Would like to know weather this fire would be able to run radiators with the optional wet back have tried company for specs and looked online by my calculations it states it heats up to 200 sq/m which is about 17 KW ?
Many areas dont allow wetbacks in built up areas because they reduce the heat output of fireplaces and cause smoke. Eco rated fires tend to burn hotter. If you live in a town I would check those rules out first.
ewanjs,
Nov 13, 4:06pm
I live rural on a area bigger than 2 hectares so unreliable power in winter we currently use a coal range in winter was hoping to replace with this fire if we can run radiators of it
budgel,
Nov 13, 11:41pm
It does look good for a rural application, but I think if it was suited to running radiators from the wetback their literature would say so. Radiators suck an enormous amount of heat and tend to be run by boilers. Have you considered ducting to transfer the heat from the room where it is installed?
The one we have has a wet back for heating the hot water cylinder, we did ask regarding central heating with radiators and the advice was one or the other not both so we opted for the cylinder. Heat transfer kits do work well. Just looked at the one in your post, it is much smaller than the Wagener we use.
nzjay,
Nov 16, 6:11pm
Looking though the links you provided that show no tested outputs, I'm going to say that the 17KW rating you say it is, would be with both primary and secondary air supplies fully open, and is a short term, peak output. and the fire box won't last long fired like that! Based on the more conservative NZ ratings of similar sized fires, I'd say maybe 13 -14KW under normal use. The wet back would be around 3, maybe 4kw output, not enough to run radiators. The wetback output decreases the fire output . obvious, isn't it, the firebox can only produce so much heat.
mack77,
Nov 16, 11:29pm
It's very difficult to answer your question precisely because the manufacture doesn't state what the output of the wetback is but if it can heat a domestic hot water cylinder it probably is 2 or 3kw. This will be sufficient to run at least one medium sized radiator. If you look up the specifications for solid fuel cookers eg: Wamsler, Rayburn, Aga etc they will reveal the output of their wetbacks and will also specify how many radiators of a specified size can be operated from their specified wetback output (eg 10kw or 15kw or whatever).
mack77,
Nov 16, 11:32pm
To run radiators to heat your house I suggest that you choose a more suitable solid fuel burner, which will probably cost more money than your present choice of burner.
ewanjs,
Nov 17, 10:37pm
Thanks for the replies and help , new plan is to use a wood fire for heat at kitchen and lounge end and install a diesel boiler to radiators in the rest of house on the advice of two different plumbers
mack77,
Nov 18, 1:21am
I may be wrong, but that sounds like a very expensive choice of energy. You can also get wood fired boilers and LPG fired boilers and perhaps even coal.
golfdiver,
Nov 18, 7:55am
Why do wetbacks cause more smoke?
budgel,
Nov 18, 10:31am
They suck so much heat from the fire, combustion is impaired hence more smoke. Simply put, modern 'eco' fires burn hotter to reduce smoke.
nzjay,
Nov 18, 2:00pm
That is correct. And the big slab type wetback that's in the fire suggested by OP would really cause a big poor combustion spot in the combustion chamber. Most wetbacks are a simple pipe passing through the fire box for that very reason.
golfdiver,
Nov 18, 3:42pm
Would the smoke output not be just as linked to the type and condition or the fuel being burned?
aredwood,
Nov 18, 11:34pm
Use LPG instead if you are able - cheaper than diesel, and just install a large Rinnai Energysaver instead of radiators. Note also that most LPG in NZ comes from domestic gas fields, so long term pricing is more stable than diesel. Remember when diesel cost $1.50 per L?
If you really want to go with diesel - I would instead get a water cooled diesel generator - due to you saying the power being unreliable. And recover the heat produced by the generator for heating.
smallwoods,
Nov 19, 11:43am
That too.
budgel,
Nov 20, 10:45am
That is always going to be the case, some woods take longer to get going but burn hotter (eg Puriri), others ignite easily, burn hot and quickly and finish quickly (eg Pine). The level of dryness of the wood obviously impacts on all this. However, modern 'eco type' fires are usually constructed in such a way that the exhaust gases (for want of a better description) are directed across the hot top of the firebox and undergo what amounts to a secondary combustion. Think of how smoky a garden rubbish fire is until it really gets going. For complete combustion temperatures have to be kept high.
docsportello,
Feb 10, 9:56am
I think the issue here is that you should seek a stoker's advice when it comes to fire, or even a pizza chef. Plumbers deal with the complete opposite of fire. How often do you turn on the tap and fire rushes out? Exactly.
However, if your advice from the plumber is on fire, wait for the flames to die down and in future try designating a special safe area for smoking - don't just flick ash all over the quote/plans.
Hope this helped.
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