eurp... seem to understand the bottom RHS one best - looks like the installation runs like a heat pipe - or a latent heat pump, the stove being the evaporator, and the DHW tank, the condenser. (the bits in between being "the adiabatic circuit" where there is no transfer of heat or cooling... (except that the radiators pinch a bit...).

So there is a fixed quantity of heat-transfer fluid (water) in a sealed circuit; the water is turned to steam at the stove (boiling / evaporation = change of phase - absorption of heat). Heat (steam...) flies to cool end (cold DHW tank), another change of phase as steam condenses to water = release of heat) so water produced which is returned to the (hot) stove under pressure of steam...

the thing being that a pound of steam will transfer a lot more heat than a pound of water.
or something like that...


gg

GG, where do you get the idea there's steam involved? I have to say I didn't get a clue what the idea is from the front page so didn't bother to look further.

Also, yes, a pound of steam will transfer a lot more heat than a pound of water but will a firkin of steam transfer more than a firkin of water?

Posted By: Ed Davieswhere do you get the idea there's steam involved?

Well, I took the little red arrows in the gravity feed injector for steam, and thought, "venturi"...

gg