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Questions on multi-burner stove


Jennifer McM

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Our stove's been out for a couple of months now. It's time to prepare it for Autumn (Autumn might be this weekend ?)

 

As we were in the area of a 'stove shop', we picked up new glass for the door, and new firebricks.

 

We were in for a couple of surprises, first the price of the firebricks (vermiculite) - two side bricks and one for the back cost us about £50. The glass was about £23 which wasn't so bad (we already had 'the kit' for replacing the glass, but we bought new clips and screws for a couple of quid).

 

The next surprise was how the stove had 'deteriorated', the door had almost seized, a few rusty spots had been found on the flue which I'm sure wasn't there before, and there was about ten spots where the enamel had flicked off - we had a few spots where the enamel was missing, but nothing like what's on the stove now. 

 

Anyway, we swept the chimney and rebuilt the stove with the new bricks, replaced the glass, and re-installed the baffle.

 

Questions are:

 

Is there a cheaper way of sourcing the vermiculite?

 

Is it normal for the stove to 'deteriorate' so much when not in use?

 

Do you think it wise to put something in the back (like a lump of engineering brick, or steel) of the grate, so less coal is used at times when the weather isn't so cold as to need a roaring fire?

 

Thanks for any advice ? BTW it's a Brunel 1A Stovax.

 

 

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Get a morso squirrel ? Anyway we buy stove bricks from ebay at good prices and quality. We do not ever put a brick in to reduce capacity, the manufacturers of these stoves have the space worked out to work at its best as it is and designed, a bit like aftermarket alloy wheels on cars, they always look naff well ya stove will work best if left as is. Stoves do deteriorate but always empty them for the summer and leave vents open so air circulates. There is no enamel on my stove, just black it every year with a tin of paint and its good for another twelve months. Always paint at least a month before useage time and then no paint smell when lit.

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5 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Get a morso squirrel ? Anyway we buy stove bricks from ebay at good prices and quality. We do not ever put a brick in to reduce capacity, the manufacturers of these stoves have the space worked out to work at its best as it is and designed, a bit like aftermarket alloy wheels on cars, they always look naff well ya stove will work best if left as is. Stoves do deteriorate but always empty them for the summer and leave vents open so air circulates. There is no enamel on my stove, just black it every year with a tin of paint and its good for another twelve months. Always paint at least a month before useage time and then no paint smell when lit.

Good advice, I can see where I'm going wrong! ?

 

Just wondering what do you paint it with, is it that Zebra stuff? It's what we use on the flue, so I'm thinking perhaps it needs time to 'dry' out.

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3 minutes ago, Jennifer McM said:

Good advice, I can see where I'm going wrong! ?

 

Just wondering what do you paint it with, is it that Zebra stuff? It's what we use on the flue, so I'm thinking perhaps it needs time to 'dry' out.

I like " Rustins " High heat black paint. I cant always get it and have used numerous types over the years. Thing is to do it early so its properly dry then less or no smell on start up. I have half a tin of Rustins left over from last year which is still fine for this winter, I am replacing the stove flue in the next week or so then will paint it.

  • Greenie 1
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I use ordinary Fletton house bricks to reduce the grate area in my stove, cut to size with hammer and bolster. Fire bricks are only really needed for very high performance furnaces, like in steam locomotives, ships boilers ect.

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12 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

 Get a morso squirre?We do not ever put a brick in to reduce capacity, the manufacturers of these stoves have the space worked out to work at its best as it is and designed, a bit like aftermarket alloy wheels on cars, they always look naff well ya stove will work best if left as is. 

 

Most stores installed on boats including the Morso Squirrel were never designed for boats. I think Morso recommend a 3.5m combined chimney flue length for the squirrel for example. So if you really want to run a stove as intended by the manufacturer then don't install it on a boat!

 

Why is it always the people on this forum who've never tried something that tell others it doesn't work? Just like the people on another thread who've never used two pack epoxy but who are adamant that bitumen blacking is better! ?

 

Anyway, I put fire bricks in my stove (Morso Panther) to reduce the capacity and it works just fine. Been running it like that for 14 years without a problem. Apart from the obvious difference of a smaller internal volume, the main difference is that it takes a bit longer to get the stove up to temperature because those extra bricks have to heat up, and it holds the heat for a lot longer after the fire has died down. It's fairly usual to put extra bricks in a stove if you want to reduce the volume of the firebox to have smaller fires so it's well worth experimenting. 

Edited by blackrose
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12 hours ago, Jennifer McM said:

Our stove's been out for a couple of months now. It's time to prepare it for Autumn (Autumn might be this weekend ?)

 

As we were in the area of a 'stove shop', we picked up new glass for the door, and new firebricks.

 

We were in for a couple of surprises, first the price of the firebricks (vermiculite) - two side bricks and one for the back cost us about £50. The glass was about £23 which wasn't so bad (we already had 'the kit' for replacing the glass, but we bought new clips and screws for a couple of quid).

 

The next surprise was how the stove had 'deteriorated', the door had almost seized, a few rusty spots had been found on the flue which I'm sure wasn't there before, and there was about ten spots where the enamel had flicked off - we had a few spots where the enamel was missing, but nothing like what's on the stove now. 

 

Anyway, we swept the chimney and rebuilt the stove with the new bricks, replaced the glass, and re-installed the baffle.

 

Questions are:

 

Is there a cheaper way of sourcing the vermiculite?

 

Is it normal for the stove to 'deteriorate' so much when not in use?

 

Do you think it wise to put something in the back (like a lump of engineering brick, or steel) of the grate, so less coal is used at times when the weather isn't so cold as to need a roaring fire?

 

Thanks for any advice ? BTW it's a Brunel 1A Stovax.

 

 

 

Do you use some sort of cap to stop rain going down the flue over the months when not in use, or does the chimney have a hat or cowling?

 

You should be able to get all your parts much cheaper on eBay. 

Edited by blackrose
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3 hours ago, blackrose said:

 

Do you use some sort of cap to stop rain going down the flue over the months when not in use, or does the chimney have a hat or cowling?

 

You should be able to get all your parts much cheaper on eBay. 

Yes, we've removed the chimney and replaced it with a cap since the stove isn't in use. After what Mrsmelly said about ventilation, I think condensation could be the cause why the door and latch has become stiff. It's been rather a 'damp' summer where we've cruised. Or maybe the cap has saved a lot of condensation?

 

Thanks for the tip about putting in some sort of filler in the grate, we should have saved the old broken fire-bricks ?.

 

Getting things by ebay has been a bit of a problem of late, there's not really been an opportunity this summer for receiving deliveries, and we've not found a Sainsburys to collect Ebay stuff from. Guess we must try harder ?

6 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Morso Squirrel parts appear about 10-20% cheaper. Thanks for the links ?

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