Stanley 80 producing a lot of soot

AthenaCottage

Hi All,
Our Stanley 80 range has recently started making a lot of soot.
Having to clean it at least once a week compared to every 5-6 weeks previously.
We burn hard wood and coal but can only afford to light it at teatime so it stays off during the day. It's costing €50 a week as it is so can't keep it lit for longer.
Any ideas appreciated...

my3cents

All I can say is that previously you were lucky. iirc you are supposed to clean it at least once a week. We get away with cleaning every couple of weeks when its cold and the stove is on all the time but we would also be very aware of any signs that it needed cleaning.

If you are burning cheap polish coal then thats probably the reason for the soot, if you get upsidown christmas trees growing on the bottom of the access rings then thats deffo dirty polish coal.

My initial concern would be if you have ever had the chimney swept?

If you have access for a curtain side lorry to near the house and can afford to buy a tonne of coal at a time you may find this thread helpful Seems like a good deal on coal.... and may I recommend Smokeless Ovoids (in 20 or 25kg bags for easy handling).

AthenaCottage

my3cents wrote: »

All I can say is that previously you were lucky. iirc you are supposed to clean it at least once a week. We get away with cleaning every couple of weeks when its cold and the stove is on all the time but we would also be very aware of any signs that it needed cleaning.

If you are burning cheap polish coal then thats probably the reason for the soot, if you get upsidown christmas trees growing on the bottom of the access rings then thats deffo dirty polish coal.

My initial concern would be if you have ever had the chimney swept?

If you have access for a curtain side lorry to near the house and can afford to buy a tonne of coal at a time you may find this thread helpful Seems like a good deal on coal.... and may I recommend Smokeless Ovoids (in 20 or 25kg bags for easy handling).

Hi my3cents,
Only just picked up your reply - many thanks for responding.
We had massive problems previously with this range and chimney, to the extent of suffering carbon monoxide poisoning.
We have since installed a brand new steel flue which has fixed those issues.
This is why I'm posting now to get some advise, because we were very lucky to survive last time.
I was wondering if it was an issue of burning the ash and coal at the same time.. Creating more soot than usual?
We have swept the new flue a couple of months ago before the cold weather set in, but maybe it needs doing again.
Its not the Polish stuff, think it's called Thermalite, like little ovoids.

my3cents

tbh the only thing I know that has a major impact on the sooty build up in a stove is poor fuel quality.

The only thing I can suggest is getting the range going well before you close it down. That way you burn off the sooty impurities in a good flow of hot air so they go up the chimney and out. A slow burn of a fresh load of fuel will soot up the range much quicker.

btw we have the same stove just a modern version.

AthenaCottage

my3cents wrote: »

tbh the only thing I know that has a major impact on the sooty build up in a stove is poor fuel quality.

The only thing I can suggest is getting the range going well before you close it down. That way you burn off the sooty impurities in a good flow of hot air so they go up the chimney and out. A slow burn of a fresh load of fuel will soot up the range much quicker.

btw we have the same stove just a modern version.

Don't think we've changed how we're using the range. But maybe we've been trying to close it down over too long a time to conserve fuel.
Can I ask my3cents, are you using as much fuel as we are? Just thinking that as you have the updated version of our range, it would give us a fair comparison.
Cheers now.

my3cents

AthenaCottage wrote: »

Don't think we've changed how we're using the range. But maybe we've been trying to close it down over too long a time to conserve fuel.
Can I ask my3cents, are you using as much fuel as we are? Just thinking that as you have the updated version of our range, it would give us a fair comparison.
Cheers now.

We have the Erigal and there isn't much difference between it and an 80 or a Super. We only have the small boiler at the back of the fire box (hot water only) and just let it tick over say 12kg plus of smokeless ovoids a day sometimes with a few large logs (large because they burn slowly). So say two 40kg bags a week give or take depending on weather. We don't use the oven much as that does take a good bit of fuel to get going but we have loads of hot water and a warm kitchen. In fact the kitchen is all along one wall of the house so it tends to heat the whole house.

AthenaCottage

my3cents wrote: »

We have the Erigal and there isn't much difference between it and an 80 or a Super. We only have the small boiler at the back of the fire box (hot water only) and just let it tick over say 12kg plus of smokeless ovoids a day sometimes with a few large logs (large because they burn slowly). So say two 40kg bags a week give or take depending on weather. We don't use the oven much as that does take a good bit of fuel to get going but we have loads of hot water and a warm kitchen. In fact the kitchen is all along one wall of the house so it tends to heat the whole house.

We do use less than that to be fair but only light the range around 5 or 6 o'clock most nights. There is usually residual warmth in the house during the day from the night before.
I guess it's just a pretty expensive way to get heat into the home. We sometimes use the cooker side but timing is everything if you don't want everything you put in there smoke flavoured or incinerated. 😊
Due to how the range was originally set up we don't benefit from hot water, just the heating. The hot water is instant from an electric heater.
If we could afford it I guess we'd have it replaced with something a lot more efficient.
Thanks for your input my3cents, much appreciated. 😊

my3cents

AthenaCottage wrote: »

We do use less than that to be fair but only light the range around 5 or 6 o'clock most nights. There is usually residual warmth in the house during the day from the night before.
I guess it's just a pretty expensive way to get heat into the home. We sometimes use the cooker side but timing is everything if you don't want everything you put in there smoke flavoured or incinerated. 😊
Due to how the range was originally set up we don't benefit from hot water, just the heating. The hot water is instant from an electric heater.
If we could afford it I guess we'd have it replaced with something a lot more efficient.
Thanks for your input my3cents, much appreciated. 😊

I was being honest with the coal use we have used a lot less in past years but then we had a lot more wood, this year we paid less for fuel from Coal Warehouse in the North but have used more as a result. We used to let the stove go out at night and light it at about 4pm this year its been going 24/7.

