Stove working on sealed system,,crazy

jameser123

Changing taps at rented house yesterday, got talking to tenant, told me he fitted stove, heating water and rads, working great,
That conversation passed, when I was in the utility passed the oil boiler I seen am expansion vessel and pressure gauge reading 1.5 bar
I went investigating da stove, and to my horror there is was ,3/4" flow and return copper with a pipe stat and pump , circulating around the existing sealed central heating system, they connected the the pipes the first place they seen 3/4" pipe.
No gravity circuit
No header tank
No cooling loop ,just a safety valve

Obviously I scared him when I told him day dangers etc, death and at best severe burns,
So I was thinking what wud really happen if power cut or pump failure,
My take is
Water pressure would reach 3 bar just before safety wud kick in, (if). at this stage water temp would be 140deg plus inside the stove, as increased boiling point under pressure
Then it would blow out safety where it would turn to supper heated steam which wud expand a 1000 times, this would burn any one in the same room,
What else could happen,
Plastic piping could split leading to burns
Joints popping with pressue
Safety valve may not be able to cope with load of water/steam
Stove would be dancing on the hearth, burst the steal in the stove

Just wondering , relistically what wud happen,
We all know it's dangerous, potentially lethal,
If a plumber installed it he could get jail if someone got badly hurt or worse,
,
Seen the myth buster video on YouTube of the exploding cylinder, /without safety valves or vessels,

Any thing happen in this country regarding exploding stoves,

So what's your take on it
Thanks

TPM

installations like that are more common they you would think.

I think a back boiler exploded in donegal a few years ago.

Dtp1979

jameser123 wrote: »

Changing taps at rented house yesterday, got talking to tenant, told me he fitted stove, heating water and rads, working great,
That conversation passed, when I was in the utility passed the oil boiler I seen am expansion vessel and pressure gauge reading 1.5 bar
I went investigating da stove, and to my horror there is was ,3/4" flow and return copper with a pipe stat and pump , circulating around the existing sealed central heating system, they connected the the pipes the first place they seen 3/4" pipe.
No gravity circuit
No header tank
No cooling loop ,just a safety valve

Obviously I scared him when I told him day dangers etc, death and at best severe burns,
So I was thinking what wud really happen if power cut or pump failure,
My take is
Water pressure would reach 3 bar just before safety wud kick in, (if). at this stage water temp would be 140deg plus inside the stove, as increased boiling point under pressure
Then it would blow out safety where it would turn to supper heated steam which wud expand a 1000 times, this would burn any one in the same room,
What else could happen,
Plastic piping could split leading to burns
Joints popping with pressue
Safety valve may not be able to cope with load of water/steam
Stove would be dancing on the hearth, burst the steal in the stove

Just wondering , relistically what wud happen,
We all know it's dangerous, potentially lethal,
If a plumber installed it he could get jail if someone got badly hurt or worse,
,
Seen the myth buster video on YouTube of the exploding cylinder, /without safety valves or vessels,

Any thing happen in this country regarding exploding stoves,

So what's your take on it
Thanks

It's crazy alright. Came across one myself last week. Know you're customer though, if he saw the safety valve dripping he'd probably blank it. Was there even a safety valve?

DGOBS

Last year one exploded and took the poor mans leg with it! (I believe it was shortly after it was installed)

Robbie.G

http://www.hse.gov.uk/services/localgovernment/boilers.htm
Even though this is about redundant back boilers it is the same as a sealed stove
If people knew how dangerous solid fuel is they would think twice

TPM

http://www.heatingandventilating.net/news/news.asp?id=5803

Sadly a death from a redundant backboiler explosion. the information in the 2nd last paragraph is worth noting

jameser123

Interesting links, thanx
Just going back on what wud happen, if the safety did it's job
Wud the 3 bar water at 140deg turn to super heated steam when it exists the safety valve, I'd nearly love to test this,see exactly what wud happen

There nearly want to b an organisation set up for installing these,
Eg , Rgi. Offtec , and stoves can be more dangerous than the whole offtec thing,
Passports to be signed of when fitting stoves, could be da future ,

DGOBS

DGOBS wrote: »

Last year one exploded and took the poor mans leg with it! (I believe it was shortly after it was installed)

jameser123

jameser123 wrote: »

Interesting links, thanx
Just going back on what wud happen, if the safety did it's job
Wud the 3 bar water at 140deg turn to super heated steam when it exists the safety valve, I'd nearly love to test this,see exactly what wud happen

There nearly want to b an organisation set up for installing these,
Eg , Rgi. Offtec , and stoves can be more dangerous than the whole offtec thing,
Passports to be signed of when fitting stoves, could be da future ,

The dangers are well known and could be policed as other country's do, but the powers that be chose not get involved and prefer the easy route by prosecuting the installer after the fact.

Wearb

gary71 wrote: »

And you a mod............you should be ashamed of yourself :P

kerryplumbing

I came across one a few weeks ago -stove in an old cottage - it had been installed three years ago on a one pipe system and sealed - it was a time bomb - He called me as he had been experiencing problems with it!!!!
Needless to say I explained all the issues and fortunately got the job to put it right