We’ve got the heating and hot water system up and running!

It took a couple of attempts.

The first time at the start of the month, with the stoked up stove blazing away devouring my wood supply, there was a load cracking noise (sounded like the glazing in the stove doors cracking) and a fairly large puddle of sooty water appeared on the hearth. On closer inspection the firebox was dripping with water that was leaking out from around the doors. After putting the fire out, Jason the plumber, suspecting a leak from the water jacket, cleaned up the inside with a wire-brush only to find no obvious source of the leak. We relit the fire expecting a reoccurrence as the metal expanded, but nothing despite getting the temperature up above the maximum it had previously been. Good news that it didn’t happen again, but a nagging doubt remains. It was overcast that day so getting the solar panels up and running and contributing to the system was out for that day.

So yesterday (16th June) I was really pleased when Jason phoned to tell me that the panels were up and running and we have warm / hot water. At just over 7Kw equivalent of water heated the payback has (slowly started).