Hmmm. As far as I'm aware, all designs for solar panels use indirect heating (i.e. using a coil in the tank) and I don't think you can share a coil between different systems (wood & solar.)
Regarding the back boiler on your stove, you could implement a direct model where the water is heated in the back boiler and then pumped (or thermosiphoned) directly into the tank. For this you would need a stainless steel back boiler. When I eventually get round to it, this is what I'll be doing. My stove is a Charnwood, who sell two types of back boiler. The stainless steel one was a bit more expensive but not prohibitively so.
Oooh, just a jogged memory - have you looked at the solartwin website? I vaguely remember they offer something that means you don't have to change your cylinder.
Solar panels / Woodburner and a rayburn
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camillitech
- Living the good life
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been reading this with interest as i have similar problem, one of the solutions that went through my mind was to put the cylinder outside the house 
our stove is on a gable end so the pipe runs would be short and when we do put solar panels on roof no need to bring pipes into house.
still mulling it over at the mo and open to suggestions.
cheers, paul
our stove is on a gable end so the pipe runs would be short and when we do put solar panels on roof no need to bring pipes into house.still mulling it over at the mo and open to suggestions.
cheers, paul
I always think its funny that we have all got similar ideas/ problems on this site.
We are planning to replace our hotwater tank because we reckoned that it would be more efficeint than the old copper one that we have (built in insulation) Also heard that you can sell copper tanks and recoup some of the cost.
Is it really that big a deal removing a door - or are you talking door frame, is there a way you can remove the tank through the floor beneath it? It got up there, you must be able to get it down. Does the cost/ effort of doing it now outway the efficiency of it later?
We are doing all the major work we can think of now to make our home more efficient and easy to run in the future Putting in a tank with 3 or 4 coils to heat and be heated by everything in the house - solar, woodburner, rayburn, central heating. OH calls it 'future proofing' - but he's been to too many business meetings
We are planning to replace our hotwater tank because we reckoned that it would be more efficeint than the old copper one that we have (built in insulation) Also heard that you can sell copper tanks and recoup some of the cost.
Is it really that big a deal removing a door - or are you talking door frame, is there a way you can remove the tank through the floor beneath it? It got up there, you must be able to get it down. Does the cost/ effort of doing it now outway the efficiency of it later?
We are doing all the major work we can think of now to make our home more efficient and easy to run in the future Putting in a tank with 3 or 4 coils to heat and be heated by everything in the house - solar, woodburner, rayburn, central heating. OH calls it 'future proofing' - but he's been to too many business meetings
Ann Pan
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"Some days you're the dog,
some days you're the lamp-post"
My blog
My Tea Cosy Shop
Some photos
My eBay
direct heating with a Stainless steel BB has some merit (already decided that if I get planning permission for a solar panel it will be direct).
Removing the tank is just not viable, it does unfortunatly mean removing a door , the door frame and bits of almost all the houshold plumbing which meet in front of the tank (I dread the day it starts to leak), Also the tank is on the ground floor and not even high enough to fit a dunsley neutraliser between it and the rayburn output (that would be just too easy).
The downside (besides the cost) of a thermal store, is where to put it, partly because of the space, partly because I'd probably have to replace the floor joists before I installed it, making the job that much bigger. The joists all need doing sooner or later, just installing a tank would make it sooner.
Removing the tank is just not viable, it does unfortunatly mean removing a door , the door frame and bits of almost all the houshold plumbing which meet in front of the tank (I dread the day it starts to leak), Also the tank is on the ground floor and not even high enough to fit a dunsley neutraliser between it and the rayburn output (that would be just too easy).
The downside (besides the cost) of a thermal store, is where to put it, partly because of the space, partly because I'd probably have to replace the floor joists before I installed it, making the job that much bigger. The joists all need doing sooner or later, just installing a tank would make it sooner.
How hard can it be, how long can it take. What could POSSIBLY go wrong