This installation was very, very enjoyable and ticked every box for us: gas, renewables and solid fuel.
The existing system consisted of a gas fired boiler and open-vented hot water cylinder. The clients wanted to adopt renewable energy to heat their home, and having previous experience with wood burners they were keen to incorporate this into the heart of the home. Discussions with us then lead to solar thermal and onto the design of a hybrid heating system.
The exiting hot water cylinder was replaced with a Gledhill Torrent Thermal Store. A solid fuel Lanordica stove with back boiler was installed, along with Grant UK solar thermal collectors.
In the summer months the solar collectors will generate 90%–100% of the hot water demand, and during the winter the solar collectors combined with the Lanordica stove will provide 100% of the central heating and domestic hot water.
The existing gas boiler was retained and will serve as a back up in the unlikely event demand is not met from the solar thermal and solid fuel stove.
What our customer says 18 months after the installation:
I’m just emailing to say a huge thank you for the work you did on our house. We’re now a year and a half in, and the system has been working brilliantly. As you said, we needed to experiment with the system to really get to grips with it, and you were right. This winter has been an absolute triumph. We’ve only had to run the boiler on twice all winter – and both days it was because we got back late and couldn’t be bothered to get the fire going. Every other day, the woodburner has brilliantly met the needs of both hot water and heating. We’re using about 2 wood baskets a day, with a mix of two thirds soft wood to one third hard wood. This seems adequate enough to get everything up to temperature. Thank you also for your advice in choosing the woodburner. You were so right to suggest what you did. If the woodburner was bigger and put out any more heat into the room, we would boil to death whilst the kids froze to death in their bedrooms downstairs. As it is, the woodburner is a brilliant balance between output to the room and output to the thermal store. Lastly, the solar thermal is an absolute no-brainer! It keeps us going all summer long in terms of hot water, and even helps out in the winter. We really don’t need the gas boiler at all – other than for when we’re feeling really lazy! You really have helped us to realise a lifelong dream of being self-sufficient in terms of heating and hot water. And given how energy prices are going at the minute, the whole system will pay for itself much quicker (our gas bill is £5 a month – which is what the monthly standing charge!).
Hope you guys are getting on ok,
