Stanley died on Boxing Day :-(

[Countryboy]

Hi, we have an old property in Gloucestershire that has a Stanley Twin Series 100 for central heating and water. We turned it off late on Christmas Day and when we came to start it on Boxing Day the burners refused to light....

I wonder if anyone here has any experience with these things and can offer any advice. In the very limitied information that I have with it, it says something about cleaning some electrodes if the burners fail to light but I haven't been able to locate these electodes...

Any help gratefully received..

Yours shiveringly!!

 

[NT]

maybe if you give us a picture we'd know the setup, the model no means nothing to me.

And give us a bit of info, like whether the gas is coming through, whether you can access the burning chamber or its sealed, etc


NT

 

[Tom]

I don't know anything about Stanleys but if they're anything like Rayburns they're supposed to be on *all* the time.

Jaqy

 

[Countryboy]

Hi Folks, thanks for the replies and sorry for the brevity :?

It's an oil fired Stanley that looks like this:

http://www.cosi.co.uk/images/Image6.gif

I've been through all the 'user type' steps but it didn't fix the problem. I don't really have enough information (or knowledge!) to find out if the oil is getting through. You can actually get at all its innards and I've fiddled with them as much as I can without success. The symptoms match exactly what it tells me will happen if the 'electrodes' need cleaning...

We don't actually switch it off Jaqy (turn the mains off that is) we just switch the programmer to 'off', I know it's a cliche but 'we've always done that and it's been ok'...

Thanks again for responding.

Countryboy....

 

[Mark]

Knowing nothing about this thing isnt going to stop me having a say....

Obviously be careful burners / oil etc yada yada.

Can you see the burner ? I would expect the electrodes to be adjacent to that so that they can ignite it. Are they looking very dirty/oily?

Can you clean them with a spray like wd40?

Is it a single burner or is there a separate burner for cooking and hot water ?

Have you run out of oil? If there are several burners and nothing works then I would be thinking either no power to electrodes &/or pump or problem with oil supply.

Is it a pumped supply to the stove or gravity fed?

 

[Countryboy]

Hiya Mark, and knowing nothing hasn't stopped me fiddling about with it

Thanks for your thoughts on this...

Unfortunately I haven't located the burners yet, even though I've been deep in it's innards! There are two illuminated reset buttons, one for when the system is on CH&HW/HW and the other for the cooker. My educated guess is that there might be two burners. And if so, neither of them are igniting.

I've checked that there is oil in the tank and because of its position in the garden I'm sure it must be pumped.

Even though I've been through the start-up process any number of times I've never smelt any kerosene so you've got me wondering whether the filter at the tank end might be blocked and if that would stop it trying to ignite.

Unfortunately our local Stanley service firm are on holiday until 2 Jan 2007!

Cheers,

Countryboy.

 

[Mark]

looking at your cutaway image I think that the two burners are in the bottom left.

It looks as if you can see the 'flames' in the central cavity just to the left of the ovens and again almost hidden just below the thermostat controls.
If they are the flames then the burners are the two similar units in that bottom left quarter of the stove.

Cant tell what is electrical cable or oil pipe to those units but it must be possible to at least clean them / check that oil is coming out.

 

[Countryboy]

Thanks Mark, now that you point them out I see them too... When I was grovelling around in that space it wasn't easy to see how anything came apart down there. I was nervous because I definitely don't want to break anything

I'll check the filter tomorrow and also have another look at the burner area to see if I can disassemble anything.

I really appreciate your help, thanks..

Any further observations will also be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

CB

 

[Lime]

My feelings are if you don't know what you are doing I'd leave it alone.

Sorry that I'm not much help.

 

[worms]

With the usual, know-nothing-about-it warnings...

Let's get this straight - you have both red lock-out lights lit? I'm assuming that you have pressed both the red buttons and that it is simply going back to lock out! If it is anything like nearly every other burner I've seen, then pressing the red button will lead to a start-up sequence and you will hear the fan running, some clicks and if no fuel is flowing it will go back to lock-out. If both CH and Cooker are doing the same then it looks like fuel flow rather than electrodes (which are surely unlikely to both give out at the same time?). So most likely a fuel problem before the pipe splits to connect to CH and Cooker.

