Solid Fuel Not Getting Hot?

[magnetman]

Pulp fiction is brilliant for lighting fires. Tearing the pages out is one of the best bits. 

[rusty69]

I prefer Reservoir logs. 

Edited December 2, 2023 by rusty69

[blackrose]

6 hours ago, Rob-M said:

Plenty of fuel and plenty of air, once the fire is roaring and hot then reduce the air to keep it ticking over.

 

Also I've found that once the stove is hot reducing the airflow from below seems to hold the heat down so it's radiated from the stove into the boat. Whereas if the vents aren't closed down a bit most of the heat just goes out the chimney.

 

The same thing will happen if you leave the door open which the OP is doing (not to mention the CO risk of doing that). You have to give the stove a chance to warm up with the door closed before going into panic mode and opening the door in an attempt to get heat into the boat. Also from the OP's pictures it doesn't look like enough air is getting in from below. Clean out the whole stove and flue, baffle plate, etc, and start again.

Edited December 2, 2023 by blackrose

[Jen-in-Wellies]

I'm also suspecting this stove was designed to burn wood primarily, perhaps exclusively, not coal. I'm thinking the extra fire bricks are trying to concentrate the coal in to a smaller area to get a greater depth in what is a very wide grate. They are angled to try and funnel the coal in to the centre, in a similar way to the Morso cast iron coal plates on a Squirrel. We did a similar thing on the stove in Mum's house. It was multi-fuel, but the design was biased to wood and though not the same as the OP's had a similar look.

As you may have guessed, most boaters go through a period of trial and error getting stoves to work to their satisfaction and learning their individual quirks*. Hence the many replies you've got.

 

*That's the stoves quirks, not the boaters, though they do have plenty of their own.

[blackrose]

1 hour ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

As you may have guessed, most boaters go through a period of trial and error getting stoves to work to their satisfaction and learning their individual quirks*. Hence the many replies you've got.

 

That's right. I spent the first couple of months with my new Morso Panther trying to work out why it wasn't producing the heat I expected. I'm not really sure what I started to do differently - I guess I just learned how it worked. So it's important that OP doesn't give up and think it's a bad stove. Clean the flue, clean the stove out (in that order) and just keep going. Shut the stove door though!

Edited December 2, 2023 by blackrose

[Bod]

9 hours ago, Jennarasion said:

Excuse the ash on the floor, but this is it currently. A log has just turned into embers after burning for around an hour, and coal below it. Ashtray is virtually empty. I dont think there is much ash I can poke through the grate at the moment.

 

See also the temperature on my fans, and my flue (which really might be the cause as it doesnt seem perfectly sealed, and rain falls through as well)

Move the fans to the back of the stove.

The idea is that they pull cold air from the back of the stove, blow it over the hot air rising from the front of the stove, blowing both warm air and hot air away from the front of the stove, disturbing the natural rise of hot air from the stove top.

You might also find the "thermometers" give a different reading.  Normally stove thermometers are fixed some 15-18 inches up the flue pipe to give a reading of the flue temperature, a hot flue has no condensation build up, a cold one will clog up.

 

Bod

[MtB]

10 hours ago, magnetman said:

It not only has a dodgy kink but seems to also be made of thin wall ducting tube which is not appropriate. 

 

Major alterations needed I think. 

 

^^^This^^^

 

Nwver mind if the stove actually works, that flue looks to me as though its constructed from what was known back in the day as "gas vent". A low cost thin-wall system of pipes and fittings designed for open flue gas boilers and gas fires. A deeply inappropriate flue for a solid fuel stove as it will rust though in a flash.

 

Given what we surmise about it being a log burner rasher than a multi-fuel stove, I suggest not using it and getting a whole new stove and correctly designed flue fitted.

[Tonka]

Why have none you picked up on the fact that the OP stated "the fire only has one vent"

and in the photo it shows a vent above the door in the typical secondary vent position

Can we have a photo of the front of the door to see if there is any sign of a primary vent below the grate to see if it is a multi fuel fire 

[magnetman]

 

It does look like there might be a vent in the bottom of the door but it is right at the edge of the picture. 

 

The ash tray seems too small on this fire..

 

 

 

[rusty69]

12 minutes ago, Tonka said:

Why have none you picked up on the fact that the OP stated "the fire only has one vent"

and in the photo it shows a vent above the door in the typical secondary vent position

Can we have a photo of the front of the door to see if there is any sign of a primary vent below the grate to see if it is a multi fuel fire 

I think it has been mentioned.

[ditchcrawler]

11 hours ago, Jennarasion said:

The air immediately surrounding the stove is warm (with the door open), everywhere else is freezing

I doubt it will burn well with the door open

[Tony Brooks]

Not sure if this has been picked up, but there seems to be an odd flue section below the roof. Is this some form of draft damper, and if so could it be letting air into the flue and thus destroying some of the draw? I don't recognise it.

