Lockgate Stove query ...

[Nickhlx]

I finally got the matching thermocouple and new flame failure valve fitted and fired up the stove for a test....

 

 

I lit it apparently successfully using the manual's method of 50ccs of meths, and all seemed well.. until....

 

I set it to "high" to see how high it went and have to admit scared myself quite a lot....

 

The whole inner container got up to bright red and there was a sort of blowbacking whoomphing noise which, quite honestly scared me a lot. I had visions of burning diesel being blown out of the stove. Fortunately just before the peak I switched the fuel supply off, flicked the rotary control down to fully clockwise (off) and flicked the little lever to the up position, but I had the kids moving valuables, cushions and inflammables away from the lounge area and fire extinguishers at the ready. After a few mins the flames died down and all seemed to be returning to normal, so switched the main valve back on, the valve on the end to "down", the rotary control to "low" and it seemed to run normally. Great relief...

 

However, I didn't try a repeat of the high position again - could it be that the fuel level has not been set correctly and is too high at "max" ? I really don't want it to be possible for the fire to burn that high or hot again - it was really very scary.... and what was causing this quite violent whoomping, whooshing noise ?

 

It almost sounded like the fire was blowing itself out, then fuel vapours filling the chamber and chimney, igniting with a "bang" and blowing themselves out again... about once a second...

 

I will phone Lockgate when they re-open but wondered if anyone here knew the reason / problem...

 

Thanks,

 

Nick

[koukouvagia]

I finally got the matching thermocouple and new flame failure valve fitted and fired up the stove for a test....

 

 

I lit it apparently successfully using the manual's method of 50ccs of meths, and all seemed well.. until....

 

I set it to "high" to see how high it went and have to admit scared myself quite a lot....

 

The whole inner container got up to bright red and there was a sort of blowbacking whoomphing noise which, quite honestly scared me a lot. I had visions of burning diesel being blown out of the stove. Fortunately just before the peak I switched the fuel supply off, flicked the rotary control down to fully clockwise (off) and flicked the little lever to the up position, but I had the kids moving valuables, cushions and inflammables away from the lounge area and fire extinguishers at the ready. After a few mins the flames died down and all seemed to be returning to normal, so switched the main valve back on, the valve on the end to "down", the rotary control to "low" and it seemed to run normally. Great relief...

 

However, I didn't try a repeat of the high position again - could it be that the fuel level has not been set correctly and is too high at "max" ? I really don't want it to be possible for the fire to burn that high or hot again - it was really very scary.... and what was causing this quite violent whoomping, whooshing noise ?

 

It almost sounded like the fire was blowing itself out, then fuel vapours filling the chamber and chimney, igniting with a "bang" and blowing themselves out again... about once a second...

 

I will phone Lockgate when they re-open but wondered if anyone here knew the reason / problem...

 

Thanks,

 

Nick

 

How long after turning on the fuel supply did you leave it before lighting the stove? If you leave it for, say five minutes, before lighting the stove, a large pool of diesel collects in the bottom of the burner and this is the reason for the stove going out of control. I had the same experience once and have been careful not to let this happen again.

If you remove the cleaning pin you can drain off some of the surplus fuel.

Presumably, once the excess fuel had burnt off the stove ran normally?

You haven't altered the high flame adjustment have you? This shouldn't be necessary if the fire has been working OK up till now.

 

Hey Ho, after my daily dose of CWDF we're off to start the Christmas celebrations with sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren.

Edited December 25, 2009 by koukouvagia

[mickspangle]

Ive got a Kabola E5 which does a similar thing if there's too much diesel in the pot - this can happen if the regulator is set too high for too long when tryig to get it lit. I spoke to Kuranda about this, and I think they basically have one regulator for all their stoves, and are oversized for the size boilers found on narrowboats. I tend to run mine on tickover and never more than 2/5. Could be that lockgate is similar.

 

Found it a bit scary first time it happened, but now if it happens I just turn off the fuel until it dies right down, then crack it onto minimum. It makes quite a racket when it's going woomph! Woomph!