To check the fuel flow you will need to take risks with undoing a pipe and going through the firing up process to see if fuel is coming through. This means exposing the works with the electricity off then switching it back on and being very careful not to touch anything live. I don't think anyone can talk you through this on forum since we all have our own level of acceptance of risk. The good advice is "if you are not sure then don't!" but that's not the sort of advice most of us listen to!

Lime is probably correct, but with a cold house and no prospect of assistance until after New Year... The one thing to be absolutely clear about is that you MUST isolate its electrics before you start meddling with it!

 

[Mark]

Where abouts are the filters? One on the tank I presume, is ther another at the stove ?

Is there a junction or connector in the oil line anywhere near the stove?
Can you disconnect and see if when you try to start you get and attempt to pump oil through? Plug the end that goes to the tank quickly !

Is there any chance that you have air in the pipe ?

If i were getting to the point of playing with it in any sort of bits I would have someone standing by with a fire extinguisher & fire blanket and do something to enable rapid cut off of electricity and oil to the stove.

(well In theory I would, but when I last dismantled and patched our oil boiler I did it just with a fire extinguisher by my side. We've got gas now.)

 

[Jocelyn]

You don't say how old your Stanley is, but I had a gas fired one which was left on for 10 years without a problem, (should probably, but did not bother to have it serviced) however it 'died' after a power cut one day The burners had simply worn out. I should seek advice from your nearest stanley dealer, tampering with gas and oil is a bit risky.

 

[worms]

Another thought...

I routinely "tamper" with my twin-pressure-jet oil-fired Rayburn - only I prefer the term "servicing"! I watched the professional a couple of times first, then when faced with similar problems to the OP here, I waded in and found it was all fairly easy - but then I always was one for taking things apart to see how they work!

As I've said before on here, the real break-through was when I started to look at the machine as a jumble of spare parts from other machines, that all happen to have been bolted together by Mr Rayburn. While you may not find any service manuals on-line for the Stanley, all the parts will probably have a web presence under their original manufacturers. Once you have the bottom left cover off and can see the burners, there will most likely be a name and number on them (possibly also repeated on the inside of the door that hides the control panel). For example my burners are by Nu-way - a google for Nu-way got me all the technical help I needed that I wasn't finding by looking up Rayburn.

 

[Tom]

Worms, did you know that you can find all the manuals for installation, commissioning and servicing of Rayburns, current and obselete, on the Rayburn website?

http://www.rayburn-web.co.uk/directorylist.asp

Hope this helps.

Jaqy

 

[worms]

Jaqy,

Thanks! I think this must be relatively new - the manuals were not online when I was looking a couple of years ago (in fact there was a thread on here last year with someone else looking for them). I have the paper copies of the three manuals (installation/user/service) that were left by the installer, but I still find the extra info on the specific components of use. It also helps in locating spares at sensible prices.

If Country boy was to have a look at the service manual for one of the 400 series oil Rayburns, I am sure that the Stanley wouldn't be too different - at least in terms of what to be looking for. The Fault-finding sections might give some clues.

 

[Countryboy]

Thank you all so much for your assistance...

Today I cleaned the tank filter and bled the oil system down to the Stanley. After a couple of tries it came back to life We are now bathed in tropical warmth.

I thank you all for your encouragement and participation. I'll keep my fingers crossed in the hope that it will now behave itself (although I think I might arrange a service for it in the New Year)...

A Happy New Year to you all, and thanks again....

CB.

 

[worms]

I like a story with a happy ending!

 

[Nemesis]

I think maybe all involved should be invited round for a glass of festive cheer!

 

[Tom]

Glad I could help you, Worms. I think you're right...they are relatively new.

Jaqy

 

[Tom]

Oh, Nemesis, I totally agree :wink:

Well done, CB!!

Jaqy