Relocating an oil fired boiler to the Cellar

[citizensmith]

I want to know if there are any obvious pitfalls if we take this course of action.

We need to extend our heating system to the top floor and our 110,000 btu boiler of 15-20 years age is not going to cope with 4 receptions, kitchen, washhouse/utility, bathrooms, and 6 bedrooms (probably 150,000 btu + needed.
The current boiler is in the washouse which is a long way from the main house and pipes are fed through the washouse roof and breakfastroom roof
until they get to the main house. We may wish to turn the washouse into a living area or large kitchen at some stage (years away).

Under the main house is a 32ft x 12ft two compartment partially vaulted cellar. The cellar ceiling is about 70/80cm above ground level (so could accomodate a balanced flue).

My main question is that if a boiler is installed it will change the environment of the cellar - drying/warming the air. Will this be a benefit? or will joists/beams etc suffer unforseen damage due to the change in microclimate after 200 years of cool/dampish conditions? We have a bit of a woodworm/deathwatch issue down there and i wonder if lowering humidity would actually help? Thanks in advance for any replies!

 

[Moo]

I don't know if this is any help, but when we bought our house there was the most enormous boiler in the cellar, together with a Really Big oil tank (bricked-in, of course). What we had bought was 1/3 of a three-storey commercial building, and the boiler had served the whole lot for heating and hot water.

 

[citizensmith]

I guess my worry is that it was the "cold room" with slabs, meat hhoks and a meat safe (which is still there) and it wa designed to be cold. So if i stuff a boiler in there i really dont know if i will cause damage by changing things so much?

 

[Moo]

I'm pretty sure that, before all that new-fangled central heating was put in, the cellar was the coal-hole (clue: the narrow openings just above the pavement). Before that, who knows?

We had very thorough survey, by a chap who specialised in old buildings, and everything was given a clean bill of health. Ten years on, we've not been aware of any problems.

Regarding the worms and the rot, it will certainly help to dry the place out a bit.

 

[Zac]

Only a thought, aren't new modern boilers extra efficient these days with minimal heat loss hence very little change to surrounding area, may be completely wrong but may be worth checking out.

 

[Silinman]

I have a 150,000 btu boiler in my utility - true the boiler itself doesn't radiate much heat, but the copper pipework; in my case four controlled zones supplying two hot water tanks and two heating circuits does provide a surprising amount of warmth to the surrounding area!

 

[Nemesis]

Hopefully the boiler could be inserted without any damage if this is a former cold room, with fittings intact?

It would be a pity to lose such an interesting feature.

We have a pantry/dairy which has its hooks, slabs, shelves, stone floor etc and we use it.

 

[citizensmith]

It is definately a cold room. Many hooks for meat on the beams, Flag floor, cold bench down one side and the meat safe which is massive - a bit bigger than a phone box with perforated zinc sheet and a rotating cross with hooks in the top. We actually have no real use for it and had wondered about contacting the national trust to see if it is of interest to them.