what on earth is going on with our stove

wrightk

just wondered if anyone could help. recently got given a fluepipe thermometer, weve previously had problems with the gravity radiators upstairs not working properly. now i know why.

the fluepipe will not go above 100c/approx 200f. we are trying everything we can to stoke it up as much as possible, open all the vents, you can hear the draught going up the fluepipe so i dont think ventilation is an issue and we have an extra vent in the room where the stove is located.its just stuck on 100c. ive placed the therm correctly and moved it around the pipe to double check readings and its all correct.

we usually burn anthracite, but have been trying other brands recently like phurnacite, taybrite and a winter blend egg by our local coal merchant. all the same, just cannot get it up to temp. we did momentarily have it up to 150c/300f and the gravity rads that usually dont work started to work but it dipped very quickly.have phoned charnwood, told me to adjust the settings on the low limit stat to 45-50, heating just would not kick in on the pump at all

help!

muckybutt

When was the last time you swept your flue / chiney ? doesnt sound like you have enough draught going through the stove, so either a vent is stuck or the flue is partially blocked.

The other senario is that you are banking it up far too quickly, with our stove I use a couple of fire lighters, plenty of really dry kindling and small pieces of wood.
Start off with the kindling and fire lighters leaving all the vents wide open and the door open a crack as well, then as the fire gets going addthe small pieces of wood, the temp should soon rise.

We have a morso thermometer and a Charnwood cove stove, I can get it upto 400 deg in about 15 - 20 mins doing what I have said above, then its just a matter of tweaking the air flows and I can then get it ticking over between 250 - 350 for the restof the day / night.

wrightk

thanks for replying, i normally do as you do but without the small bits of wood. we use kindling but its a very rough cut so get some smaller and large chunks. i add coal gradually, if i see the flames go out at the stage of adding coal i know ive starved it too much. the chimney was swept (apparantly) in april just before we moved in and as its council they will only inspect/sweep once a year.

the only way i can get it momentarily touching 300f is when i have a hot bed of coal and add a load of kindling (possibly 3 or 4 handfuls) then the temp quickly dies down

muckybutt

Its well overdue a sweep then :eek:

Could well be theres a semi blockage, when burning both wood and coal you need to sweep at least twice a year minimum, if its used all the time upto 4 times a year.

Could also be down draught causing incorrect draw, I would say its a draw problem in one form or another you have rather than a stove problem.

w50nky

Muckybutt is probably right I think.

Korkyb

If the council clean it once a year it may be worth getting the kit & doing it yourself between the "big clean" (if you can clean from the "bottom up").

The cost of the equipment will probably be less than paying for one clean so will pay for itself in no time.

Greenfires

Unfortunately quite a lot of "wet" systems are being installed by fitters who don't really know how to set them up! Friends of ours had a wood fired range cooker with boiler installed at a fair old cost, and within a few weeks they had an oven full of liquid tar and a fire that just wouldn't get going at all due to all the flueways being choked up. Installer insisted it was all down to burning wet wood and that it should be sub 20% moisture content. They pointed out that they were using briquettes which were around 5% - and tested some in front of them to prove it! Installer was stumped and requested a visit from the Esse technical bod. In the meantime, my mate Chris at Fahrenheit stoves diagnosed the problem from 150 miles away, and said the return stat (controlling the return flow to the stove) would be set too low, and to turn it up by five degrees. Installer was there with the Esse bod when I turned up with this suggestion - and he said "oh it's not that - that won't make any difference" The Esse bod however said it would make a big difference, so that's what they did, and the stove was transformed. Temperature gauge on the oven right round to "V. Hot" loads of hot water and a good blaze going on in the firebox - and no more tar or blocked flueways either.

A wrongly set up boiler stove can trake so much heat out of the firebox that tar and creosote build up can be a big problem in a very short time frame - so I'd join in with the advice of getting it swept properly at the same time as turning up the return stat.

greyteam1959

muckybutt wrote: »

Its well overdue a sweep then :eek:

Could well be theres a semi blockage, when burning both wood and coal you need to sweep at least twice a year minimum, if its used all the time upto 4 times a year.

Could also be down draught causing incorrect draw, I would say its a draw problem in one form or another you have rather than a stove problem.

Sweep the flue FOUR times a year :eek::eek:
Never heard that one before...........
Muckybutt is a chimney sweep I take it :D

Greenfires

That's the "official line" from ALL the trade associations - "any stove burning wood should be swept quarterly when in use" Boiler stoves are always harder on the chimneys - but in practice we find that the majority of our customers burning decent wood properly are okay with an annual visit.

muckybutt

mervyn11 wrote: »

Sweep the flue FOUR times a year :eek::eek:
Never heard that one before...........

As greenfires says, see the links

APICS : http://www.apics.org.uk/faqs.php
Guild of Master Sweeps : http://www.guildofmasterchimneysweeps.co.uk/faq.php

Etc......

mervyn11 wrote: »

Muckybutt is a chimney sweep I take it :D

I am

SEE

Greenfires wrote: »

Unfortunately quite a lot of "wet" systems are being installed by fitters who don't really know how to set them up! Friends of ours had a wood fired range cooker with boiler installed at a fair old cost, and within a few weeks they had an oven full of liquid tar and a fire that just wouldn't get going at all due to all the flueways being choked up. Installer insisted it was all down to burning wet wood and that it should be sub 20% moisture content. They pointed out that they were using briquettes which were around 5% - and tested some in front of them to prove it! Installer was stumped and requested a visit from the Esse technical bod. In the meantime, my mate Chris at Fahrenheit stoves diagnosed the problem from 150 miles away, and said the return stat (controlling the return flow to the stove) would be set too low, and to turn it up by five degrees. Installer was there with the Esse bod when I turned up with this suggestion - and he said "oh it's not that - that won't make any difference" The Esse bod however said it would make a big difference, so that's what they did, and the stove was transformed. Temperature gauge on the oven right round to "V. Hot" loads of hot water and a good blaze going on in the firebox - and no more tar or blocked flueways either.

A wrongly set up boiler stove can trake so much heat out of the firebox that tar and creosote build up can be a big problem in a very short time frame - so I'd join in with the advice of getting it swept properly at the same time as turning up the return stat.

Forgive my ignorance, I have had a stove for 15yrs and don't know what a return stat is. Could you tell me please?