Bubble Stove

[Ex Brummie]

If the flow rates are correct, the pot and air holes are clean, then the final check is to test the flue draught draught, which will be specified in the manufacturers instructions. For this you would need a draught gauge or inclined manometer. as a service technician on these types of appliance, I never bothered with one of those as they are relatively expensive for little gain. it is possible to replicate a standard manometer to the incline by angling it so that you take the 10" mark 1" high, and that means rach graduated mark is only 10% of the indicated one.

Have you tried out Cuthound's suggestion of reducing the high fire down to a blue flame and then adjusting the low flame accordingly?

have you verified the flow rates? 

[Ger77]

17 hours ago, Ex Brummie said:

If the flow rates are correct, the pot and air holes are clean, then the final check is to test the flue draught draught, which will be specified in the manufacturers instructions. For this you would need a draught gauge or inclined manometer. as a service technician on these types of appliance, I never bothered with one of those as they are relatively expensive for little gain. it is possible to replicate a standard manometer to the incline by angling it so that you take the 10" mark 1" high, and that means rach graduated mark is only 10% of the indicated one.

Have you tried out Cuthound's suggestion of reducing the high fire down to a blue flame and then adjusting the low flame accordingly?

have you verified the flow rates? 

Waiting to see behaviour on a windy day first. 

[Ex Brummie]

6 hours ago, Ger77 said:

Waiting to see behaviour on a windy day first. 

If you can't get it running right in calm conditions, then how will that help?

[cuthound]

8 hours ago, Ger77 said:

Waiting to see behaviour on a windy day first. 

 

If the stove is over-fuelling, then there is a significant risk of it running away in windy conditions, unless it is fitted with an over-temperature device such as a fusible link operating a valve in the fuel supply line. 

 

Get it running properly in calm conditions before even thinking of using it in windy conditions.

Edited November 14, 2023 by cuthound
Clarification

[Ger77]

On 13/11/2023 at 18:12, Ex Brummie said:

 

 

On 14/11/2023 at 20:15, cuthound said:

 

If the stove is over-fuelling, then there is a significant risk of it running away in windy conditions, unless it is fitted with an over-temperature device such as a fusible link operating a valve in the fuel supply line. 

 

Get it running properly in calm conditions before even thinking of using it in windy conditions.

There is a fusable link. 

I've managed to get the low fire setting pretty close. 

 

Maybe not the greatest, but still better then what it was. 

 

The high fire setting is more difficult as it burns yellow and when I adjust the fueling to get rid of the yellow, the flow rate is low to the point it doesn't look much more intense than low fire. 

 

Setting 4 which you tweak after low fire is as below:

 

I would expect 4 to be burning around the upper holes. A quarter turn open brings yellow flames. 

[Mike Tee]

 Well done, that's looking much more as it should - the yellow high fire is probably more to do with the length of the flue and chimney rather than your settings. Even when iced in, we rarely run our stove over No.2 and the boat is as warm as we want it (and normally only lit from morning to bedtime - bit chilly first  half hour but I'd rather that than burning diesel for nine or ten hours at £1.25 a litre).

[cuthound]

Definitely looking better. Depending upon the length of your flue (they are always too short on boats) you may find that the flames start to go yellow rather than blue from setting 3 or 4 upwards. If it is windy it is also likely to burn yellow at lower settings than normal.

 

My low setting barely has any flame visible.

 

Like @Mike Tee above, I haven't found the need to run the stove hotter than setting 2 unless playing with it.

[Ger77]

The flue is lined for in a single story bungalow with a vidette on top. 

 

Stove in adjacent room burns a lot better at high fire setting. And brother had one in his house which burns clean too. 

[Ex Brummie]

For whatever reason, the poor flame at high fire is probably down to flue, but youseem to have made good progress.

[Tracy D'arth]

I think that the low setting could be lower still.

[Ger77]

1 hour ago, Tracy D'arth said:

I think that the low setting could be lower still.

I thought that too, but then it burns only to one side (the side when the oil enters the pot) so I turned it up a bit to get a bit more of an even burn across the pot base. 