 

So basically - regulator is possibly right, but oversized for stove?

[LEO]

Hi,

 

Happens to me if I let too much diesel in when lighting - a small amount of fuel is enough and I only use low settings when running the fire, have never had to use it above '2'.

 

Brilliant stoves though (mine's a Kabola) and has been running continuously for a week now - with an Eco Fan.

 

Leo.

 

Merry Christmas one and all and all the best for 2010.

[Big COL]

I finally got the matching thermocouple and new flame failure valve fitted and fired up the stove for a test....

 

 

I lit it apparently successfully using the manual's method of 50ccs of meths, and all seemed well.. until....

 

I set it to "high" to see how high it went and have to admit scared myself quite a lot....

 

The whole inner container got up to bright red and there was a sort of blowbacking whoomphing noise which, quite honestly scared me a lot. I had visions of burning diesel being blown out of the stove. Fortunately just before the peak I switched the fuel supply off, flicked the rotary control down to fully clockwise (off) and flicked the little lever to the up position, but I had the kids moving valuables, cushions and inflammables away from the lounge area and fire extinguishers at the ready. After a few mins the flames died down and all seemed to be returning to normal, so switched the main valve back on, the valve on the end to "down", the rotary control to "low" and it seemed to run normally. Great relief...

 

However, I didn't try a repeat of the high position again - could it be that the fuel level has not been set correctly and is too high at "max" ? I really don't want it to be possible for the fire to burn that high or hot again - it was really very scary.... and what was causing this quite violent whoomping, whooshing noise ?

 

It almost sounded like the fire was blowing itself out, then fuel vapours filling the chamber and chimney, igniting with a "bang" and blowing themselves out again... about once a second...

 

I will phone Lockgate when they re-open but wondered if anyone here knew the reason / problem...

 

Thanks,

 

Nick

 

Hi Nick

 

Oil stoves used on boats are basically domestic stoves.

With the restrictions for use on a boat not many meet the manufacturers fitting specifications, low air draft up the chimney being the most common The metering valves are the same domestic valves which if turned up too high will flood the burner pot. Each of these valves will react slightly differently when fitted on boats, air draft again being the variant

I always suggest to users that they turn the valves up bit by bit until they begin to flood and give the symptoms that you have experienced, this will give you a max reading on your valve that you should never exceed.

With the banging and popping, you are exactly right. What is happening is the oil is vaporising in the wrong place,and then igniting also in the wrong place i.e. high in the burner pot and the chimney. This happens because when you turn the valve up too high the extra fuel actually cools the burner pot just enough and prevents the fuel from vaporising in the correct place, which is about 10mm off the bottom of the burner pot.

Hope this helps. If you search the forum I have posted a couple of times before on this subject.

[Nickhlx]

Pheww... thanks guys... I am glad that someone has been here before and I am not the first it was quite an experience..

 

I haven't altered any settings but I don't know if it has ever been set up properly. I only have a basic users manual and although only scanned through I didn't notice "installation" or set-up instructions and how to alter/reduce the max flame level. If its a bit like a carburettor float bowl it might be obvious if I look at it.

 

I did try to pull out the jet cleaning pin, but only got it out half wayas there was a nasty black substance melted on the shaft, which I presume is the sealing O ring melted on to it, so will need a new one of those. I have a full set of "ordinary O rings but wonder if these are special or high temp ones ? I know I will have to get the pin fully extracted and cleaned up, and a new O-ring fitted - I imagine this is the next thing to do else it will drip.

 

I will tread more cautiously next time we light it, and adjust up slowly from "just on" waiting for it to stabilise at each setting... it highlights the need for plenty of big enough fire extinguishers, as I really thought they were going to be needed at one point, and was trying to think which would have been best. I imagine not a lot of volume of fuel would have been involved and the whole (inner) sleeve was bright cherry red right to the top, so a lot of energy in there, but I guess water on the wood and curtains and carpet to cool them and maybe powder on / in the boiler itself.... I really need to take the thing to bits to understand it and then I could visualise what's going on... but the explanations above have confirmed much of what I guessed... many thanks !

