I'm thinking of getting a wood stove with back boiler and (slightly smaller) accumulator. Would you be willing to share why it is not suitable for you? (I don't want to put something in that I would be itching to rip out after two years). I understand that accumulators are suitable with a number of different heat sources, could it not be converted to run with your oil boiler?

Another thing to consider for flexibility as you have a solid Vigas boiler with a good accumulator tank.
If you need a bit of switch on switch off you could have an immersion heater put in the tank itself.
I did this with my Akvaterm accumulator tank linked with my Angus Super log boiler. You might be surprised how quickly you get the hang of it.....the accumulator tank can typically hold enough hot water for 3 or 4 days for your DHW and central heating requirements but any longer through the Autumn to Spring and you would need to have a plan B (immersion heater on a timer).
Or you could have an oil boiler and use it as the back up when you go away and use the log boiler as your primary heat source?
Just my thoughts for what is it worth....

Hi everyone, you've given me a lot to think about. I will investigate all the options.
I'll tell you what my reservations are...especially for the benefit of JT Green, as you're thinking of getting one. Although, please bear in mind that I haven't actually lived with this system and am going on hearsay and the previous owner's experience.
1. We need the space that the boiler is taking up. It is huge and if we remove it, I can use the outbuilding that it is housed in presently as a studio. I am an illustrator and have nowhere else in the house to work.
2. We travel for long periods of time. A month and more...especially during the winter and we feel that we don't want to impose upon neighbours to come in and stoke up the boiler every once in a while to keep the pipes from freezing.
3. There is no radio-controlled thermostat that works through the thick stone walls (it wasn't connected originally by wires to the house)...so the heating has to be on or off during the winter.
4. The boiler is in an outbuilding which is directly behind a neighbour's house and the smoke from the flue very often, goes straight into her bedroom.

As you see. It isn't the nature of a wood-fired boiler itself which is the problem but more this particular situation. We don't have anywhere else to put it and we really don't want to keep pumping smoke over our neighbours any more!
Do the wood pellets create the same quantity/quality of smoke?
Unfortunately we're North Facing so solar panels won't be practical and they have been rejected eslewhere in the village by the Parish Planning council. Sigh.
I'm not sure we have the budget to keep both an oil boiler AND a wood-fuelled one. Not to mention the space!
Thanks though, for all your help!
Amie

Hi just wondered if you sold boiler etc. (am new to forum)

Cheers

But ST, Amie is trying to sell it to someone who almost certainly won't install the flue terminal next to a neighbour's window! Surely no foot-shooting at all?

Amie, wonder if we could persuade you off oil? Ground- or air-source HP, perhaps?

Posted By: AmieB .
1. We need the space that the boiler is taking up. It is huge and if we remove it, I can use the outbuilding that it is housed in presently as a studio. I am an illustrator and have nowhere else in the house to work.
2. We travel for long periods of time. A month and more...especially during the winter and we feel that we don't want to impose upon neighbours to come in and stoke up the boiler every once in a while to keep the pipes from freezing.
3. There is no radio-controlled thermostat that works through the thick stone walls (it wasn't connected originally by wires to the house)...so the heating has to be on or off during the winter.
4. The boiler is in an outbuilding which is directly behind a neighbour's house and the smoke from the flue very often, goes straight into her bedroom.

Unfortunately we're North Facing so solar panels won't be practical and they have been rejected eslewhere in the village by the Parish Planning council. Sigh.

It would appear to me AmieB that your work/life balance is incompatible with centralised biomass burning in any guise, which in my experience does require some supervision. The previous occupant may have had more time to manage the system and seems to have gone down the vey basic installation route,-" bonfire in a box " at the end of the garden with little regard for remote monitoring or control.
The RHI side of things is lucrative and you should bear that in mind with any future descisions. The same goes for any grants you may be eligible for. ASHP/GSHP may be a too expensive option. So what are you left with; oil as you've already alluded to, solar which you say the planners have dismissed, woodstove in some form, in the house. Take the line of least resistance, argue the toss with the planners re solar, see the long thread on this forum on the subject, and put a small pellet woodstove/boiler in the house and go for RHI. If they cave in on the solar front stick up some PV to help fund the lot. BTW keep the Akvaterm, move it, re connect and re use.

PS I assumed that the solar was a possibility except for the planning issue.

Hi Amie,
can you PM me please ref boiler? may be interested.

funny old world! I m in the market for a minidigger and have a log boiler and thermal store for sale!