Hmmm, if you don't have hot water from the stove then get your system checked over by a decent plumber that understands solid fuel.

With solid fuel you need something to absorb the heat if pumps fail or the electric goes off and the easiest way to do that is by allowing all the heat to go into the hot water by default and use the heat for rads when required.

Also if the oven creates smoke flavoured food you must be leaking smoke into the oven which shouldn't be happening. Its easy however to forget that you have something in the oven and incinerate it

GY A1

There's the cause of your soot problem.
Closing it down too much.
And that will cause smoking problems
And the carbon monoxide problem you mentioned.
Very serious issues there
Is there a draw problem on the chimney also ?

AthenaCottage wrote: »

Don't think we've changed how we're using the range. But maybe we've been trying to close it down over too long a time to conserve fuel.

AthenaCottage

my3cents wrote: »

I was being honest with the coal use we have used a lot less in past years but then we had a lot more wood, this year we paid less for fuel from Coal Warehouse in the North but have used more as a result. We used to let the stove go out at night and light it at about 4pm this year its been going 24/7.

Hmmm, if you don't have hot water from the stove then get your system checked over by a decent plumber that understands solid fuel.

With solid fuel you need something to absorb the heat if pumps fail or the electric goes off and the easiest way to do that is by allowing all the heat to go into the hot water by default and use the heat for rads when required.

Also if the oven creates smoke flavoured food you must be leaking smoke into the oven which shouldn't be happening. Its easy however to forget that you have something in the oven and incinerate it

It honestly wouldn't surprise me if the whole water/heating system's been set up incorrectly. It seems nothing was done properly and has cost thousands so far to rectify. :-(
We originally believed the electric water heater was installed for summer time when the range wasn't in use. But no, it's having to be used 365 days a year.
Think your advice is sound there about finding a decent plumber who knows what he's on with, but a bit like Unicorn poo...not quite so easy to find! :-D

Yes, we've had several charcoal food items and it's only once we're at the embers stage that we dare heat food in the oven - smoke definitely getting into the stove somehow.

Will have a look at that Coal Warehouse, see what their prices are like...thanks for your help my50cents.

If we had an savings left we'd rip it all out and get new, maybe one day. :-)

AthenaCottage

GY A1 wrote: »

There's the cause of your soot problem.
Closing it down too much.
And that will cause smoking problems
And the carbon monoxide problem you mentioned.
Very serious issues there
Is there a draw problem on the chimney also ?

AthenaCottage wrote: »

Don't think we've changed how we're using the range. But maybe we've been trying to close it down over too long a time to conserve fuel.

Hi GY A1,

We had to replace the entire chimney with a metal flue which should have fixed the draw problems we had originally.
We do let the fuel burn hard until most of the smoke has died down and always leave a half turn open on the air inlet - its never closed fully.
The carbon monoxide issue was because the previous owners sold us a house pretending the heating system worked, but in fact neighbours have told us they hadn't used it for several years before selling the house to us. They could have killed us. But hey, they made money so obviously couldn't have cared less.
We were too trusting. Foolish I know.

Wearb

AthenaCottage wrote: »

GY A1 wrote: »

The carbon monoxide issue was because the previous owners sold us a house pretending the heating system worked, but in fact neighbours have told us they hadn't used it for several years before selling the house to us. They could have killed us. But hey, they made money so obviously couldn't have cared less.
We were too trusting. Foolish I know.

I get a lot of people wanting me to "just put heating going" just before selling a house for hundreds of thousands and still not want to spend a hundred odd to get boiler in good working order. I always write it up as I see it, but there is always enormous pressure to on me to guild the lilly. I am sure the rest of the service guys find the same.

It is so common that I would advise all second-hand purchasers to make allowances for a big plumbing/heating job after purchase.

AthenaCottage

Wearb wrote: »

AthenaCottage wrote: »

I get a lot of people wanting me to "just put heating going" just before selling a house for hundreds of thousands and still not want to spend a hundred odd to get boiler in good working order. I always write it up as I see it, but there is always enormous pressure to on me to guild the lilly. I am sure the rest of the service guys find the same.

It is so common that I would advise all second-hand purchasers to make allowances for a big plumbing/heating job after purchase.

Well they were fully aware of our financial situation Wearb, so they sold it us knowing we'd be in dire straits if a big job like the heating system was to prove faulty and needing replacement. Disgusting samples of human beings. We actually put a brand new boiler in a house we were once selling - some people are decent - some are grabbing wasters. That's life I guess. When a few hundred euros is the difference between life and death you'd think some would look at themselves a bit more closely.

Wearb

AthenaCottage wrote: »

Wearb wrote: »

Well they were fully aware of our financial situation Wearb, so they sold it us knowing we'd be in dire straits if a big job like the heating system was to prove faulty and needing replacement. Disgusting samples of human beings. We actually put a brand new boiler in a house we were once selling - some people are decent - some are grabbing wasters. That's life I guess. When a few hundred euros is the difference between life and death you'd think some would look at themselves a bit more closely.

You would think that, but as I said, I find that the opposite is mostly the case.