 

Nick

 

How long after turning on the fuel supply did you leave it before lighting the stove? If you leave it for, say five minutes, before lighting the stove, a large pool of diesel collects in the bottom of the burner and this is the reason for the stove going out of control. I had the same experience once and have been careful not to let this happen again.

If you remove the cleaning pin you can drain off some of the surplus fuel.

Presumably, once the excess fuel had burnt off the stove ran normally?

You haven't altered the high flame adjustment have you? This shouldn't be necessary if the fire has been working OK up till now.

 

Hey Ho, after my daily dose of CWDF we're off to start the Christmas celebrations with sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren.

 

 

Hi,

 

I lit it using the book method of 50ccs of meths with no oil in the pot initially, so that the thermocouple got hot and let in fuel. I am not sure, although I think the float chamber was empty beforehand as I had only jut fitted the new electromagnetic valve and with that off, imagine the float chamber was empty, but I suppose it could have been full.

 

I did run normally, for maybe 10 mins but then I did turn it up to full and that's when the trouble started.

 

Thanks,

 

Nick

[kevinw]

We have the same installed on our boat. I light it with the 50cc of meths and the diesel turned off. Once the meths is burning in a stable manner, I turn on the diesel with the regulator at the lowest setting and keep it there for about 45 minutes. Then turn it up one "notch" at a time leaving it for around 30 minutes at each setting.

 

I've found that if I turn it up too quickly, I get the explosive effect - it will eventually blow itself out and the dielse will just vapourise without burning - filling the stove with white smoke and creating a nice plume of smoke out the chimney flue. I've found that if I then turn off the diesel and wait until the smoke has dissapated, I can then throw another match in, turn on the diesel at the owest setting and the stove will come back to life.

 

When cleaning, I've found it helps to remove all the "coke" that builds up on the bottom of the pot and wipe out any remaining diesel before relighting it.

 

I don't think ours has gone above number 3 on the regulator (out of 5) - even with a full length boat and running 2 radiators off the back boiler, the stove creates so much heat that we usually need to open a window to dump the heat - even with snow on the roof.

 

Kevin

[noff]

we have a Refleks on our half refurbished Dutch Barge we live on , its a life saver in this weather until we get the central heating done.

Like everybody else on this thread we have had our fair share of jet engine imitations , once my girlfriend phoned me while I was at my moms to say the Refleks was trying to take off and was glowing red, including the flu and there were flames shooting around the top, I then heard a scream and the sound of a fire extinguisher, then she returned to the phone, ''is the fuel supply off'' i asked , then another scream /sounds of fire extinguisher. I turned to my mom and as calm as 'possible said''I have to go as my boat is on fire''. A 45 min journey took 25min.

The barge was still in one piece, plus one shaken girlfriend.. and one Refleks ticking away as the metal cooled and contracted. It was only the third or so time she had lit it and had filled the base with oil ...... then managed to set it alight..

Red Adair would have been impressed by the ensuing flames... LESSON LEARNT...!!!!!

 

So now we just let the base just about be covered by the oil , switch the control knob off, add two capfuls (NOT cup fulls) of meths , throw a match in and leave the lid ajar about one inch , turn knob onto lowest setting , listen to it splutter for a minute or so, shut lid and thats that.

It has run constantly for up to two weeks 24 hours a day until we ran out of fuel.

When it is out of action I then take the chance to scrape the deposits out of the base with a short blunt chisel, hoover them out, push, pull the pin out.The black sticky stuff is probably just deposits from the oil not your O ring , mine is the same.. it should be a tight fit to put back into the hole.

I will also remove the filter, usually clean and off it goes again .

Warning, if it does go out when you are trying to start it.. even for 30 secs dont throw any more meths in there and add a match .I have a mate who did this and he said it was like a cannon flash with flames hitting the ceiling

Most of this is obvious , but once you have the hang of it then it will be reliable and look after you. ..... hope this helps

[Nickhlx]

Superb - Thanks again guys ...

