Heritage uno range

[Maudesmaster]

Hi in Skipton Yorkshire looking for an OFTEC fitter to service our range 

1 doesn’t do boats and couple more too busy 

has anyone serviced their own and can tell me how to if quite easy 

thank you in advance Rich 

Edited September 25, 2023 by Maudesmaster

[Alan de Enfield]

2 hours ago, Maudesmaster said:

Hi in Skipton Yorkshire looking for an OFTEC fitter to service our range 

1 doesn’t do boats and couple more too busy 

has anyone serviced their own and can tell me how to if quite easy 

thank you in advance Rich 

 

If you are loking to only work with an OFTEC certified fitter you may have a problem - he will not doubt only work on it if it is fitted in accordance with the manufacturers instructions, and invariably, you cannot fit one on a boat within the manufacturers requirements (Flue length is a typical failure point)

 

What sort of range is it ?

 

Solid fuel, Gas, Diesel, wood, ???

[JungleJames]

It'll be either diesel or electric.

As he wants it serviced, assume diesel.

 

Heritage do advertise putting them on boats. So you'd hope it would be fitted as per their instructions.

 

Might be easier to ask Heritage.

Whilst you do see some on narrow boats, it doesn't seem to be many. The cost probably puts a lot of people off!!

 

[magnetman]

It is an interesting item. 

 

I think it will be running on 35 second heating oil aka red diesel/gasoil. 

 

Not sure what these have but presume it is a pressure jet burner so I would be unsure as to why a specialist service would be required. 

 

boat

 

Takes me back to yars ago when we had a large (3 times as wide) Aga in our more than adequate country house in the 80s. 

 

Nice way to heat and cook a boat. 

 

 

[Tonka]

6 minutes ago, magnetman said:

It is an interesting item. 

 

I think it will be running on 35 second heating oil aka red diesel/gasoil. 

 

Not sure what these have but presume it is a pressure jet burner so I would be unsure as to why a specialist service would be required. 

 

boat

 

Takes me back to yars ago when we had a large (3 times as wide) Aga in our more than adequate country house in the 80s. 

 

Nice way to heat and cook a boat. 

 

 

What even in the heat of summer 

[magnetman]

11 minutes ago, magnetman said:

It is an interesting item. 

 

Nice way to heat and cook a boat. 

 

 

Note the deliberate omission of the word 'on'. 

[JungleJames]

51 minutes ago, magnetman said:

It is an interesting item. 

 

I think it will be running on 35 second heating oil aka red diesel/gasoil. 

 

Not sure what these have but presume it is a pressure jet burner so I would be unsure as to why a specialist service would be required. 

 

boat

 

Takes me back to yars ago when we had a large (3 times as wide) Aga in our more than adequate country house in the 80s. 

 

Nice way to heat and cook a boat. 

 

 

Forced combustion jet burners according to the website.

[Ex Brummie]

If it is just a case of cleaning out the clag, then removal of the hob and burner is quite straightforward. The basic instruction should be in the owners manual. It is essential to keep the flueways clear as any restriction will limit the air intake. It will only suck in as much as it can expel, but the fuel will still be in the metered quantity and will make soot. 35 second oil (diesel) will make more soot than 28 sec (kerosene). It may be a good idea to fit a new nozzle, and pay particular attention to the flexible oil feed hose. OFTEC specify a braided hose should be replaced every 2 years at least, with longlife hoses no more than 5 years IIRC>

Ideally you need at least a smoke pump to check the flue, but a pressure gauge and combustion analyser enables the job to be done properly. A vertical flue of narrowboat size is more than adequate.

[magnetman]

41 minutes ago, JungleJames said:

Forced combustion jet burners according to the website.

That will be a PJ

 

Installation and Maintenance

Qualified technicians familiar with range cookers and modern pressure jet burners will be able to install and service your Heritage.

[JungleJames]

40 minutes ago, magnetman said:

That will be a PJ

 

Installation and Maintenance

Qualified technicians familiar with range cookers and modern pressure jet burners will be able to install and service your Heritage.

Yep, I assumed so!

[Stroudwater1]

4 hours ago, Tonka said:

What even in the heat of summer 

However in fairness it’s not like a domestic Aga or Rayburn needing to be on all the time with latent heat warm up times. It seems to warm up fast. 
 

Person next to us has one (and no back up cooker) and I must say it’s pretty decent. It does add to the draft🤣 . I’ve seen them in three traditional engined boats (all Gardners) that must make for a deeeep draft😊

[Maudesmaster]

It’s 240AC fan Diesel burner cooking only and was fitted by OFTEC people who deal with Heritage 

3lw Gardner 2’3 draught 

from cold takes over1 hr to boil a kettle 

would not recommend and no after sales service sent E mails about flue when first fitted nothing back 

[plato]

If it takes over an hour to boil a kettle from cold there’s something drastically wrong with it. 
I’ve used one for 10 years on my previous boat. And yes there is a knack to using them but once you’ve got it they’re great. In fact I liked it so much I’ve just had a new one dropped onto the base plate of my new shell. They’ve built the boat round it. Much easier and cheaper  than having it stripped down and rebuilt inside the boat. 
 