[cuthound]

4 hours ago, Ger77 said:

I thought that too, but then it burns only to one side (the side when the oil enters the pot) so I turned it up a bit to get a bit more of an even burn across the pot base. 

 

Are you sure that all of the little air holes in the burner pot are clear? Mine has a row on the bottom edge of the pot, as well as those on the sides. These bottom holes are only visible with an LED lit mirror on a stick. See the photos in this thread.

 

 

[Tony Brooks]

4 hours ago, Ger77 said:

I thought that too, but then it burns only to one side (the side when the oil enters the pot) so I turned it up a bit to get a bit more of an even burn across the pot base. 

are you absolutely sure that the burner pot is level. It sounds to me as if the boat has a bit of a list or the pot is set at an angle.

[agg221]

3 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

are you absolutely sure that the burner pot is level. It sounds to me as if the boat has a bit of a list or the pot is set at an angle.

It shouldn't need to be that level - they are designed for use on lumpy water boats. There should be enough fuel entering to cover the whole base on setting 1. If there isn't, it could be that the lower setting is too low but unless it has always done this it is more likely that it is slightly clogged in the very fine slit in the needle jet. This is fine enough that it can block with particles that get through the filter. The best option we have found is to use a pure gravity bowl filter, basically a water filter, before the inlet. The flow rate is so low that all the particles settle out in the bowl and can be removed.

 

Alec

[blackrose]

6 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

are you absolutely sure that the burner pot is level. It sounds to me as if the boat has a bit of a list or the pot is set at an angle.

 

I think the OP's stove is installed in a house, not on a boat Tony.

[Mike Tee]

Time to start thinking laterally - you said you have two stoves set up with similar flue etc, one burns good, one doesn't . Next time they are both cold, switch the front doors over. Also, I can't remember on the Bubble how it lets air in, because if you are not getting good controlled air in it will burn badly. Check the air in vents are clear. Worth a try anyway!

You may be getting close to calling in an expert - if the engineer from Lockgate Stoves will work on a Bubble I can highly recommend him. Not cheap but as Red Adair once said 'if you think a professional is expensive, wait till you hire an amateur'.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

6 hours ago, blackrose said:

13 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

are you absolutely sure that the burner pot is level. It sounds to me as if the boat has a bit of a list or the pot is set at an angle.

 

I think the OP's stove is installed in a house, not on a boat Tony.

Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1823484

 

[David Mack]

24 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1823484

 

Or closer to home

 

[Ger77]

Christmas day. A bit blustery here, but nothing too bad. I can hear the wind in the stove.

Was a slight smell of the stove when lit and at a higher setting.

 

Lowest setting now looks like:

Setting number 4:

[MtB]

On 12/12/2023 at 10:25, David Mack said:

Or closer to home

 

 

 

Curious how the chimneys appear vertical.

 

Academic now though, given this is what it looked like on 7/8/23:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-66951166

 

 

 

[Ger77]

Setting number 6:

Here is the stove in the next room. This one is fine. Not that the wind seems to be affecting the lower settings as per the problematic room. 

 

 

Setting 1:

 

Setting 4:

 

Setting 6:

[Ger77]

Am I correct that these stoves don't need fed with their own direct air supply from outside?

Would they pull much of a draught when operating?

[peterboat]

11 hours ago, Ger77 said:

Am I correct that these stoves don't need fed with their own direct air supply from outside?

Would they pull much of a draught when operating?

Yes you are correct, has a little flap system on it to keep the amount of air correct 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

11 hours ago, Ger77 said:

Am I correct that these stoves don't need fed with their own direct air supply from outside?

Would they pull much of a draught when operating?

The draw from stoves, either solid fuel, or oil fired look alikes is great for keeping humidity down in the boat. Pulls in humid are in the boat cabin from people breathing, cooking etc, warms it up and sends it out the chimney. Fresh drier air comes in from the low level cabin vents

[Ger77]

On 02/02/2024 at 08:57, Jen-in-Wellies said:

The draw from stoves, either solid fuel, or oil fired look alikes is great for keeping humidity down in the boat. Pulls in humid are in the boat cabin from people breathing, cooking etc, warms it up and sends it out the chimney. Fresh drier air comes in from the low level cabin vents

This is installed in a house though.