 

As I said a few posts up, I am glad it is "normal" behaviour, if a lot alarming when first encountered.... I will start with it from the low setting and give it time to stabilise at each small notch up that I open it. My main worries are that it could overflow the burning pot and have lit diesel flowing out of the stove, or flames coming out of it which may catch nearby things alight, or that it could explode, but I don't think any large volume of vapours could build up external to the stove.

 

Job next visit is to try and remove the pin and ? replace the O ring - I am fairly sure it has melted and reading the downloaded handbook it suggests that the valve block needs to be removed to do this - does anyone know what size the O ring is as I won't have one to compare it with, although I do have a full set of metric and imperial O rings around that size ?

 

Thanks,

 

Nick

[noff]

just check that the pin is tight when inserted backinto the stove , if so then I would think your O ring is intact as they are sited near to the source of heat they take a lot of abuse.If the pin enters with no resistance then it is the O ring. As I mentioned before.the last inch or so on the pin on our Refleks is black and shiny/sticky but this can be removed quite easily. The same substance accumulates in the base/burner and has to be removed as I mentioned.

There is nothing like a freezing night to motivate you into getting the thing running eh ??

 

 

good luck

[Nickhlx]

just check that the pin is tight when inserted backinto the stove , if so then I would think your O ring is intact as they are sited near to the source of heat they take a lot of abuse.If the pin enters with no resistance then it is the O ring. As I mentioned before.the last inch or so on the pin on our Refleks is black and shiny/sticky but this can be removed quite easily. The same substance accumulates in the base/burner and has to be removed as I mentioned.

There is nothing like a freezing night to motivate you into getting the thing running eh ??

 

 

good luck

 

Hi Noff,

 

When I was up there last ( a few days ago) I couldn't extract the pin, but had got it perhaps 90% out and about 2" + of it was smeared with what looked like black melted rubber, so fairly sure some of that was O ring and some was carbon. It all seemed hard to remove, from the wipe with paper towel and scrape with a finger nail I gave it - I was working in near darkness though, hence leaving it for another day. The last bit of pushing in of the pin is now very slack and feels like it might leak, another suggestion the O ring may have been smeared up the pin !

 

We are not on board, so will have a look tomorrow morning in the light and with a torch / tools / spares this time !

 

Thanks again,

 

Nick

[Nickhlx]

Update.....

 

Today, I took up some tools ( + the boxes of O rings ) and removed the brass block that holds the injector pin, with the view of changing the one inside.

 

However, on close inspection and cleaning, the O ring was perfectly OK and a bit more of the stove was understood. The Pin, when the stove is running, seems to serve only as a plug to stop fuel leaking out. Also it would seem that it is best pulled out well away from the hot end, perhaps so only 2 or 3 cms is in, being cooled by the incoming fuel and so keeping the O ring in the brass block relatively cool...

 

I discovered that my "full range of control" assuming that the flame was at max when it was turning yellow ( limited by incoming air perhaps ?) corresponded to a disappointingly low setting of 1.5 out of 5. This resulted in a red hot basket in the middle and a blue flame tinged with yellow tips curling over it a bit and, to me, not really a lot of heat coming off it, but perhaps that is what the rating is ? Overall feeling was that it's a "bit tame", but seems "stable". It also goes yellow if the boat rocks to port, going back to blue when level.

 

Can anyone confirm this is about right, or might I have some sort of air restriction or flue restriction ? The flue at the moment is at full length with the increased diameter pot on the top - all in stainless - and extends perhaps 2 feet above the roof.

 

Also, when burning with a blue flame is any smoke to be expected ?

 

Thanks,

 

Nick

Edited January 1, 2010 by Nickhlx

[koukouvagia]

Update.....

 

However, on close inspection and cleaning, the O ring was perfectly OK and a bit more of the stove was understood. The Pin, when the stove is running, seems to serve only as a plug to stop fuel leaking out. Also it would seem that it is best pulled out well away from the hot end, perhaps so only 2 or 3 cms is in, being cooled by the incoming fuel and so keeping the O ring in the brass block relatively cool...