[Mike Tee]

As Plato says, something wrong there. We don’t have one of these cookers, but do have a diesel stove - in an hour I would have a toasty 70’ boat, all radiators hot, and a hot kettle of water on the top plate (not boiling as I only run the stove on a low setting). Can’t remember how much diesel would be used, but not a lot.

[Maudesmaster]

11 hours ago, plato said:

If it takes over an hour to boil a kettle from cold there’s something drastically wrong with it. 
I’ve used one for 10 years on my previous boat. And yes there is a knack to using them but once you’ve got it they’re great. In fact I liked it so much I’ve just had a new one dropped onto the base plate of my new shell. They’ve built the boat round it. Much easier and cheaper  than having it stripped down and rebuilt inside the boat. 
 

Thank you maybe we’re doing it wrong 

we get up and turn temp to 180 when thermostat switches we lift lid and place kettle on back half it’s an hour before kettle boils 

we dropped ours through the stern doors (semi trad) used rollers to position 

[plato]

Ok, my first thought is do you need a whole kettle of water?  Try putting in only the amount of water you actually need. 
Also what type of kettle do you have? 
I use a le crueset, found that pretty good. 
you could also turn the temperature up a bit and see how that goes. If it makes no difference you may have a problem with the thermostat 
Mine was a cook  plus model , which did cooking,  heating and hot water so by the time I’d boiled the kettle and made some toast it had made enough hot water for the day and warmed the bathroom. 

[Maudesmaster]

The kettle is a big vintage copper we only fill half way to bottom of spout 

we have a le crueset but find this quicker as fatter bottom 

However range now cuts out after a while and thermostat says needs a service so I either need instructions on servicing or preferably an OFTEC fitter 

[plato]

Good tip , I might try that. I think you’ll have a Stirling burner in there , very common and no problem for an engineer to service.

If you’re of a practical bent it’s fairly easy to to change the nozzle. That will help but when my engineer does mine he analyses the exhaust gases and makes adjustments to get it burning efficiently. Which you wouldn’t be able to do. He charges £80 which is a lot less than heritage do. 
my stove had been sat unused for 2 years in a boat that had been partly flooded. So it wasn’t running at all well when I first used it. 
Heritage did send an engineer up to Gloucester from Cornwall but it wasn’t cheap. He did strip it down and did a very thorough job on it. 
if you phone them them I’ve always found them to be helpful. 
I put redex in my diesel and it definitely helps. 
My engineer commented how clean the nozzle was when he serviced it. Generally they’re very sooted up. 
Redex is often on offer in Tesco or Lidl so not costly for the benefits you get. 
good luck with it and let us know how you get it sorted 

[Ex Brummie]

Range cookers rely on the storage of latent heat. Solid fuel or oil vaporising burners are always on. Gas or oil blown burners on more recent units are still kept ticking over and the core is kept to around 150-180oC. You can put this on a timer so that it doesn't race away all night, and it will still retain some heat to speed top up in the morning. when you look at the thickness of the hotspot under the lid, you can see why it takes an hour to boil a kettle. The thermostat measures the oven temperature so the hot spot will be cooler. Most users always have a kettle on the top of the hob, transferring it to the hot spot when needed.

Obviously on a boat in warm weather this permanent running can be uncomfortable. In an open farmhouse kitchen it was not so much of a problem. 

The new range of Aga's and the like, to adapt to modern living and levels of insulation, have elements for the core, controlable ovens and independent hobs.

Unless you have a 60ft widebeam, a range cooker like this is probably not a good idea.

[Maudesmaster]

On 28/09/2023 at 10:52, plato said:

Good tip , I might try that. I think you’ll have a Stirling burner in there , very common and no problem for an engineer to service.

If you’re of a practical bent it’s fairly easy to to change the nozzle. That will help but when my engineer does mine he analyses the exhaust gases and makes adjustments to get it burning efficiently. Which you wouldn’t be able to do. He charges £80 which is a lot less than heritage do. 
my stove had been sat unused for 2 years in a boat that had been partly flooded. So it wasn’t running at all well when I first used it. 
Heritage did send an engineer up to Gloucester from Cornwall but it wasn’t cheap. He did strip it down and did a very thorough job on it. 
if you phone them them I’ve always found them to be helpful. 
I put redex in my diesel and it definitely helps. 
My engineer commented how clean the nozzle was when he serviced it. Generally they’re very sooted up. 
Redex is often on offer in Tesco or Lidl so not costly for the benefits you get. 
good luck with it and let us know how you get it sorted 

How much red ex do you use I say 300 litres 

[plato]

I can’t remember the dosage rate at the moment but I’m sure Google will know.