Stove got too hot - how dangerous can it be?

NIMAN

I have been using my stove at home for over 2 years now, and I have occasionally overloaded it the odd time with too much coal and it ended up getting very very hot - hot enough that it made sounds that I think it shouldn't have made !! (creaking, cracking, plus bubbling of boiling water in the boiler).

Well the other day something else happened for the 1st time. I didn't think I had overloaded it too much, more or less same as I always would with some coal and a load of turf, but I am not sure if it was the gales that were blowing outside that maybe created a extra draught to feed the fire, but the flames got big and instead of the creaking, cracking and boiling sound (none of these happened), this time the metal pipe coming out of the top of the stove got red hot. I had never seen it change colour before.:eek: It was maybe couple of inches of it. Not bright red but enough of a change that you could see it was red in the shaded alcove.

Is this a common thing? And anything to worry about?

Colm R

I'm no expert, but would like to know what your heating from the boiler. Hot water or rads or both?

If its gravity flow to something upstairs, then it might not be working well and may need a circulation pump to take the water away quicker.

Or, you have a circulation pump and its not working well.

Or you have a thermostat, and its either too high or not working and hence not telling the circulation pump to turn on and pump water to whatever you are heating elsewhere.


The sound of boiling water is not good, and is dangerous. If I were you, I'd stop lighting fires and get someone in ASAP to look at it.

shane0007

Could be a weak circulating pump not able to pump the heat away from a strong fire.

NIMAN

Thanks for the replies, I was planning to get someone to give it the once over anyway.

As for the replies, they are focusing on the boiling water sound, maybe I over-emphasised that problem. It would be rare that I would hear the boiler making noise, and if it is its usually not that loud at all. My rads and hot water are fine when the gire is on, so I assume that my pump is working ok.

My main reason for posting was the red hot flue pipe, and whether that is anything to worry about.

Having said that, I will be careful how much I load the fire in future. Going to load it small and often instead of BIG! Having said that, as I mentioned, I had easily loaded it this big before, but never had the flue pipe go red. I think the really strong draught during the gales must have been a factor as I could hear the wind rushing up the pipe all day.

Dtp79

NIMAN wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, I was planning to get someone to give it the once over anyway.

As for the replies, they are focusing on the boiling water sound, maybe I over-emphasised that problem. It would be rare that I would hear the boiler making noise, and if it is its usually not that loud at all. My rads and hot water are fine when the gire is on, so I assume that my pump is working ok.

My main reason for posting was the red hot flue pipe, and whether that is anything to worry about.

Having said that, I will be careful how much I load the fire in future. Going to load it small and often instead of BIG! Having said that, as I mentioned, I had easily loaded it this big before, but never had the flue pipe go red. I think the really strong draught during the gales must have been a factor as I could hear the wind rushing up the pipe all day.

It's possible the seals on your door are worn down and too much air is getting in... Therefore it's over airing the fire causeing too much heat

shane0007

I would be suspicious of the pump. Pipe glowing hot, water boiling.... Heat struggling to get out of the boiler.

jjf1974

what seting is the pump at? what is the thermostat set at?

NIMAN

jjf1974 wrote: »

what seting is the pump at? what is the thermostat set at?

At work tonight, I will check them tomorrow.

I do think the fire rope on the doors needed replacing, not in the best nick.

As I say, this only happened once, and it was blowing a gale out, so think that may have had an effect. I have loaded the fire with the same amount of fuel before and never had a problem, so thats why I am thinking the draught had an impact on how hot it got.

Irish Steve

In theory, there should be an air control of some sort below the burning area, and the idea of that is that if the fire is burning too strongly, the air valve needs to be closed some, which will reduce the size of the fire. If the door seals, or the seal on the ash tray are in poor condition, or the air control gate is not fitting well, then the fire will flare excessively, which can cause boiling, or overheating on the chimney.

The total quantity of fuel in the unit is secondary to the air going through, if the air can't get in, then the fire will not burn fast, regardless of the fuel level, so your investigation needs to be the air control into the unit.

A gale blowing may cause extra draught through the stove, but it should still be controllable, by regulating the air flow in at the base.

You may need to get a smoke candle and move it around the stove exterior when it's lit to see where air is getting in to the unit, as that may give you some clues about what's happening.

NIMAN

jjf1974 wrote: »

what seting is the pump at? what is the thermostat set at?

I had a look at them earlier.

Not sure what you mean by the setting on the pump, but there is a 1,2,3 position, and they seem to correspond to 30W, 46W, 65W (iirc) and its at 2.

Only thermostat I could see was a little orange plastic box on a pipe at the top of the hot water cylinder, and it was set to 45C.

Is that of any help?

oikster

As mentioned above a couple of times you need to check your air supply to your appliance. A faulty pump or stat will not make your flue pipe change colour.