Woodburning Stove-Repair

hollydays

I established some time ago that the fire cement in my woodburning stove had become dislodged.Where would i find a reputable person to re-apply it.I cant do this job myself.Which trade association covers this? I had it in my mind that there was something called the Solid Fuel Advisory Service,but cant find it or anything similar.

martindow

You can do this easily yourself - there is no need to pay someone for this. You can get fire cement in hardware, DIY or fireplace shops in white or black (and possibly other colours). Use the same colour as is already there. Take off any loose pieces and flaky bits and get it as clean as possible by scraping with a screwdriver or knife. If you have large holes which the fire cement will just fall out of it is a good idea to fill them with bits of fibreglass rope (from a fire place shop). You put the fire cement on with an old knife. It is a paste a bit like putty or polyfiller and you press it into the gaps and smooth it off to match. Then I would start a fire, fairly gently at first, to set the cement.
If you find that after it has set some cracks have developed, just fill these with some more fire cement.

hollydays

But i have no idea where the gaps are.The stove is in 2 parts i think.

martindow

Yes, stoves are often made from several pieces of metal. I assume that the holes are around the back or they would be obvious. At night with the lights out you could try shining a torch inside and seeing if you can see any places where the light comes out, or it might be easier to do the reverse - light outside and looking inside the stove for patches of light.

Are you sure there are holes? Usually people only know about them because they can see them! The draught from a stove tends to draw air in rather than letting smoke out except when it is being lit and warming up.

hollydays

Just that it was fine until we had some building work done.They re built the chimney,later swept the chimney and the stove got moved in the process.When i tried to light it,lots of smoke came out into the room from the stove itself,making it impossible to use,particularly as my OH has asthma.

martindow

One thing to try first. Some stoves have a damper on the chimney - a lever at the top that you can move round. I had a Villager stove and if the damper was in the closed position it blocked the draft when lighting the stove and smoke went everywhere. See if there is anything on your stove near where the chimney pipe goes out of the stove. If there is try moving it to a different position - it may have been moved during the building work.

When you tried lighting it, was smoke escaping from around the doors or did smoke and fumes seem to appear around the stove? If it was escaping from inside the stove that would suggest that the chimney is blocked, there is no draught so the smoke gets out where it can. If the smoke was not from around the doors but just seems to be on the outside that could be fire cement or sealant that was used when refitting the stove. This can make some fumes, not really smoke as you can scarcely see it, but you can smell it for a little while until it is drying out. If the builders used something unsuitable like ordinary mastic that may burn away as it gets hot.

What I would try when your OH is out of the house for a while is to light a fire again and see exactly what is happening. Try moving the damper lever if you can find one and see if that sorts it. Otherwise try to see where the smoke is coming from.

If there is no draught and the smoke is oozing out around the doors and pours out even more if you open them then the flue is blocked. When it is cooled down feel around at the top of the stove and see if there is an accumulation of ash or soot there and scrape it away.

If there seems to be a draught and the smoke is going up the chimney but you can smell fumes in the room I would open the windows and leave the fire going for a while to see if it clears or decreases. Fire cement can cause some fumes as it sets. If it doesn't reduce or produces smoke it will show you where on the stove it is coming from and might suggest that whoever refitted it used a sealant that cannot stand the heat.

Good luck!