 

I discovered that my "full range of control" assuming that the flame was at max when it was turning yellow ( limited by incoming air perhaps ?) corresponded to a disappointingly low setting of 1.5 out of 5. This resulted in a red hot basket in the middle and a blue flame tinged with yellow tips curling over it a bit and, to me, not really a lot of heat coming off it, but perhaps that is what the rating is ? Overall feeling was that it's a "bit tame", but seems "stable". It also goes yellow if the boat rocks to port, going back to blue when level.

 

Can anyone confirm this is about right, or might I have some sort of air restriction or flue restriction ? The flue at the moment is at full length with the increased diameter pot on the top - all in stainless - and extends perhaps 2 feet above the roof.

 

Also, when burning with a blue flame is any smoke to be expected ?

 

Thanks,

 

Nick

 

The Lockgate version of the Refleks stove may be different, but both of my standard Reflekses burn with a yellowish flame. The only time there is smoke is for about the first five minutes when the stove is heating up. When the fire is running there is no smoke visible from the chimney – only a heat haze.

I don't think you've got your fire turned up far enough. What happens if you gradually increase the heat up to the maximum? I know you had a nasty experience with the flame running away with itself, but I'm pretty sure that was the result of diesel pooling in the base of the burner before the stove was properly alight, rather than having the heat control turned up too far.

These stoves really belt out the heat. Yesterday the boat was 33 degrees when we arrived. After an hour with the control fully on the boat was a comfortable 70. I then forgot to turn the control down to its usual midway position and did a few jobs in the engine room for an hour, during which time the temperature of the cabin was a stifling 85.

You're quite right about the use of the cleaning pin. The manual states: “It is important that the cleaning pin is not left pushed right in whilst the stove is in use, as in this position the end of the pin extends into the combustion chamber and the end of the pin can be coated in soot and slag thus preventing its withdrawal. There can also occur heat transference through the pin which destroys the rubber O-ring.”

Edited January 2, 2010 by koukouvagia

[Nickhlx]

The Lockgate version of the Refleks stove may be different, but both of my standard Reflekses burn with a yellowish flame. The only time there is smoke is for about the first five minutes when the stove is heating up. When the fire is running there is no smoke visible from the chimney – only a heat haze.

I don't think you've got your fire turned up far enough. What happens if you gradually increase the heat up to the maximum? I know you had a nasty experience with the flame running away with itself, but I'm pretty sure that was the result of diesel pooling in the base of the burner before the stove was properly alight, rather than having the heat control turned up too far.

These stoves really belt out the heat. Yesterday the boat was 33 degrees when we arrived. After an hour with the control fully on the boat was a comfortable 70. I then forgot to turn the control down to its usual midway position and did a few jobs in the engine room for an hour, during which time the temperature of the cabin was a stifling 85.

You're quite right about the use of the cleaning pin. The manual states: “It is important that the cleaning pin is not left pushed right in whilst the stove is in use, as in this position the end of the pin extends into the combustion chamber and the end of the pin can be coated in soot and slag thus preventing its withdrawal. There can also occur heat transference through the pin which destroys the rubber O-ring.”

 

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for the reply...

 

OK - I will try and (be a bit bolder) and turn the wick up a bit more and see what happens - I only assumed that a "yellow flame is a cold, sooty flame", so the max air intake had been reached.... However I will try it turned up a bit more and let it heat through and see what happens.. It certainly wasn't at the "belting out the heat" stage, so I probably am being over-cautious.... I guess the chimney also needs to heat up and perhaps that increases the draw when its at a higher temp too....

 

Many thanks for the info...

 

Nick

 

[starman]

Bear in mind too that the Lockgate is a stove that is intended to run constantly, warming the boat by generating a steady supply of heated air rather than being a stove that you light and whack up to full throttle to provide a quick blast of hot air.

Ours, though sometimes fussy to start, is brilliant at this job but if we've been away from the boat for a week the solid fuel back cabin stove is the one that will get a good fug going at high speed.

[baldlimey]

Sorry to cut in on someone elses question but we fired our refleks up on Wednesday and after 4 hours the boat was still freezing.

