heating and water system advice wanted.

Heres a curley one we are thinking of changing our heating, the lady kitchener is on her last legs the cylinder is older than me and the house is freezing , so we were thinking of getting solar heating for the hot water with a new fireplace with a wetback but would also like to put a couple of radiators for supplementary heating in the winter so I guess it’s a complete water system we need really, can anyone recommend someone in hawkes bay that can design and install said system at a good price???? Cheers mike.

Hi Mike

We are just in the process of installing a Lady K, with a 5kw wetback coil, 3 radiators, and new hot water cylinder, with solar to be added in a few months.

I did extensive research and found that the Lady K was our best choice for this set up.

The Lady K is completely refurbishable and Hewitsons are in Onekawa which is handy for you.

We did up our old one ourselves, and were told at the time that a refurb would cost around $1k much much less than a new one... We just had to get it from Welly to Onekawa[]

The other fire that I looked at was the Pyroclassic . Same set up.

They are also located in the Hawkes Bay.

My plumber recommended the Lady K over the Pyro as in his career as a plumber he had found that they have more problems with the flue clogging up.

Pyroclassics have to burn VERY dry wood. Apparently they are slightly more efficient than the Lady K otherwise.

The sales guy at Pyroclassic was really helpful and said that they have local guy who helps design customers requirements for a one off cost. He would be worth talking to.

If there is any way to refurbish the Lady Kitchener, then I think that would be advisable and may come under a "maintenance" umbrella. We are looking at putting in a replacement wood fire as the old one is condemned and can't be fixed, and the new regulations under the building codes are a bit of a nightmare. For instance, you will not be allowed to put in a heater unless it has resource consent, building code compliance etc and those come with some fish-hooks. No longer can you connect to the HWC unless there is a tempering valve, which mixes hot and cold water together before it goes to any tap. This has implications if you are on a low pressure cylinder, as it will effectively halve the hot water pressure. Ok if on a high pressure cylinder however. If you are Urban, you cannot connect a wet back at all. Then there are the clean air codes, although luckily there are plenty of wood burners to choose from. I think these will vary from council to council.

Stikkibeek;427662 wrote: No longer can you connect to the HWC unless there is a tempering valve, which mixes hot and cold water together before it goes to any tap. This has implications if you are on a low pressure cylinder, as it will effectively halve the hot water pressure. Ok if on a high pressure cylinder however.

Another local plumber told me that a wetback often heats the water to beyond a temp that the tempering valve can deal with and it gets "bypassed'

If you are on low pressure you can install a hot water pressure booster.

Stikkibeek;427662 wrote: If you are Urban, you cannot connect a wet back at all. Then there are the clean air codes, although luckily there are plenty of wood burners to choose from. I think these will vary from council to council.

Not strictly correct - you can install a multi purpose unit, such as the Wagner Studio, one that has radiant heat, you can cook on and has a wet back capability. I have a friend in Franklin District (renowned for its pernickityness) and she installed one of these without a problem. It is worth doing your research thoroughly.

really the kitchener will heat the water and run 3 radiators? our existing one is really poor in comparison to that it hardly heats up one room and the water! (having said that it is falling apart) needs complete renovation that's why i was thinking of getting a new one,
so is it correct then that if i renovate rather than replace i dont need consent?

mikethebike;427796 wrote: really the kitchener will heat the water and run 3 radiators? our existing one is really poor in comparison to that it hardly heats up one room and the water! (having said that it is falling apart) needs complete renovation that's why i was thinking of getting a new one,
so is it correct then that if i renovate rather than replace i dont need consent?

Go and talk to the guy who issues the permits at your local council.
Also ring Hewitsons and ask them. But I suspect that you won't need a permit if you are "repairing" an existing unit.

I was told that the Kitchener would make my living room HOT even with the radiators and wetback in action - the room is 5.5 x 5.5 m and has double doors opening into the dining and kitchen areas.

The Kitchener should be at least 1/3 more efficient than our existing Masport, even after heating the radiators.

I would like to note however that I do not expect the radiators to pump out the heat and make the bedrooms "warm-hot", rather I expect that they will raise the temp in the bedrooms once the hot water cylinder has reached optimum temp and will stop heating once the fire has dropped its output.

Also: you don't mention whether or not your house is insulated.

Just putting in ceiling insulation raised our interior winter temp by several degrees immediately.

I haven't got the underfloor down yet nor the walls, but its in the plan.

Life is too short to be cold or to eat bad cheese...

not sure about the hawkes bay but over 2 hectres in canterbury you can have a "rural" fire
am in the middle of fitting a fire it is clean air approved with wet back but fit fit the wet back bit later on at this stage
having a talk to local council will be a wise investment at the stage you are at

Definitely try to get the LK renovated. Ours heats 5 rooms well and gets the water up to boiling. If the bricks are broken then they can be glued together using the right cement. Also the seals around the door wear out and need rotating and eventually replacing. I clean the tar build-up on the heating coils by knocking it off with a screwdriver, at the same time as I clean the tar and ash from underneath the chimney.
If your wood is wet, it will not make anywhere near as much heat as it would if it were dry. Also, some woods make much more heat than others, so before you replace anything, check which wood you are using, and how dry it is.

hey LR the bricks are well past glueing together and the coil is knackered well past knocking off some coke! but i think it does make good sence all the same to renovate it especially as we would only replace it with another similar and if they are reconed to be the best then why change it! sadly still need new tank and radiators and solar heating so it still; sounds expensive!

Will PM you my plumbers details - he might be able to put you on to the guy he uses to do his plans.