Went out, fuse blew, range blasting!?

DubInTheWest

Hi guys, looking for any advice or opinions or a situation.

Basically have a stanley solid fuel range, it was fairly blasting earlier, had to go out and do some shopping for an hour. When I came back, the fuse had blown, probably because of Christmas lights. The range was making mad noises. I opened the fuse box and pushed the switch back up and all came back on again.

Then there was a loud bang and the switch went off again. I unplugged outdoor Christmas lights and again put the switch back on, it stayed on this time, so it must have been the outdoor lights that was causing the problems.

So I let out some hot water from the tap and the pump seems to be working which is great, but I noticed a smell or burning from the hotpress where the pump is situated.

The smell doesn't seem to be coming from the pump which is on the ground, but on the inside of the hotpress there is a 'timer' and some switches, they look like light switches but I guess there are from something to do with the immersion or something. The smell of burning seems to be coming from there.

Any idea why this could happen, the smell/burning ? Because the water in the range was so hot and there was no pump on, could this have cause this? Is it something I should be worried about for future ref ?

Also I got up into the attic, and the 'small tank' for the rads, the water in it was scalding hot, I take it this is normal ?

All info welcome

Cheers

TECH85

DubInTheWest wrote: »

Hi guys, looking for any advice or opinions or a situation.

Basically have a stanley solid fuel range, it was fairly blasting earlier, had to go out and do some shopping for an hour. When I came back, the fuse had blown, probably because of Christmas lights. The range was making mad noises. I opened the fuse box and pushed the switch back up and all came back on again.

Then there was a loud bang and the switch went off again. I unplugged outdoor Christmas lights and again put the switch back on, it stayed on this time, so it must have been the outdoor lights that was causing the problems.

So I let out some hot water from the tap and the pump seems to be working which is great, but I noticed a smell or burning from the hotpress where the pump is situated.

The smell doesn't seem to be coming from the pump which is on the ground, but on the inside of the hotpress there is a 'timer' and some switches, they look like light switches but I guess there are from something to do with the immersion or something. The smell of burning seems to be coming from there.

Any idea why this could happen, the smell/burning ? Because the water in the range was so hot and there was no pump on, could this have cause this? Is it something I should be worried about for future ref ?

Also I got up into the attic, and the 'small tank' for the rads, the water in it was scalding hot, I take it this is normal ?

All info welcome

Cheers

Possibly a cable melting off the copper pipe or something,
Any photos ?
No the tank shouldn't be hot, normally cold. Only hot because your stove boiled up into the tank.
Is it plastic because if scalding as you say, it could have melted ?!

DubInTheWest

Thanks for the reply.

Everything seemed to 'relax' down last night after the pump was back on etc..

It was so cold last night I done another little fire in the range, and partly I wanted to see if that burning smell would come back and to see if any damage was caused. The burning smell didn't come back thankfully, so that's good at least.

Yes there are 2 tanks in the attic, a really big plastic tank that fills up and a small little tank for the rads I think. The big tank was cold, but the little tank was hot and I could see steam coming from it, and it was hot to the touch.

I'm just hoping no damage was done permanently, Ive been using the range about 6 years and first time this has happened but frightening at the same time.

That little switch/s that the burning smell was coming from was, like a temperature gage, I think someone told me before its for when the water goes through the pump, it was set to 60c.

Them bloody out door Christmas lights was the source of the trouble.

Roadtoad

You should confirm that there's a safety valve (pressure relief) on a line from the range boiler to a safe location, with NO valves anywhere along the line.

DubInTheWest

Roadtoad wrote: »

You should confirm that there's a safety valve (pressure relief) on a line from the range boiler to a safe location, with NO valves anywhere along the line.

Thanks for the reply. Being honest I don't know what that means, I struggled to put a connection under the sink that was leaking, just goes to show how bad my plumbing skills are.

I think I'll try get a plumber in to be on the safe side. I often did wonder what would I do if the range was at full blast and the electricity went off in a storm. Someone told me to close all the vents on the range and get it out as soon as possible.

John.G

DubInTheWest wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. Being honest I don't know what that means, I struggled to put a connection under the sink that was leaking, just goes to show how bad my plumbing skills are.

I think I'll try get a plumber in to be on the safe side. I often did wonder what would I do if the range was at full blast and the electricity went off in a storm. Someone told me to close all the vents on the range and get it out as soon as possible.

I would suggest getting your plumber to install a steel tank, see below.
The "small" tank is the Feed & Expansion Tank should be made of steel because if it is plastic then it can fail when hot and dump the scalding contents down through the attic with possibly serious/fatal burns to someone maybe sleeping below not to mention the material damage to your house. This tank, even when made of steel does not really dissipate any heat build up due to a power outage/circ pump failure. The hot water cylinder, depending on location and type of house, ie two storey or bungalow, due to convection may dissipate some heat but not all. Your plumber may be able to give some advice once he sees the heating layout but yes, closing all the vents and getting the fire out will certainly help immensely as long as you are around when the problem arises, you should also instruct other members of the household how to do this safely without setting fire to the house.

monseiur

If you have a big fire on in your Range and there's a power cut - the easiest way to stop the boiling water expanding into small attic tank is to run the hot water tap in kitchen/bathroom until cylinder has cooled off. You may have to repeat this process after an hour depending on fire etc.
Closing dampers etc. on range will have very little effect and in certain circumstances may just prolong the problem by keeping the back boiler hot for longer.
M.

John.G

monseiur wrote: »

If you have a big fire on in your Range and there's a power cut - the easiest way to stop the boiling water expanding into small attic tank is to run the hot water tap in kitchen/bathroom until cylinder has cooled off. You may have to repeat this process after an hour depending on fire etc.
Closing dampers etc. on range will have very little effect and in certain circumstances may just prolong the problem by keeping the back boiler hot for longer.
M.

That will help but I've often wondered how much heat is being absorbed by the cylinder coil under convection conditions only which will depend on its location and height with reference to the stove, one might go so far as to suggest that a "dumping" motorized valve which is powered on when closed might be fitted to automatically run the hot water (safely)to drain under power failure conditions. Assuming you have a stove, have you ever tested running off the hot water with the stove circ pump off.
I have never seen the stove manufacturers suggesting this, maybe something to do with water supply loss during a power failure??.

agusta

If a stove or range is fitted correctly,the cylinder will pretty much absorb all the heat through the true gravity circuit.Until the water in the cylinder reaches a certain temperature.In the event of a power cut,If the range is plumbed correctly and the cylinder reaches 70 degree plus,turning on a hot tap will bring the cylinder temp down.
Alot of boiler stoves cause problems during a power cut and are dangerous.Why,incorrectly plumbed

John.G

agusta wrote: »

If a stove or range is fitted correctly,the cylinder will pretty much absorb all the heat through the true gravity circuit.Until the water in the cylinder reaches a certain temperature.In the event of a power cut,If the range is plumbed correctly and the cylinder reaches 70 degree plus,turning on a hot tap will bring the cylinder temp down.
Alot of boiler stoves cause problems during a power cut and are dangerous.Why,incorrectly plumbed

Yes, its a bit surprising though that because people can be out of home during a power failure with stove on that some form of automated dump isn't fitted?. I know that its not normal practice to fit a T&P valve on a vented cylinder but if properly fitted what is fundamentally wrong with this as it will open at ~ 90/95C thus causing a cold water flow into the cylinder.