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Long story but we are getting desperate for a house (have to leave this one by the 14th of june).
We saw one last night, good house, nice long garage, that has an old solid fuel boiler. Tall narrow thing and there was two coal stores outside. I've never even seen one before and am used to conventional gas, combi gas and combi oil boilers. Could someone give me an overview of what to expect in running costs and convenience (or lack of)?
Am i correct in thinking we have to light it ourselves when we want hot water or heating and have to clean out the soot every day? Slightly concerned we will be going back to having no hot water all summer as we can't be bothered to light it. In our old place with an old gas system boiler we hardly ever had hot water as it wasnt worth it with a dish washer but in the new place we have got quite used to having piping hot water on demand (oil combi).
Could someone give me an overview of what to expect in running costs and convenience (or lack of)?
Trianco TRG?
Fairly low cost, probably quite comparable to gas, at least over the winter.
Light it in September, let it go out around May. Probably need around 2 ton of coal for a 3 bed size house. They work (give or take) just like a normal gas/oil boiler - central heating on a timer. Generally set up so that hot water is heated up whenever the central heating isn't.
Requires a daily feeding of coal, and a daily (or maybe every-other-day) emptying of ash/clinker. Sweep the chimney when you let it go out in May. That's about it.
They're made of old tanks and generally don't break. They have precisely one moving part (a fan) and a thermostat.
Slightly concerned we will be going back to having no hot water all summer as we can't be bothered to light it
They [i]can[/i] be run over summer doing hot water only BUT an immersion on a timer will be a lot cleaner and will probably cost about the same. The TRG will be running at 'idle' all the time which isn't very efficient.
When they're burning at full blast (i.e. most of winter) they're quite efficient.
AFAIK they're about the cheapest 'off gas' option you can get.
I'd leave it in and see how you get on, if you don't like it you can always ditch it and get an oil burner fitted.
Is there anything stopping you from buying the house and replacing the boiler ?
id do as mrmonkfinger says.
dont change it for the sake of changing it till you have tried it.
with the cost of boiler repairs and services - it may well be the best thing for the job if you can live with throwing coal at it.
Is there anything stopping you from buying the house and replacing the boiler ?
Yup. The landlord. Sorry, I forgot to say it will be a rental until we can save enough to buy. Currently have a psycho landlord and need to get out. This place is back in the area we like and right next to a cycle path that leads to decent trails and is £200 a month cheaper than our current place which has cost us £100 a month in oil over the winter.
The shower has both mixer and electric feed so in summer you just switch the hose to electric. We have a dischwasher we can plumb in for dishes and an open fire in the living room (and plenty of wood from our current place). Landlord and his wife were really nice and it has a 2 car long garage so I can have a car in there and work on my bikes and store the bikes. I have a policy of electric immersion heaters being the ultimate last resort so I guess we can always just boil the kettle to wash up by hand over summer.
Yes I think it might be a Trianco. Looks just look this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Trianco-Solid-Fuel-Central-Heating-Boiler-Redfyre-TRG-45-/181210295360?nma=true&si=mLE3aE2CULRvYHePq%252B0638QIaoo%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
and the landlord mentioned something about 'grains'.
Cheers guys, made me feel a bit happier about taking it. Having a really bad time with the landlord at the moment so it's quite stressful.
the landlord mentioned something about 'grains
Anthracite grains, its the type (and size) of coal these things need. Usually about £340 a ton.