back boiler in fire and oil heating

[shelley2]

when lit my coal fire does not heat the radiators or the water - i have oil heating but want the option to use the fire instead - how would i go about this. Thank you

[spudqueen]

When was your back boiler last used? When I had my chimney swept the sweep explained that because this house had had gas central heating put in (before we bought it) the back boiler no longer worked. It had either been drained or had dried up because it had no water in and the heat had dried it.

[gucciman]

i'm no expert on coal fires or coal fired heating systems. i would guess that to have your coal fire adapted to run a heating and water system would be very expensive and i really don't know if theres many people around these days who do that type of work.
the only coal fired system ive come across in old houses is called a "parkray" but i don't know if you can still buy them, you will have to look it up on the net.

[shelley2]

Thanks for your replys folks - it was a shot in the dark - think i'll just have to leave it as it is. Thanks again

[gucciman]

do some more research first shelley as i'm a gas engineer, i know nothing about coal fired systems and whats available. have a look in the yellow pages and get some free quotes. you certainly used to be able to get systems that were coal powered, imagine the savings to be made with the gas prices these days!