 

I cleaned everything and fired up again and it burns with a blue ringed flame with an orange centre but even with it running full blast the boat would not get warm. It is a 54ft with a refleks 2000 and a back boiler running three rads.

 

Is this normal or anyone have any ideas what else I can try.

 

Strange question has anyone got a picture of their flame when the boiler is running flat out so I can see if our looks normal.

 

Ta

 

Peter

[koukouvagia]

Sorry to cut in on someone elses question but we fired our refleks up on Wednesday and after 4 hours the boat was still freezing.

 

I cleaned everything and fired up again and it burns with a blue ringed flame with an orange centre but even with it running full blast the boat would not get warm. It is a 54ft with a refleks 2000 and a back boiler running three rads.

 

Is this normal or anyone have any ideas what else I can try.

 

Strange question has anyone got a picture of their flame when the boiler is running flat out so I can see if our looks normal.

 

Ta

 

Peter

 

When you fired up on Wednesday what did the radiators feel like? Were they lukewarm all over, or were they hot just at the bottom? If they were hot at the bottom then it could be that the rads need bleeding.

If they were just lukewarm it's likely to be a circulation problem.

Try lighting the fire with all the radiators turned off and allow the pump to circulate the water just round the flow and return pipes. You can feel the heat creeping along the pipes until the temperature of the return pipe is about as hot as the pipe when it leaves the fire. Only then should you turn on the rads, one by one.

This procedure sounds a bit of a rigmarole, but I've found that it works everytime.

 

My Refleks hasn't got a window like the Lockgate ones, so I'm not sure what the flame looks like. If I lift the lid the flame flares up and may look different from when it's running with the lid down.

[KenK]

We have a Refleks connected to three radiators and the hot water tank. The following applies, boat all day turn on the stove and eyerything is toasty warm until the next morning when the hot water is at best lukewarm. Sit still and turn on the stove radiators never get above lukewarm, run all day with stove on everything gets too hot. General colour is blue /yellow however we have never had anything which could be called overheating. Normally turn it to the start position, marked by a red dot on our stove, press down the lever and add meths throw in match, wait until its burning correctly and increase to max.

 

Stove is ok for our use, non residential, but its not powerful enough for a live aboard unless there is a second (primary) source of heating. It looks nice is easy to clean and easy to light, you can even have a kettle ready for tea on top, but if you are living on board a solid fuel stove is probably better.

 

Ken

[Nickhlx]

We have a Refleks connected to three radiators and the hot water tank. The following applies, boat all day turn on the stove and eyerything is toasty warm until the next morning when the hot water is at best lukewarm. Sit still and turn on the stove radiators never get above lukewarm, run all day with stove on everything gets too hot. General colour is blue /yellow however we have never had anything which could be called overheating. Normally turn it to the start position, marked by a red dot on our stove, press down the lever and add meths throw in match, wait until its burning correctly and increase to max.

 

Stove is ok for our use, non residential, but its not powerful enough for a live aboard unless there is a second (primary) source of heating. It looks nice is easy to clean and easy to light, you can even have a kettle ready for tea on top, but if you are living on board a solid fuel stove is probably better.

 

Ken

 

 

I am still learning how to use our Lockgate Refleks 2000 K ( no water jacket ) and I haven't yet, but believe within the oval float chamber alongside the main stove unit, there are adjustments within to set the max / min fuel levels.

 

I will be checking more thoroughly with Lockgate as ours max's out at 1.5 out of 5, which seems a bit wrong to me, almost as if either the wrong control unit has been fitted or the thing is not adjusted (set up) correctly....

 

However, I will be finding out and correcting the situation in the very near future as I "won't rest" until I know it inside out ( quite literally) and its working 100% as best as it can...

 

Nick

[koukouvagia]

Stove is ok for our use, non residential, but its not powerful enough for a live aboard unless there is a second (primary) source of heating. It looks nice is easy to clean and easy to light, you can even have a kettle ready for tea on top, but if you are living on board a solid fuel stove is probably better.

 

Ken

 

We don't live on Owl but we do spend a lot of time on the boat including the recent cold weather. I can't understand why you don't think a Refleks is powerful enough for a live aboard.

