 7yrs ago that this was done. he never lit the fire since it was disconnected but i have been lighting the fire for 2 weeks now. so basicly i was wondering if i connected the 2 pipes back up would it be ok or do you think the seals might be burned out because i was lighting the fire this past 2 weeks? and if the seals did burn out would this just cause a leak or would it cause it to explode? thanks i look forward to hearing any responce

 

[GrahamM]

If a solid fuel back boiler is de-commissioned it must be left in a state where no pressure can build up. So if pipes are capped the water jacket must be punctured to release any pressure. So might be a bit more to think about than just re-connecting up.

 

[angosmyth]

hi graham, thanks for the responce. it is just the 2 pipes coming from the ground that are capped. the 2 pipes coming from the back boiler are left open. so if i reconnect the pipes do u think that the worst that could happen is a bit of flooding if the seals are damaged?

 

[tamz]

There are no seals on an open fire back boiler other than welds. As long as the old pipes are open the boiler should be fine.
There is a bit more to connecting it to the existing system than just teeing it in. Get some advice from a local guy.

 

[angosmyth]

hi tamz, thanx for responding. The reason i was asking is because i got our local plumber to call over to the house and have a look at it but he is a hard man to get. I rang him about 10 times and he said he would call over but didn't. He eventually after 3 weeks called but he only stayed for 2 minutes and looked at the fire and said that it would b a massive job and cost allot of money. He said he would have to knock through the wall and get to the back boiler and reapair the seals or maybe he was talking about welds as you kindly stated. He said the reason for this is because i am lighting the fire this past 2 weeks and may have damaged the seals. I just got the impression that he didn't want to be there and he had better things to be doing. He couldn't of got out of the house any quicker. I think he was just telling me all this because he didn't want to bother with it. What do you guys think?

 

[Toddyplumb]

It may have coroded a bit but if you can see the pipes there is no knocking out to do . He may suspect its burst ( we cant see it , he has) It should be easy enough to do a pressure test on before you go any futher

 

[angosmyth]

how would i go about doing a pressure test? Or would i have to get a plumber in to do this?

 

[Dotty]

how would i go about doing a pressure test? Or would i have to get a plumber in to do this?

Get a plumber in. It'd be cheaper in the long run if the BB's knackered.

But why are you looking to do this? Linking solid fuel BB's in to an existing system is the thing nightmares are made of, I won't touch them. The most I'd consider would be replacing the hwc with a twin coil and feeding one of the coils from the BB without connecting to the rest of the system.

Most I see over here before converting to oil or gas only heating are, at best, mediocre at heating a house. It's a false economy

 

[angosmyth]

i use oil in the house aswell but i like to use the opne fire in the evening so i thought it would b a gud idea to hook up the bb and at east have a few rads working from it . So at least when im going to bed the bedroom is warm. Seeing as the fire is lit i mite aswell get the rads goin from it

 

[Dotty]

Send your missus to bed first. And if you feed her curry and pickled eggs the bedroom would be very warm!

 

[angosmyth]

haha that's not a bad idea. Ill let you know how that goes

 

[Bernie2]

Hmm!

There was at one time a HSE leaflet circulated about back boilers behind fires, that required a hole to be drilled into the boiler jacket.

If its been done that way it may mean a new back boiler. Go on the HSE website to find out what I mean.

 

[GrahamM]

Drilling the hole in the jacket is only required if the pipes are capped Bernie. Which does not appear to be the case as per earlier posts.
Does not mean that someone being very thorough has pierced the jacket anyway.

 

[dontknowitall]

I did one of these a while ago (under the guidance of a HETAS plumber). Basically, we emptied the boiler, capped the bottom, poured salt in (no sand available but loads of dishwasher salt) and left top open for expansion/ventilation. Seems to be reasonably standard practice but it does mean you can't use it again.

 

[justlead1]

Hi, The back boiler will be steel or cast iron a few have mud doors on (they never seem to be in a position where they could be used) and the insertion rubber gasket would be a problem under the circumstances you describe. However it is unlikely to be present. If you find a hole drill in the unit, it will be in a position where it was easy to drill. Simply drill it out to a tap and bolt size you may have available. Once tapped screw the bolt in with a bit of ptfe tape around the thread, and test. The one thing that puzzles me is the flow and return come up from the floor. If that is the case? Its unusual to come across this on solid fuel boilers as gravity circulation is paramount in the system design, along with the self purging of air when filled.