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Little Wenlock won't go low enough


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I have a Little Wenlock stove, about 2 years old, the modern version with a spinwheel at the bottom and a push/pull air slide at the top. If I bank it up well with fuel to try and make it last overnight, and close the wheel completely, after about an hour it is burning brightly and won't turn down low so that although the cabin is wonderfully warm at 2am the fire has burned out by 7am. I can't find any way to keep it in overnight.

 

I've not had this problem with its predecessors. The spinwheel closes fully, and the door seal is good, so I suspect it is being fed with air via the top vent even though it is pushed in and theoretically closed; the only.other posibility I can imagine is around the shaft of the riddler but surely this wouldn't admit enough air. So has anyone else had this problem, and did they solve it?

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  • Defra approved for us in smoke controlled areas
  • 71.4% Efficiency
  • The Little Wenlock Classic SE stove has been specifically designed to burn coal and wood at an efficiency that meets the stringent requirements of the Clean Air Act, the low particulate emissions mean it is fully approved to burn fuel in smoke control zones
  • Defra Approved equivalent of the best selling AGA Little Wenlock Classic model. The AGA Little Wenlock SE combines a perfect blend of old and new, the stove combines cutting edge technology

 

Stop moaning, you are saving the planet, and helping lots of eurocrats and EU funded government ministers earn vast salaries to come up with silly and unworkable rules.

 

 

RIP Comastic....

  • Greenie 1
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We have the older coal brook dale version without the top vent. I do find I need to seal the joints between the sides / top from time to time.  Door seals are an obvious and fairly frequent replacement item. 

 

I ve had problems on other stoves with the top / clear glass vents not closing properly or not being obvious which way is open or closed. Wonder if there is a way of temporarily sealing the top vents ? 

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It's not the SE version so not saving any planets! I can only think of 4 places where air can get in (It's been checked for any other leaks such as the back plate) and those are the wheel (definitely closes tightly) the door seal (appears good to visual inspection) the riddler shaft (slight gap around it) and the top plate (seems the most likely candidate but I take Bizzard's point that it seems a poor candidate, and it's virtually impossible to get at). Unless anyone comes up here with a similar experience I guess I'll have to try blocking them up and see what happens, but what is a suitable material to do that - obviously it must be fireproof.

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30 minutes ago, Ex Brummie said:

Blank off the flue outlet and put a smoke pellet in there (or make your own with damp tissue) Light that and close the door. Where the smoke comes out the air gets in.

Thanks, that sounds easy enough, I'll try it.

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I've got a Stovax Brunel 1A.  It has a wheel vent in the bottom which closes completely, but the top air vent is controlled by  a sliding piece of cast iron.  Fully shut down it will normally stay in for nearly 24 hours with a good fill of Excel.  However when it is very windy, the additional draft  can make it run much hotter and whilst it will still stay in overnight, it won't stay in for much longer.  Plus of course the boat can get unreasonably hot!

 

ETA:  My last boat had a Squirrel with top and bottom wheel vents.  Closing both would put the fire out.  I can get the Brunel to go out, but only by shutting down the vents fully and putting a cap on the top of the flue - only when leaving the boat of course due to risk of CO coming into the cabin.

Edited by dor
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Probably not that relevant, but we have a much older Much Wenlock.

The only adjustment is a spin wheel on the ash-pan door - no other way of intentionally letting air in.

 

It doesn't clamp down that accurately, but it doesn't need to, as even leaving it half a turn open is usually enough to extinguish the fire quite quickly.  (Our normal overnight setting is 1 1/4 turns open).

 

I don't know the modern Little Wenlocks, but to me it sees unlikely that enough air an get around the closed spinner, (or through the riddle point) to cause it to burn too fiercely.

I agree with "dor", however, that strong winds can make it more likely the stove will burn faster than you would wish.

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This is my third Little Wenlock(after 28 years) and neither of the previous two had the top air control. On this one it is a sliding metal plate and I wonder if a piece of debris has got underneath it to lift it clear of the fixed part or maybe even there's some rust. I did notice when I was lighting it  recently on a gusty day, occasionally with the blow-back while the kindling was smoking and everything was cold, that I did get a couple of puffs of smoke out of the top vent. The trouble is you can't get at it, even to inspect it let alone clean it, without completely dismantling the stove and I really don't want to do that. I think I'll get a length of the fireproof rope such as that which is used in the door seal, and see what happens if I stuff it into the top vents. 

