Refurbishing old range cooker/stove

J.Ball

I bought a house last year and it came with a cool old Stanley 8 range cooker. The ones with the smaller legs.

It works relatively well but needs to be fixed up. I rang the range companies and it's about 2k to refurbish these things and they only allow 100 in trade value against another stove (I'd rather keep it).

I'm going to have a go at fixing it up myself and was hoping some of you guys could give me some advice. What to look out for to know what parts to replace etc..

Zaph

Moved from All Things Retro, I think you'll get better replies here OP.

gozunda

OP - have you a photo of the Stanley you could post?

J.Ball

gozunda wrote: »

OP - have you a photo of the Stanley you could post?

Here you go, I can take more photos just tell me of what.

gozunda

J.Ball wrote: »

Here you go, I can take more photos just tell me of what.

Solid fuel then?

J.Ball

gozunda wrote: »

Solid fuel then?

Yeah solid fuel, I'd say it was put in in the 50s along with the house.

the_pen_turner

do you want to fully restore it or just tidy it up a bit

all the parts are available for those. my neighbour bought a new door and a few internal bits from her local Stanley dealer
I got some parts for a cooker (in a lot worse state than that) from H and F in cashel in tipp. no conection to them only as a customer
I know they have loads of old ones that they do up at their warehouse . they might re enamel your one if you asked

J.Ball

the_pen_turner wrote: »

do you want to fully restore it or just tidy it up a bit

all the parts are available for those. my neighbour bought a new door and a few internal bits from her local Stanley dealer
I got some parts for a cooker (in a lot worse state than that) from H and F in cashel in tipp. no conection to them only as a customer
I know they have loads of old ones that they do up at their warehouse . they might re enamel your one if you asked

It smokes a bit and feel it shouldn't this much. I'm not entirely sure what parts to buy.. I'd like to fully restore it if possible. It was h and f that quoted me the ridiculous 100 quid trade value or 2k to restore it so I dunno about going with them.

the_pen_turner

J.Ball wrote: »

It smokes a bit and feel it shouldn't this much. I'm not entirely sure what parts to buy.. I'd like to fully restore it if possible. It was h and f that quoted me the ridiculous 100 quid trade value or 2k to restore it so I dunno about going with them.

wow . cheaper to buy a new one.

J.Ball

the_pen_turner wrote: »

wow . cheaper to buy a new one.

It really would be. It's not in bad condition it just needs a bit of love. I'm handy enough so I'm confident i can fix it up, I just need someone that knows to give me a rough idea what replacement parts it needs. Like special seals or something for it

the_pen_turner

where are you based

J.Ball

the_pen_turner wrote: »

where are you based

Meath, in the navan area

gozunda

You mention it is smoking?

Have you checked for cracks around the Firebox / combustion area. Also check the door seals - This can be easily replaced. The one thing I would be concerned about is if there any internal cracks in the actual body of the range itself.

An easy way to check this to do a smoke test. Something like a bee keepers smoker or metal can with slow burning fibrous material in it will do the job. Presuming that the stove is connected to an existing chinney - put the smoker in the Firebox and watch for escaping smoke where it shouldn't be ...

Check the firebricks in the combustion chamber as well. These should not be cracked or broken.

Also check your chimney. The range will most likley needed to be stripped down and clean all the internal sections. A wire brush and or a small angle grinder will do the job.

Watch out for corrosion or missing parts. This should give you a good idea what needs doing.

nick 56

Sorry to start with a paranoid heading but check that chimney and all the seals around the flue. Get a carbon monoxide alarm for the room its in,

Strip it down carefully and as said before be ready to replace seal ropes etc, i am out of date but the solid fuel stove plumbers used to do this sort of job in situ.

Beware of the dangers of leaks of fumes around the stove and doors the same with the flue and chimney. Get the chimney swept.

Always the same risk with solid fuel fires and stoves. a cold night, a well stoked fire , you dosing in a chair, chimney blow back .

nick

J.Ball

gozunda wrote: »

You mention it is smoking?

Have you checked for cracks around the Firebox / combustion area. Also check the door seals - This can be easily replaced. The one thing I would be concerned about is if there any internal cracks in the actual body of the range itself.

An easy way to check this to do a smoke test. Something like a bee keepers smoker or metal can with slow burning fibrous material in it will do the job. Presuming that the stove is connected to an existing chinney - put the smoker in the Firebox and watch for escaping smoke where it shouldn't be ...

Check the firebricks in the combustion chamber as well. These should not be cracked or broken.

Also check your chimney. The range will most likley needed to be stripped down and clean all the internal sections. A wire brush and or a small angle grinder will do the job.