The plumbing of a Refleks needs a bit of thought so that you can divert the heat to the different parts of the heating circuit as required. Our procedure for all the hot water and heat we need is as follows:

Light fire and turn control to full and divert all the heat to the radiators – i.e. none through the calorifier - until the cabin temperature is 70. This takes about an hour or in very cold weather an hour and a half.

Then divert heating to calorifier – this takes about one and a half hours to heat up. While this is happening the radiators are warm, but not hot. The cabin temperature is maintained by the radiant heat from the hotplate on top of the Refleks and from the flue pipe, which gets very hot.

Then turn control down to half or less and have the hot water flowing through both calorifier and radiators. This is the tickover state for most of the day.

At night turn off radiators – turn down fire to low. An Ecofan distributes the heat throughout the boat. Divert heat to calorifier so that there is plenty of hot water ready for the morning.

 

Once the boat is warm the Refleks will keep the hot water topped up and the cabin comfortably warm indefinitely.

 

In the summer I can divert all the heating to the calorifier for as long as it takes to heat it up – about an hour. I then turn off the fire and rely on the insulation of the calorifier to keep the water hot.

[koukouvagia]

I am still learning how to use our Lockgate Refleks 2000 K ( no water jacket ) and I haven't yet, but believe within the oval float chamber alongside the main stove unit, there are adjustments within to set the max / min fuel levels.

 

I will be checking more thoroughly with Lockgate as ours max's out at 1.5 out of 5, which seems a bit wrong to me, almost as if either the wrong control unit has been fitted or the thing is not adjusted (set up) correctly....

 

However, I will be finding out and correcting the situation in the very near future as I "won't rest" until I know it inside out ( quite literally) and its working 100% as best as it can...

 

Nick

 

By a process of elimination it seems that you've narrowed the problem down to the flow rate. Your model should let diesel in at about 5 cc/min at low and about 15 cc/min at high. There should be a marked difference between the high and low flow rates.

I suggest, with the fire off, you increase the flow rate by turning the high screw clockwise, (NB I'm not on the boat at the moment but I'm pretty sure the label says “high increase” with the arrow pointing anti-clockwise), a turn at a time and see what difference that makes. Keep track of how many turns you make so that you can put it back to its original position. Keep an eye on the overflow (I'm not sure how the pipe's arranged on the Lockgate model). All this does is depress the float, rather like adjusting the ball valve on a lavatory cistern, so that lets more fuel into the burner chamber.

 

Best of luck.

Edited January 3, 2010 by koukouvagia

[Nickhlx]

By a process of elimination it seems that you've narrowed the problem down to the flow rate. Your model should let diesel in at about 5 cc/min at low and about 15 cc/min at high. There should be a marked difference between the high and low flow rates.

I suggest, with the fire off, you increase the flow rate by turning the high screw clockwise, (NB I'm not on the boat at the moment but I'm pretty sure the label says “high increase” with the arrow pointing anti-clockwise), a turn at a time and see what difference that makes. Keep track of how many turns you make so that you can put it back to its original position. Keep an eye on the overflow (I'm not sure how the pipe's arranged on the Lockgate model). All this does is depress the float, rather like adjusting the ball valve on a lavatory cistern, so that lets more fuel into the burner chamber.

 

Best of luck.

 

Hi,

Thanks for the tips...

 

Immediately a couple of queries / concerns...

 

i) You mention an "overflow" ! Where does ( should) this flow to ? I don't think we have one of those....

ii) My problem is not insufficient fuel as I think I potentially have too much - In the original post, I had turned it up to 5 to "see what it could do" and scared

myself a bit (!) when the whole thing was glowing bright red with a violent whoomping noise that had us clearing the cabin out and reaching for the fire

extinguishers.

 

I am not sure what the "max flame size" or the colour of the flame is meant to be at max, or how long it takes to reach this point after turning the control knob up, but I am guessing that the max flame size that it should be run at, is when the blue flames are tipped with yellow, signifying air starvation and incomplete combustion. On ours, this was reached with the flame an inch or two above the top of the burner frame and at a setting of just 1.5 out of 5 - barely above the lowest position.

