Stirling-pumped heating system

As an illustrious* scientist on this very site has pointed out, conventional central heating systems require an electrical pump to circulate hot water through radiators, meaning that your heating is dependent on both electricity and boiler fuel.

It has occurred to those awfully clever people at MaxCo. that this need not be the case. Instead, a small Stirling engine is mounted on the pipe carrying heated water away from the boiler, such that the heat difference between boiler and pipe drives a modest pump.

The modestness of the pump means that it will not drive the whole heating loop very well - flow rates will be meagre. However, fear not. Additional Stirling-engine-driven pumps are distributed around the system at several points. Wherever there is a significant temperature drop (for instance, across a radiator), the local Stirling engine will start working to augment the circulation of hot water, and will automatically self-regulate, easing off when the flow is high enough to reduce the temperature differential or when the room becomes warm.

Stirling engines are mechanically simple and capable of prolonged, unattended operation, making them ideal for installation as part of a heating system, which now becomes completely independent of an electrical supply.

* "illustrious" - derived from the word "lustrous" and the prefix "il- ", meaning "not", rather like "illegal" and "illegitimate".