 

It also looks as if it is causing a restriction of flue diameter, so wonder what may be lodged above it in the flue.

 

Edited December 2, 2023 by Tony Brooks

[magnetman]

It looks like a terribly bad bodged piece of ducting to me. 

 

These do rust away inside so could easily cause a blockage. 

 

[Tonka]

12 minutes ago, magnetman said:

 

It does look like there might be a vent in the bottom of the door but it is right at the edge of the picture. 

 

The ash tray seems too small on this fire..

 

 

 

The top vent looks the same as i have in front of me on a Aarrow Stratford

Can i also ask what is under the fire. In the photo it looks like some old fire bricks or slabs but the one on the left is higher or back from the one on the right

[rusty69]

3 minutes ago, Tonka said:

The top vent looks the same as i have in front of me on a Aarrow Stratford

Can i also ask what is under the fire. In the photo it looks like some old fire bricks or slabs but the one on the left is higher or back from the one on the right

It has some similarities with the Aarow/Hamlet stoves. However the OP said it was an "alor", which I took to mean Valor (probably not calor).

Edited December 2, 2023 by rusty69

[magnetman]

3 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

It has some similarities with the Aarow/Hamlet stoves. However the OP said it was an "alor", which I took to mean Valor (probably not calor).

Or maybe it is a ripoff of a Valor stove and its called an Alor stove. 

 

 

[Tracy D'arth]

Its a wood burner, hence the teeth in the front to stop logs rolling out. The flue is atrocious, it gas vent flue pipes badly joined together. 

It is not designed to burn  solid smokeless fuel. Running with the door open and no CO alarm you are going to be a fatality soon.

[MtB]

21 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I doubt it will burn well with the door open

 

If the flue or throat of the stove is blocked at the baffle (highly likely), then it will burn badly with the door open, and hardly at all with the door closed. 

 

As others have implied but not spelled out, with the door open (and especially with a blocked flue) all the products of combustion including masses of carbon monoxide will be coming out into the room. Potentially lethal. Boaters die occasionally from this.

 

Stoves like this are designed for use with the door SHUT. One must only open it when alight to add fuel or empty the ash pan (if it has one). 

 

 

 

Edited December 2, 2023 by MtB
Clarify.

[magnetman]

2 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Its a wood burner, hence the teeth in the front to stop logs rolling out. The flue is atrocious, it gas vent flue pipes badly joined together. 

It is not designed to burn  solid smokeless fuel. Running with the door open and no CO alarm you are going to be a fatality soon.

 

Do we know if the OP froze to death or did they die from the Carbon Monoxide? 

 

 

Villager multifuel stoves have exactly that sort of toothed log guard and they are designed to burn wood or coal. 

 

 

[rusty69]

Just now, magnetman said:

 

Do we know if the OP froze to death or did they die from the Carbon Monoxide? 

 

 

Hopefully they are out buying a CO alarm up screwfix.

[magnetman]

As already mentioned if the surface the fuel sits on is a grate then it is a multifuel stove but if it is a solid plate then it is a wood burner. 

 

I think because the ash tray was mentioned by the OP it might actually be a multifuel. 

 

 

Of course it is the kind of fire that in the past could well have been run not very hot as it might get uncomfortable so entirely probably that the flue has issues. Apart from being generally horrible and dangerous it could also be full of rust and creosote deposits. 

 

And as @ditchcrawler pointed out one does not run this type of stove with the door open. 

[system 4-50]

11 hours ago, Jennarasion said:

You would be shocked with my discoveries over the months 😂 im going to be booking a bss exam soon, just to see whats not up to scratch in general

Don't book a BSS inspection unless you need one anyway.  Book an unofficial "pre-BSS" inspection from a BSS guy instead.  If you have an official BSS inspection then your current BSS certificate becomes void and you have to get any significant work done immediately regardless of how important you think it is.  If you have a "pre-BSS" inspection then you can deal with any issues in your own time frame though obviously you'd get any serious ones done quickly.  Once all work is done then you can get the same guy to do the official BSS and it won't take very long.  This will cost more but can save a lot of stress.  I did this when installing my gas systems as I didn't want my BSS voided by any faults found in the gas system which I wasn't relying on anyway.

[Tonka]

7 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Its a wood burner, hence the teeth in the front to stop logs rolling out. The flue is atrocious, it gas vent flue pipes badly joined together. 

It is not designed to burn  solid smokeless fuel. Running with the door open and no CO alarm you are going to be a fatality soon.

Could be there way of making "fuel retaining bars" which multifuel stoves have

[magnetman]

4 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Hopefully they are out buying a CO alarm up screwfix.

When I first came across the Screwfix brand I assumed they had a chain of brothels. 

1 minute ago, Tonka said:

Could be there way of making "fuel retaining bars" which multifuel stoves have

Yes Villager have these 

 

[ditchcrawler]

11 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Its a wood burner, hence the teeth in the front to stop logs rolling out.  

That was wat I was wondering right at the start,