 

What I haven't experimented with is setting it to e.g. "2 or 3" and letting it burn for a few mins (with lots of yellow ( sooty ?) flame) and seeing if it "heats through and turns back to a bigger blue flame with more of the inner container glowing red hot. Should I do this ?

 

Nick

Edited January 3, 2010 by Nickhlx

[koukouvagia]

Hi,

 

i) You mention an "overflow" ! Where does ( should) this flow to ? I don't think we have one of those....

ii) My problem is not insufficient fuel as I think I potentially have too much - In the original post, I had turned it up to 5 to "see what it could do" and scared

myself a bit (!) when the whole thing was glowing bright red with a violent whoomping noise that had us clearing the

 

What I haven't experimented with is setting it to e.g. "2 or 3" and letting it burn for a few mins (with lots of yellow ( sooty ?) flame) and seeing if it "heats through and turns back to a bigger blue flame with more of the inner container glowing red hot. Should I do this ?

 

Nick

 

 

Yes, I'd let it burn at a higher setting. Mine will smoke for about five minutes until the fire has reached its correct temperature.

 

Here's the overflow.

 

Refleks say:

“Overflow should be connected to a waste oil tank which should be placed at a lower level than the regulator. The overflow is an important safety precaution. If the regulator float or valve mechanism should fail, the fuel oil will run through into the waste oil tank, and not into the stove, which could cause overheating, excessive oil use and possibly cause fire.

We at the factory have often received regulators for reconditioning where the overflow outlet has been blanked off. We strongly advise against this practice.”

[starman]

By a process of elimination it seems that you've narrowed the problem down to the flow rate. Your model should let diesel in at about 5 cc/min at low and about 15 cc/min at high. There should be a marked difference between the high and low flow rates.

I suggest, with the fire off, you increase the flow rate by turning the high screw clockwise, (NB I'm not on the boat at the moment but I'm pretty sure the label says “high increase” with the arrow pointing anti-clockwise), a turn at a time and see what difference that makes. Keep track of how many turns you make so that you can put it back to its original position. Keep an eye on the overflow (I'm not sure how the pipe's arranged on the Lockgate model). All this does is depress the float, rather like adjusting the ball valve on a lavatory cistern, so that lets more fuel into the burner chamber.

 

Best of luck.

 

I'm not an expert on the subject (just learning by experience as a Lockgate owner) but don't Lockgate/Refleks say that all adjustments should be done by very smal increments - quarter of a turn - with the fire running and waiting 15-20 mins to see the results of an adjustment before making the next change?

On the overflow subject, ours is blanked off (always has been since we took over the boat) which puzzled me but I'm not sure I see how a waste oil catch tank is supposed to be set up. Unless you can see it so you can spot a problem (and how do you do that when the stove is at floor level) you just have a tank filling with oil. Isn't the only 100 per cent answer is to have a flow right back to the supply tank and how many people will bother with that?

[Nickhlx]

I'm not an expert on the subject (just learning by experience as a Lockgate owner) but don't Lockgate/Refleks say that all adjustments should be done by very smal increments - quarter of a turn - with the fire running and waiting 15-20 mins to see the results of an adjustment before making the next change?

On the overflow subject, ours is blanked off (always has been since we took over the boat) which puzzled me but I'm not sure I see how a waste oil catch tank is supposed to be set up. Unless you can see it so you can spot a problem (and how do you do that when the stove is at floor level) you just have a tank filling with oil. Isn't the only 100 per cent answer is to have a flow right back to the supply tank and how many people will bother with that?

 

 

I am quite sure ours is either blanked off or the casting is not even drilled for an outlet bush/flange - I will look next time I am up. However being at pretty much the lowest point as said ealier, is it expected to have a ? 200 litre tank at floor level to be able to contain the contents of the supply tank ? Even the Manual says the stove should be installed at the lowest point. ( presumably for max chimney draw)

 

I will be phoning Lockgate tomorrow

 

Nick