8 year old Stanley Erin stove:would back boiler be ok?

Kilmurray

Hi I am thinking about buying a 8 year old second hand Stanley stove. It is in hard water area( Owner had installed water softer 5 years ago). Owner replaced grate and Door due to heat damage done on them from everyday use. It looks great and it seems been well looked from outside. I don't know about the condition of boiler though.

Would anyone recommend me what to look for or ask to owner when I go see it?

DoneDL

Buying anything like a stove second hand is risky, the fact it`s a hard water area wouldn`t really be a concern as the stove would not be affected. What would be a greater concern is whether the system had a chemical inhibitor in it while the stove was in use.

Stove Fan

The first question I would ask is how many rads they heated from it.

If the say it heated x possibly could be ok.

If the answer is none, we used it to just heat the room then no:(

This is crucial as if the stove has been used without being connected to the heating system and the boiler not having water in it then this greatly increases the chance the boiler has distorted/split. In fact if you use a new boiler stove and dont connect it to the heating system it invalidates the warranty.

I personally wouldn't buy an integral boiler stove used that I hadn't seen working and heating the rads.

You could get it pressure tested by a plumber before purchase:)

8 years old is quite old especially if it's had heavy use.

Stove Fan:)

Kilmurray

It is a working stove as it is in the house with no other heating source. I went to see it but radiators are not too hot even though the room where stove is in it is extremely warm. She said there is a plenty of hot water from it as well.

My question is,

would this stove last for another 8 years with light use as we have a oil fired boiler?

Stove Fan

Kilmurray wrote: »

It is a working stove as it is in the house with no other heating source. I went to see it but radiators are not too hot even though the room where stove is in it is extremely warm. She said there is a plenty of hot water from it as well.

My question is,

would this stove last for another 8 years with light use as we have a oil fired boiler?

Hi:) It's really a who knows situation. The one thing I can say is new boiler stoves can be wrecked in less than 4 years by too cool a water returning to the boiler because a pipe thermostat wasn't fitted to control the pump.

The pipe thermostat turns off/on the pump to stop too cool a water circulating through the stove. Without this pipe thermostat it would cause condensation on the boilers surface inside the stove and sweat condensation, this causes rusting of the boilers outer surface and can lead to weak points due to rust.

It could be a case that the current stove is undersized for the heat load or have sludge in the rads

Stove Fan:)

Kilmurray

The pipe thermostat turns off/on the pump to stop too cool a water circulating through the stove. Without this pipe thermostat it would cause condensation on the boilers surface inside the stove and sweat condensation, this causes rusting of the boilers outer surface and can lead to weak points due to rust.


hi Thanks!

Is pipe thermostat built in feature of Stanley Ashling stove? Can you see rust from outside boiler? I never knew about pipe thermostat. I have not made up my mind about this stove. I know she only burnt briquttes, nougetts, turfs and coals. She cleaned inside of stove every few months. she has only 7 radiators but she said last few radiators are not warm at all. Would this be due to the pipe thermostat?

Stove Fan

Kilmurray wrote: »

hi Thanks!

Is pipe thermostat built in feature of Stanley Ashling stove? Can you see rust from outside boiler? I never knew about pipe thermostat. I have not made up my mind about this stove. I know she only burnt briquttes, nougetts, turfs and coals. She cleaned inside of stove every few months. she has only 7 radiators but she said last few radiators are not warm at all. Would this be due to the pipe thermostat?

No, the pipe thermostat isn't a built in feature, when the plumber installed the stove he should of fitted one.

The built in thermostat on the stove just controls the air supply and closes and opens due to set demand on the stoves own thermostat. This controls the water temperature to the rads.

Ie 2 thermostats.

1 pipe thermostat, to control the pump on and off to limit condensation.
2 boiler thermostat to control the burning rate of the fire and temperature of the water to the rads.

It sounds like it's been well used. The lack of heating all of the rads could be due to several things.
Undersized boiler stove. Looking at the stoves specs it would only heat 4x 600mm h by 1000w doubles plus hot water. It looks as if this stove would only heat around 7 average size single radiators.
http://www.waterfordstanley.com/products/1101.htm

The heating system may not be balanced correctly, so the hot water is flowing through the radiators nearest the stove more.
or possibly Heating system full of sludge and so reduced flow.

When viewing fully remove the grate ashpan etc and have a good look at the boiler inside the stove for any rust at welds etc. Look very carefully with a torch and above inside if the boiler is above like a baffle/shelf.
If the system water inside is poorly maintained, ie no inhibitor or drawing in air through the feed and expansion tank, and so the rads need to be bled all the time, this would certainly rust the boiler out from the inside.

My advice if you do decide to buy is to pay very little to factor in possible leak of the boiler at a later date and be suspicious after all it's 8 years old. The owner is obviously selling for a reason.
You would be better to buy a new one and not risk it:). You don't want to get your fingers burnt if it springs a leak shortly afterwards:(
.

Stove Fan:)