Hi! I've followed a few posts on here that discuss a variation on this theme, but I can't find anything that offers a solution to my problem. We have a sealed central heating system running off a gas boiler. We want to add a solid fuel stove with a back boiler to the equation. The difficulty is our house in a bungalow with a converted attic. There's no way to get a feed/expansion tank higher than the upstairs radiators. The best I can do is to get a tank in high enough to let the solid fuel boiler run up through the hot water cyclinder and a heat leak radiator. After some research the only options I can find are;
- Using a heat exhanger (so the 2 systems remain isolated and the sealed system gets heated by the open system)
- Using a neutraliser (I've been told this would work, but I don't understand how!)
I can't use a thermal store because I have nowhere to put one!
Has anyone out there tried to link an open system with a sealed system where different pressures exist? I can't find anyone who's actually done this and I don't really want to spend heaps on something that might not work!
Has anyone got a system like working in the real world?

Thanks!

Sounds like you need to replace your hot water cylinder with a thermal store?

You should seriously consider turning your hot cylinder into a thermal store. This may mean replacing it with a larger thingy. This would then provide all the heat for everything and can be fed from whatever you like. The hot water could still run as you have it but instead of coming form the cylinder it would be made in a very small neat heat exchanger which is heated on its other side from the thermal store by a small pump. The pump only runs when there is hot water demand and is controlled by a thermostat on the pipe. The heating draws from the thermal store via a thermal mixing valve as if it were the boiler. Dead clever arrangement.