Watch out for corrosion or missing parts. This should give you a good idea what needs doing.

Thanks I'll look into that, it's smoking around the top plates and under the black top. The doors don't appear to have any sort of airtight seal at all looking at them now. I'm not sure what parts could be missing but they seem to all be there anyway.

The chimney was damp from a leak but that's been sealed now and I've had the range lit to help the chimney dry and it's been improving over the last few days.

I find I can't get the cooker side to really heat up at all but I'd say that's an issue with the seals

the_pen_turner

take some pics up close with the doors open. and of the bricks inside
is it a boiler version or just heating the room. if so is it a boiler at the back or a wrap around boiler.




take out the part that goes into the chimney
open the 4 bolts (1 in each corner under the silver cover)
lift off the top
check the asbestos cord and replace
check the bricks and fir cement in new ones if needed (unless perfect probably worth doing anyway)
put fire cement all around the top and put back on the top and refit the part that goes into the chimney

when the top is off clean it all out down the side . that's a pain to clean through the small round hole.
clean out the section under the oven and down the back. that small door behind the oven door is a pain to clean through
check the oven box for leaks and fire cement them up

replace all the asbestos cord on all the doors and under the top removable plates.

check the locking latchs on the doors to make sure they are pulling the door in firmly

J.Ball

nick 56 wrote: »

Sorry to start with a paranoid heading but check that chimney and all the seals around the flue. Get a carbon monoxide alarm for the room its in,

Strip it down carefully and as said before be ready to replace seal ropes etc, i am out of date but the solid fuel stove plumbers used to do this sort of job in situ.

Beware of the dangers of leaks of fumes around the stove and doors the same with the flue and chimney. Get the chimney swept.

Always the same risk with solid fuel fires and stoves. a cold night, a well stoked fire , you dosing in a chair, chimney blow back .

nick

We have a carbon monoxide detector in the room already, we had it out in due to the chimney blowing back smoke in the ajoining room and we just had the chimney cleaned out, we appear to be safe so far. Thanks for the concern

J.Ball

the_pen_turner wrote: »

take some pics up close with the doors open. and of the bricks inside
is it a boiler version or just heating the room. if so is it a boiler at the back or a wrap around boiler.




take out the part that goes into the chimney
open the 4 bolts (1 in each corner under the silver cover)
lift off the top
check the asbestos cord and replace
check the bricks and fir cement in new ones if needed (unless perfect probably worth doing anyway)
put fire cement all around the top and put back on the top and refit the part that goes into the chimney

when the top is off clean it all out down the side . that's a pain to clean through the small round hole.
clean out the section under the oven and down the back. that small door behind the oven door is a pain to clean through
check the oven box for leaks and fire cement them up

replace all the asbestos cord on all the doors and under the top removable plates.

check the locking latchs on the doors to make sure they are pulling the door in firmly

How do those pics look to you guys?

That All sounds pretty straightforward really I'll buy those bits during the week and get on it. It's just a standard room heating one but I'd like a back boiler put into it soon, hence why I'm trying to fix it up, hopefully I can.

the_pen_turner

bricks are shot
here doesn't seem to be any asbestos cord around the door
this must be a very old model . it doesn't look like the white ones you usually see.

J.Ball

the_pen_turner wrote: »

bricks are shot
here doesn't seem to be any asbestos cord around the door
this must be a very old model . it doesn't look like the white ones you usually see.

How would I replace the bricks exactly?. I can't find any evidence of cord ever being there. It's a very old model, the house was built in the 40 so I'd say the range is from around then too. It's a cool antique that I'd like to keep going though if possible

gozunda

the_pen_turner wrote: »

bricks are shot
here doesn't seem to be any asbestos cord around the door
this must be a very old model . it doesn't look like the white ones you usually see.

I may be wrong but asbestos cord has been replaced by glass fibre materials / cord - do the same job afaik.

gozunda

J.Ball wrote: »

How would I replace the bricks exactly?. I can't find any evidence of cord ever being there. It's a very old model, the house was built in the 40 so I'd say the range is from around then too. It's a cool antique that I'd like to keep going though if possible

The bricks should slot in from the side. I would suggest going and taking a look at one that has been refurbished for the purpose of comparison.


This company have a showroom I think.

http://www.handfenterprises.ie/products/details/stanley-8/11#

the_pen_turner

gozunda wrote: »

I may be wrong but asbestos cord has been replaced by glass fibre materials / cord - do the same job afaik.

yes sorry your right. no asbestos in it anymore

celiam

it needs a good clear out of accumulated soot. Remove the two top plates and sweep out soot there then take off that little door under the oven door and if you can get a L shaped poker use it to scrape out the soot that is in there.