Heat circulation or radiators

[Annpan]

We live in a small cottage, with a hideous modern, flat roof extention. We are in the process of choosing how to heat it. We are getting a wood burner but should we try to run radiators off of this, or should we just rely on the heat rising to heat the upstairs rooms? (putting in vents perhaps) That would mean the living room and bedrooms should be warm

If we get radiators not only have we got the initial cost of putting in the system but also surley you loose heat in the process of storing it, also fitting a big boiler to the wood burner makes it less efficient. We need a boiler for our hot water but there is already a gravity fed tank in the loft for that should it be OK to plumb our new boiler onto the pipework that is there just now? If we were to get radiators we would need a new tank with multiple coils and new pipework (£££)

Not having radiators would mean that the extenstion would continue to be freezing (Ground floor, Kitchen and Bathroom) but since there is no insulation in it anyway would we just be wasteing money heating them?

We do plan a new 1 1/2 floor extension in a few years, to accomidate a new kitchen (complete with rayburn) and I think that it would make more sense to upgrade the heating system then.

Sorry for all the questions, I have a bit of an unorganised brain at the moment...

[Martin]

radiators! - in Scotland, definitely radiators!
If the stove leaks heat into the room, that's good, the radiators are designed to leak heat into the house - that's good too! - Insulate well to make the most of it!
By pumping the water to the radiators, you are putting the heat source relatively low in each room, and it will do a great deal to keep the dreaded damp at bay - you can achieve the same thing shunting hot air about, but to do the job properly would cost a fortune (and takes loads of space) - a proper heating system will also add considerably to the value of the property!
It is a simple job to incorporate valves into the system to isolate areas of the house, so you may choose to heat them autumn/winter, and shut them down for the depths of winter..
ps, no point saying "but it's not insulated" - INSULATE IT - every pound spent saves a fortune on heating

[Annpan]

The part of the house that is not insulated is getting pulled down in the next few years, we can stick some space blanket rolls in part of it but the rest is flat roof and is too expensive to justify insulating it to see us through 2 winters.

Also when it gets pulled down, we will be building a new kitchen with a rayburn to run a proper central heating system so I was thinking, it would be better to save our money for that.



This is all assuming that the current work doesn't bankrupt us... of course

[ina]

I'm not an expert on this - so these comments are more spontaneous, from the belly...

Although I agree with what Martin says in the long run, as you are going to do a lot of upgrading and changing in the not-so-far future, I would keep it simple now, to save you having to pull out and re-do too much again. Will the Rayburn that you are planning for in the kitchen be used for heating the house as well? (That's the system my friend has: a Rayburn that also runs the radiators and the hot water, so they only have to fire the one place.) On the other hand, if the woodburner you have (or are about to have) in the living room now is the one that will do the radiators in future, maybe it would make sense to install them now, with the proviso that you can extend them easily once your extension has been built.

Does that make sense?

[Annpan]

Cheers ina,

When the rayburn is in it will be used all the time in the kitchen for central heating, hot water and for cooking (I cook alot). The woodburner will be used when we need the extra kick, or when we have guests. The plan is to link both rayburn and wood burner into the hot water tank, but this requires quite a fancy setup, which, tbh is a bit too expensive at the moment - we have reached the point of credit cards to pay for stuff We were hoping that with a small boiler we would get the hot water we require (which isn't much) and so can plumb it in to the existing (crappy) hot water tank... it would be a million times better than what we have just now.