Solid fuel range making banging noise and water 'churning' noise....

DubInTheWest

Hi guys, just wondering if any of you might have some advice here.

Basically I have a solid fuel stanley range. It was working fine for the last few years, yes I'd her some 'water boiling noises' but no banging.

So about 2 days ago I decided to clear out the range, I took the top off it etc... and gave it a good clean, there was lots of ash covering the pipes inside.

I decided to light it last night and I heard this banging noise, like popping. It had me worried so I close it down a certain extent and the noise went away and it worked as it should.

From googling, it could be limescale blocking the pipes ?

Any idea on how I should go from here, as in, is there any solution I can run through the system that can be bought locally in woodies etc... and might fix the job ?

Thanks in advance

Tullogher

Is the circulation pump running to take away the heat from the range. Impeller could be gone in pump. Are rads heating properly

DubInTheWest

Hi and thanks for the reply.

Yes the rads are heating no problem. I was using the range with no issues until I cleaned it out. I've been cleaning it out for years so I doubt I did any damage etc.. while cleaning it. There was no noise until it was cleaned out, well when I say no noise I mean there was no banging, there was always a bit of water churning noise even from a few years back.

The range was pretty dirty I have to say. I used to use turf and logs and there would be mostly ash to clean, I started using coal from the local depot and I noticed a lot of sticky tar stuff on the top of the range where the pots and stuff go. I cleaned to the best of my ability. I'm wondering if some of that is still in the range somewhere and causing issues or maybe limescale buildup ?

Any more input ?

DubInTheWest

Just a P.s on this.

When I light the range, when it starts to heat up, the banging happens a lot of bumps from behind the range, then when it heats up, the banging just stops and it's like there was never any issues. So all in all the banging and churning noise is only when it's heating up. Once it heats up, there are no issues, it works the way it should.

Tnx

Dtp1979

It’s not the circ pump. A solid fuel appliance should never rely on the pump to dump the heat. Check the small attic tank has water in it. Possibly incorrect piping and the system may well have been incorrectly relying on the pump. The stat could be gone, or the pump.

DubInTheWest

Dtp1979 wrote: »

It’s not the circ pump. A solid fuel appliance should never rely on the pump to dump the heat. Check the small attic tank has water in it. Possibly incorrect piping and the system may well have been incorrectly relying on the pump. The stat could be gone, or the pump.

I think this bloody range does rely in the pump 100% to be honest. Just before Christmas I was out for an hour, in the mean time the fuse went and when I got home the range was hot as F*ck making a racket, I changed the fuse and let out water and it was fine. I'm in a bunglow, range in the kitchen and immersion tank in the bathroom.


Anyway, I lit the fire tonight as it was a bit cold. To me it sounds like the water is heating and bubbling behind the range and not being let flow through the system. Eventually went it flows through the system, the gushing/churning noise stops and the banging stops too.

I checked the small tank in the attic and there is water in it.

Next weekend I'll drain out the system fully. Thats all I know how to do. I was hoping I might be able to buy solution to run though the system/small tank to unblock any limescale if there is any but i can't seem to see anything online that would do the job.

Thanks for your reply.

Dtp1979

DubInTheWest wrote: »

I think this bloody range does rely in the pump 100% to be honest. Just before Christmas I was out for an hour, in the mean time the fuse went and when I got home the range was hot as F*ck making a racket, I changed the fuse and let out water and it was fine. I'm in a bunglow, range in the kitchen and immersion tank in the bathroom.


Anyway, I lit the fire tonight as it was a bit cold. To me it sounds like the water is heating and bubbling behind the range and not being let flow through the system. Eventually went it flows through the system, the gushing/churning noise stops and the banging stops too.

I checked the small tank in the attic and there is water in it.

Next weekend I'll drain out the system fully. Thats all I know how to do. I was hoping I might be able to buy solution to run though the system/small tank to unblock any limescale if there is any but i can't seem to see anything online that would do the job.

Thanks for your reply.

Unless you have a direct water heating system, then it’s not Limescale.

BorneTobyWilde

A intermittent fault with circulating pump. They can get stuck and then kick into life with the banging in pipes.

sky6

DubInTheWest wrote: »

I think this bloody range does rely in the pump 100% to be honest. Just before Christmas I was out for an hour, in the mean time the fuse went and when I got home the range was hot as F*ck making a racket, I changed the fuse and let out water and it was fine. I'm in a bunglow, range in the kitchen and immersion tank in the bathroom.


Anyway, I lit the fire tonight as it was a bit cold. To me it sounds like the water is heating and bubbling behind the range and not being let flow through the system. Eventually went it flows through the system, the gushing/churning noise stops and the banging stops too.

I checked the small tank in the attic and there is water in it.

Next weekend I'll drain out the system fully. Thats all I know how to do. I was hoping I might be able to buy solution to run though the system/small tank to unblock any limescale if there is any but i can't seem to see anything online that would do the job.

Thanks for your reply.

If you have a Limescale problem you will find a build up of it in the bottom of your storage Tanks. It will be like sand in the bottom of the Tank.
If you don't have any in the Tank then you can rule out Limescale as the problem.
I have seen 2 inch copper pipe reduced to a 1/2 inch flow from Limescale buildup. When heated it solidifies like concrete in the pipework and cant be removed easily.

There are cleaners and descalers which might help if the problem is small,But again you need a good Pump to move it around the system.
So a new pump might be a good place to start as they're not too expensive.

At a guess though I'd say the pipework is the real problem as there shouldn't be any banging.

Dtp1979

sky6 wrote: »

If you have a Limescale problem you will find a build up of it in the bottom of your storage Tanks. It will be like sand in the bottom of the Tank.
If you don't have any in the Tank then you can rule out Limescale as the problem.
I have seen 2 inch copper pipe reduced to a 1/2 inch flow from Limescale buildup. When heated it solidifies like concrete in the pipework and cant be removed easily.

There are cleaners and descalers which might help if the problem is small,But again you need a good Pump to move it around the system.
So a new pump might be a good place to start as they're not too expensive.

At a guess though I'd say the pipework is the real problem as there shouldn't be any banging.

There shouldn’t be Limescale in the heating pipes though

deandean

The banging is caused by lack of water flow through the back boiler.
If the noise is only happening when stove is heating up, the problem may well be with the pipe thermostat that switches on the circulation pump. Do you know where it is? Try turning the temperature dial right down so that the circulation pump switches on earlier.

John.G

DubInTheWest wrote: »

I think this bloody range does rely in the pump 100% to be honest. Just before Christmas I was out for an hour, in the mean time the fuse went and when I got home the range was hot as F*ck making a racket, I changed the fuse and let out water and it was fine. I'm in a bunglow, range in the kitchen and immersion tank in the bathroom.


Anyway, I lit the fire tonight as it was a bit cold. To me it sounds like the water is heating and bubbling behind the range and not being let flow through the system. Eventually went it flows through the system, the gushing/churning noise stops and the banging stops too.

I checked the small tank in the attic and there is water in it.

Next weekend I'll drain out the system fully. Thats all I know how to do. I was hoping I might be able to buy solution to run though the system/small tank to unblock any limescale if there is any but i can't seem to see anything online that would do the job.

Thanks for your reply.

Check pipe stat temperature setting, also as pointed out elsewhere stat could be faulty, turn down the stat setting to minimum and see if pump kicks in.

I would also check the pump inlet&outlet ports and the pump impeller itself for any build up of deposits, if not draining down the system and if the pump isolation valves are holding then the pump head can be removed for impeller inspection/cleaning and the pump ports can be flushed out by opening/closing the isolation valves.