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7 minutes ago, Keeping Up said:

This is my third Little Wenlock(after 28 years) and neither of the previous two had the top air control. On this one it is a sliding metal plate and I wonder if a piece of debris has got underneath it to lift it clear of the fixed part or maybe even there's some rust. I did notice when I was lighting it  recently on a gusty day, occasionally with the blow-back while the kindling was smoking and everything was cold, that I did get a couple of puffs of smoke out of the top vent. The trouble is you can't get at it, even to inspect it let alone clean it, without completely dismantling the stove and I really don't want to do that. I think I'll get a length of the fireproof rope such as that which is used in the door seal, and see what happens if I stuff it into the top vents. 

Have you tried Paul J 's suggestion?ash is a good method for overnight Damping..

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Clods of earth slapped on the coals is what Susan used to do in Swallows an Amazons, while she filled the kettle at the lake, the fire was still in to cook scrambled eggs for breakfast next morning, but ash is just as good.

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Well I've found the answer. Blocking the slits at the top with a couple of short lengths of 9mm fire rope has given me back the full range of control, to the extent that it will go out if I shut the spinwheel all the way. Now I just have to find the best setting for overnight use.

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  • 5 months later...

Resurrecting this old topic, not only has this solution been working perfectly for me, but also i think I may have just found out the reason for the issue. After reading the adverts for some other stoves it appears that in order for a wood or multifuel stove to qualify for Defra approval, under the latest rules it must be impossible to shut it down far enough that when burning wood there is any risk of that wood producing any smoke. In order that it may continue to burn brightly enough there must be a good supply of air at all times. It seems to be a side-effect that when burning smokeless fuel, it will blaze away and consume it all within 4 or 5 hours.

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30 minutes ago, Keeping Up said:

Resurrecting this old topic, not only has this solution been working perfectly for me, but also i think I may have just found out the reason for the issue. After reading the adverts for some other stoves it appears that in order for a wood or multifuel stove to qualify for Defra approval, under the latest rules it must be impossible to shut it down far enough that when burning wood there is any risk of that wood producing any smoke. In order that it may continue to burn brightly enough there must be a good supply of air at all times. It seems to be a side-effect that when burning smokeless fuel, it will blaze away and consume it all within 4 or 5 hours.

Sounds like you've pretty much sussed it. :)

 

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42 minutes ago, Keeping Up said:

Resurrecting this old topic, not only has this solution been working perfectly for me, but also i think I may have just found out the reason for the issue. After reading the adverts for some other stoves it appears that in order for a wood or multifuel stove to qualify for Defra approval, under the latest rules it must be impossible to shut it down far enough that when burning wood there is any risk of that wood producing any smoke. In order that it may continue to burn brightly enough there must be a good supply of air at all times. It seems to be a side-effect that when burning smokeless fuel, it will blaze away and consume it all within 4 or 5 hours.

But as I said before my Ekol Clarity 5 is Defra approved so you can't fully stop the air, and yet it stays in overnight quite happily.

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  • 1 year later...
On 01/11/2018 at 18:50, Keeping Up said:

This is my third Little Wenlock(after 28 years) and neither of the previous two had the top air control. On this one it is a sliding metal plate and I wonder if a piece of debris has got underneath it to lift it clear of the fixed part or maybe even there's some rust. I did notice when I was lighting it  recently on a gusty day, occasionally with the blow-back while the kindling was smoking and everything was cold, that I did get a couple of puffs of smoke out of the top vent. The trouble is you can't get at it, even to inspect it let alone clean it, without completely dismantling the stove and I really don't want to do that. I think I'll get a length of the fireproof rope such as that which is used in the door seal, and see what happens if I stuff it into the top vents. 

Hi Allan, Jus came across your post about the little wenlock and sounds like the exact same issue that i am facing. the fire burns out very quickly and appears to be excessive amount of air even with the bottom wheel fully closed. noticed from some other comments that this is probably by design for being a SE burner but wanted to know did your workaround of using fire rope help resolve the issue ? do you mean the 2 slits on either side of the vent lever ? how did you fix the rope to the burner ? any help would be gratefully appreciated as its quite frustrating at the moment as we are getting through a lot of logs every evening. thanks

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Yes it completely and permanently fixed the problem. I went to a local DIY centre and bought half a metre of each of the 3 sizes of fire rope that they sold (it was a proper old-fashioned store, it was such a small amount they just gave them to me free) and tried them all. One of them was a reasonably tight fit into the slits (yes, the ones either side of the top vent lever) so I just cut two short lengths and pushed them gently in to block the slits. Of course I could easily remove them in a couple of seconds if I needed to, but apart from smearing some black over them I haven't touched them since and the fire stays in all night with no problems. We do burn coal rather than logs though.

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