solid fuel

[desrob]

has anyone came across old systems,were you would have, a coal fire and in the builders opening you would have build in a heat exchanger thingamabe with a flow and return 28mm+ pipe work to a direct cylinder,very basic set up but what is the bit in the builders opening called.

 

[stevetheplumber]

back boiler

 

[stani]

back boiler

perfect answer, straight to the point, its at the back and its a boiler.

 

[AWheating]

if its redundant make sure it gets removed or you drill some holes into it atleast.

 

[desrob]

it has no controls, basically it's a vessel for water to be moved by the heat of the coal fire,and it is not that big are you sure these are known as back boilers

 

[AWheating]

i normall refere to them as circulators but thats just what ive heard others call them before.

 

[desrob]

yeah, i was thinking people were getting confused calling them back boilers, back boilers to me are baxi bermuda type run by gas, you've have cleared it up for me ,it's me getting confused, can you still buy these circulators , P

 

[stani]

you can buy a circulator made by maxol which is gas fired, very small flame which heats the hot water only, back boiler was from coal fires which had a damper to cover part of the flue way so the heat went up the back of the fire past the boiler.

 

[Gray0689]

They are solid fuel back boilers

 

[Toddyplumb]

Coal fired were always backboilers then came the little gas circulators (with the bimetal strip that kept sticking )
then they added heating to the gas circulator and called it a back boiler again.
Thats how I recall it. Last coal back boiler we changed was 13 years ago , old miner with free coal . Dirty orrible job changing them

 

[stani]

Gray just check if they are copper? quite a few were. that is -----thick ----heavy----precious copper.

 

[Gray0689]

Gray just check if they are copper? quite a few were. that is -----thick ----heavy----precious copper.

Never saw a copper one
Thick heavy dirty but not copper

 

[stani]

scrape through the dirt, my old boss used to make us take them out, the only reason he would do this is for scrap value, and he was'nt stupid so we were pretty sure they were heavy copper. Try it and let us know.

 

[Gray0689]

Mate there not copper never have been

 

[stani]

anybody out there know what they were made of?

 

[Gray0689]

Cast iron is the only ones I have ever seen

 

[stani]

did they have seams on either end ?

 

[Deleted member 7121]

Changed loads about 20 years ago and most were copper but some steel, right pain to get out and build back in :smug:

 

[stani]

cheers pipeman, was pretty sure they were copper. we took them out of mainly old terraced houses with a brick coal shed at the back

 

[stevetheplumber]

ive never seen a copper one we used to remove gas coppers from flats which were free standing boiler on a flexi for doing your washing in they were tinned copper

 

[stani]

this is turning into 'all our yesterdays' next thing will be dolly tubs and if your old enough to remember that then its time for bed.

 

[Bartdude]

I've taken out a few solid fuel Agas that have had copper boilers in them,they weigh around 20-25kilos:crazy:

 

[Gray0689]

Iv seen a right few solid fuel back boilers and never copper

 

[Toddyplumb]

We had a Dolly tub in the garden when I was a kid , we but buckets of sheep sh*t in it filled it with water and fed the tomatoes with the green soup it produced .
The house we are working on now has an enormous mangle in the celler , fancy cast iron legs dead posh !

 

[dod5y]

Cast iron

 

[lame plumber]

old post here