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Villager Puffin Stove Door


whis_tan09

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We have inherited a Villager Puffin stove on the boat we have just bought and the bolts which hold the glass in the door have sheared off.

 

I have contact Villager and it is weeks before we could get any spare parts for the stove. We originally though of getting a replacement door but have been advised that these are custom made for each stove so a replacement may not be efficient and thus not worth the cost (third of the cost of a new stove) We then though of getting new glass clips/bolts but a) there are none available till potentially February and :lol: we need to attach them.

 

Therefore, as a last resort I think we need to fashion replacement bolts to the stove door, so my question is does anyone have any experience of soldering on bolts to a stove door, does it work, how do you go about it?

 

Would really appreciate the help we are very cold aboard!

 

Also, does anyone know if you can use normal unleaded diesel instead of red diesel in a beta marine B38 engine?

 

Thank you

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We have inherited a Villager Puffin stove on the boat we have just bought and the bolts which hold the glass in the door have sheared off.

 

I have contact Villager and it is weeks before we could get any spare parts for the stove. We originally though of getting a replacement door but have been advised that these are custom made for each stove so a replacement may not be efficient and thus not worth the cost (third of the cost of a new stove) We then though of getting new glass clips/bolts but a) there are none available till potentially February and :lol: we need to attach them.

 

Therefore, as a last resort I think we need to fashion replacement bolts to the stove door, so my question is does anyone have any experience of soldering on bolts to a stove door, does it work, how do you go about it?

 

Would really appreciate the help we are very cold aboard!

 

Also, does anyone know if you can use normal unleaded diesel instead of red diesel in a beta marine B38 engine?

 

Thank you

 

I had a puffin door restudded + new rope, glass gasket, clips nuts etc by villager a few weeks ago.

It was posted on Wed and I got it back the following Tuesday.

I can Pm you the details and person I dealt with if you like.

 

They alos quoted me about £75 for a new door IIRC.

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Thanks Andy, I will give them a call tomorrow and see whether they can do this for us too, but the big problem at the moment for Villager seems to be getting hold of the parts, they just dont seem to be making them thus the long wait. Though would love not to be without a door for a week!

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If you're in a hurry and don't mind buying a whole door, you could give Midland Chandlers at braunston a call, they list a replacement door on their website and whilst probably not the cheapest i've found the braunston store does tend to carry quite a good range of stove bits in stock. However at £85.65, it's not a cheap solution.

 

The cheapest and easiest solution is probably to do what was done to the door of the villager heron in my boat before I bought it, which is to carefully drill holes right through the door, and use nuts, bolts and washers to hold the glass in place.

 

I've never tried it myself mind, so I don't know if you need special drills for cast iron?

 

Peter

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We drilled the door and fitted stainless steel bolts and it works just fine

 

Regards

 

TC

Ditto, on a Villager Heron, in all effects similar to a Puffin, (it was the previous model).

 

I paid Villager quite a lot of money initially to have the door re-studded by them, (they call the process "zapping").

 

It lasted no more than a dozen firings for two of the studs, after which the glass broke.

 

I rather get the impression they used Blue-Tack, rather than anything more robust! They also refused to accept they might not have done the job properly.

 

It's easy to drill the cast iron, (go slowly, lubricate with oil!), but the resulting bolt heads on the outside of the door are obviously not as pretty as if they are not there.

 

The story that a door gets matched to a Stove, (which Villager also fed to me), is considered to be bo**ocks. The stoves are wrapped steel, not cast, and have a flat front, so (plus or minus the margin of error allowed by the fat door seal), any replacement door should fit just fine. (But the studs may still detach, even so! :lol: )

  • Greenie 1
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Ditto,

 

 

It's easy to drill the cast iron, (go slowly, lubricate with oil!), but the resulting bolt heads on the outside of the door are obviously not as pretty as if they are not there.

 

Hi Alan

Not meaning to seem picky just an observation which everyone can update the old data base (Brain) but this is an

Urban myth :lol: If what you are drilling is cast iron then you drill it dry, the metal itself contains the lubricant (graphite)

Edited by Big COL
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I had exactly the same problem with my Villager Puffin Stove. A friend managed to secure the glass with washers, and a screw, drilling directly into the cast iron. But in a few weeks the next bolt had rusted away and we had to begin with another series of washers. The trick was to get it tight enough to hold the glass, but not so as to interfere with shutting the door.

 

In the end I just replaced the whole stove with a Morso Squirrel. It was expensive, but it was the right decision. The boat would have never passed its next safety inspection with the loose glass and the new stove provided at least twice as much heat and is also much easier to light.

 

Sorry, that is probably not the answer you wanted.

 

I wonder if the Villager Puffin is particularly susceptible to this problem?

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In the end I just replaced the whole stove with a Morso Squirrel. It was expensive, but it was the right decision. The boat would have never passed its next safety inspection with the loose glass and the new stove provided at least twice as much heat and is also much easier to light.

 

Sorry, that is probably not the answer you wanted.

 

I wonder if the Villager Puffin is particularly susceptible to this problem?

There seems to be quite a bit of evidence from the forum that the "studs falling off" problem is quite common on Villager Heron & Puffin stoves, certainly.

 

However there have also been quite a few who have said they have repaired with the drill through and bolt approach, and had no further problems. The advice to use only stainless steel bolts, and lubricate the thread with a "Coppaslip" type product seem sensible, but mine has not been done long enough to see how it will last.

 

I'm not sure that just "bung in a replacement Squirrel" is necessarily the answer though. For a start the Squirrel is a considerably bigger stove, with a significantly higher rated output. I would be very nervous of one in the slot that my Heron currently sits in, and think surrounding tiles and woodwork could get a lot hotter.

 

Also Squirrels are not without their faults, it seems, and curiously I have been contacted by two people in my local area, (one within the last few days), who have had Squirrels where cracking has occurred in cast parts like (I think) top or base, and they can't find anyone who wants to repair a boat one.

 

At least with a Villager door you can take it off for repair elsewhere, and the rest of the stove, being formed from steel plate, welded together, does not suffer from the cracking or leaking joint problems that seem to affect many cast stoves like the Squirrel. My 14 year old Heron is in near mint condition, apart from the replaced door studs.

 

I still think the unglamorous work around to the Villager door problem should work in most cases, even though it looks a slight bodge.

  • Greenie 1
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