Additional information boiler wood stoves

It is not always clear what to pay attention to when purchasing a wood-burning stove. And what are the advantages or disadvantages? We have summarized the most important points so that it is immediately clear to you what the options are.

Important points when purchasing a central heating wood stove

A wood stove is ideal for heating your living room. And sometimes there is a desire to heat several rooms. This is possible with a wood-burning stove that can be connected to the existing central heating system. And this in combination with the existing radiators, underfloor heating or heat pump. 

Before you can make the right choice, you need to know what to look for when purchasing a wood-burning stove. There are many central heating wood stoves on offer with all kinds of different properties and technologies. That is why we have listed the most important points before purchasing:

• Choose a closed appliance that is suitable for Dutch central heating systems
• Choose an appliance that emits most of the heat to the central heating system
• Look at the capacity that suits your home

There are many different central heating heaters available. An important difference is that a central heating wood stove must be suitable for central heating systems in the Netherlands. This means that they have been approved for a system with a pressure of 3 bar. If they have not been approved for this, they are so-called 'open devices'. These can only be connected with an open expansion vessel. That system no longer exists in the Netherlands. Central heating wood stoves "closed central heating stoves", which are suitable, also have a built-in cooling coil. This is an additional, necessary protection so that the central heating wood stove can be cooled in an emergency situation where the central heating wood stove overheats.

A central heating wood stove emits heat to the room and to the central heating system. If the central heating wood stove emits too much direct heat, it can quickly become too hot in the living room. The disadvantage is that the rest of the house does not heat up enough. This mainly occurs with older central heating wood stoves. So pay particular attention to the heat distribution when purchasing. The ideal central heating wood stove emits 1/3 part of the heat to the living room and 2/3 part to the central heating system. The distribution of heat is therefore much better and the living room will therefore not quickly become too hot.

Furthermore, one must look at the power needed to heat the home. There is a handy rule for this: Look at the rooms you want to heat. For example, the living room, kitchen, hallway and bathroom and a study room. But not the bedrooms, for example. Then calculate the number of cubic meters (volume) of the rooms to be heated and divide this by 25 (for a normally insulated house). We have the following example:

So you can choose a central heating wood stove that can deliver this power. It is important to look at the nominal power and not the maximum power. The nominal power is the average power over 1.5 hours that is achieved during normal heating. The maximum power is the short-term peak power that can be achieved at maximum filling. There can sometimes be a large difference between the nominal and maximum power. It is important that you correctly compare the central heating wood stoves with respect to the tested, nominal power.

What about the installation? Is that possible in my situation?

Just like a wood stove, a central heating wood stove must be installed on a good flue. In addition, additional installation time is required to connect the central heating wood stove to your existing central heating system. That is the difference with a normal wood stove.

This installation can be easily monitored on the basis of the various diagrams. You can opt for a connection in combination with your existing central heating boiler or possibly a (buffer) tank so that additional shower water can also be heated. A central heating wood stove can be used in virtually any situation.

Is a buffer tank necessary?

A buffer tank is not necessary for a central heating wood stove . Depending on the situation, you can choose to work without a buffer tank. It is important that the central heating stove can provide sufficient heat. Via the radiators or underfloor heating. If the decrease is too small , the emergency protection can be activated. In such a situation a buffer tank may be necessary.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of purchasing a wood-burning stove?

A central heating wood stove can be optimally used to heat your home. There are many advantages, but there are also disadvantages. We have listed them here:

The advantages

• The heat spreads over several rooms, which increases comfort
• Heating with wood is much cheaper than heating with natural gas.
• When using FSC-approved firewood, you are heating in a sustainable way.
• A central heating wood stove can be ideally combined with solar collectors or a heat pump
• If you don't feel like burning wood, the gas central heating boiler can take over the heating.

The cons

• A good central heating wood stove has a higher purchase price
• The stove must be filled with wood every few hours.
• The installation requires knowledge and cannot (almost) be carried out yourself.

More information
Would you like to know more about the installation of a central heating wood stove? Are you looking for connection diagrams? We have put together useful information for you where you can find all the answers.

• More information about central heating wood stoves

• Overview of central heating wood stoves

• Overview of installers