Advice Needed Please

Ok. The ashpit door (at the bottom on the front) is fine, it's the glass front doors that are off a wee bit. We will wait until the plumber gets home and the phone him. he an surely re-align the door. Thanks everybody you were a great help! There are no forums here that I could find, they are all about wood burners. Wood isn't hot enough for our winters here.

The top door would be an issue burning wood as it is over fire air...
Under fire air from the ash door would be a problem but that door is good...
Have you tried turning down the air control knob to lower the water temps...

Page 7 of 18, diagram 7 of the user man PDF...
What number is the dial set to now...

It's set at zero.

Secondary air control...
Do you have these sliders on your model...
If so are they fully open, fully closed or somewhere in between...
If they are fully open begin closing them and watch your temps...
they should begin to drop...
The secondaries should be open only enough to maintain a minimal fire...
The dial control should be the primary air supply to the fire...
Make sure the 'zero setting' should have the primary air almost totally closed at this point...
Can you see the primary air door to confirm this is the case...
If the ash door is tight, the dial is set to zero, the primary air plate is shut and the secondaries are open...
Then this is the cause of the un-regulated fire, high water temps and the pump running...
By closing down the secondary air supply which is un-regulated and opening up the primary air which is regulated...
you will gain control of the too hot water and the pump running constantly just to scrub off the excess heat...
As you slowly close the secondary air sliders the temps will drop and the pump will stop...
This is the cut-off temp for your heater...
Move the secondary just a bit more closed and turn your dial to '1' this should raise the water temp slightly...
Once it passes the cut-off temps the pump will kick on till the rads scrub the heat off and drop the water temps...
Shutting off the pump...
And gaining control of your house temps...
As you close the secondary air more you will need to durn the dial up to maintain the proper house temps...
Depending on the outside temps you should be running mostly on the dial...
With little secondary air...
Bitter cold may require the use of the secondary air to maintain water temps...

I am starting to like this stove/boiler...
Nice for a house, you can see the flames/blue ladies...
You can move the heat to where you need it...
Makes DHW...
Not worrying about air circulation issues...

Ok. If anything isnt clear it's my fault, I am bad at explaining Yes this is a really nice fire, the glass stays clear and you see the red coals inside, its very christmas-cardy and cosy. You can see it in situ here- http://www.flickr.com/photos/51405939@N02/6271954202/ -the wall has now been painted
We have closed off the dial at the side to 0 ..and we have closed off the air slider thingies at the front. It still draws air in,and the only place left for the air to get in is the badly fitting glass doors I think.
We have got it under control now by only putting on one shovelful of coal and keeping the fire very low. it still heats the rads ok and stays in overnight... but means we have to keep an eye on it in case it goes too low. I do like this stove and it is very warm. I didnt know Americans had coal fires at all!

The coal will react slowly so keep an eye on the fire...
Air over the fire will not keep a coal fire going...
You use the 'formed coal' brickettes right...
Seems like you have an under fire air leak somewhere...
If both the primary and secondary air doors are shut...
You can visually confirm the primary air flap is closed...
And turning the dial up opens that flap...
Do the secondaries rattle at all...
They may be shut but do not fit tight...
This could be your air leak...
Yep, we do burn coal...
The lucky ones are much closer to the mines in PA...
BTW...
The Grandparents came over from the Glasgow area in 1905...

My mum was born near Glasgow. many thanks will let you know how this fire gets on.

Ok. The installer came out and agrees its drawing in too much air and that is the problem, not the thermostat. Even when all closed up and turned to 0 you can hear air being drawn in. He says short of pulling it out of the wall and building a new one in there he doesn't know what to do. I was thinking of something to put at the front of the ashpan to stop the free flow of air into it? Or has anybody here ever come across this and what did you do ?

Where is the leak? I use furnace cement to tighten up any air leaks, but if it's the ash/primary door then you need to refit that so it's tight (usually a hinge adjustment or gasket).

Husband cant see how to do it. Installer says doors are ok, but theres a gap we can see it. I think we might need to just use a shovelful of coal at a time and it means more work ..

Take some pictures of this gap...
Then we might be able to figure out a solution...
Is this installer new to this stove...
If they installed it improperly they need to fix it...
Even if it means ripping out the boiler and starting from scratch...
The manufacturer may be able to offer some help...

This is where we're stuck.. we are council tenants, so the council installs the stove and we pay nothing. They got a local contractor to do it, and it was only his second ever stove as he usually does gas heating He bought it on the internet from a place that sells them. He phoned them here, in front of us and they said contact the makers. He phoned the makers too and they said nope contact the sellers. So we are stuck. And if we complain to the council then that gets the contractor into trouble and we don't want to do that. because he did his best. You see ?
BUT... on the other hand the doors are meeting the stop perfectly and I think the gap is supposed to be there, I think the problem is lower down around the ashcan. The ashcan front just fixes onto two hooks and I feel this is a bad design. But I'm only the little woman round here and when I said this to them they turned, looked at me, looked at each other, and resumed talking where they left off.
Have any of you got stoves that are fierce and burn a lot of coal? How do you work round that ? Husband jsut put 2 shovels of coal on it overnight and its did ok, didnt roar and is still lit this morning.
ANd thank you for all your amazing patience and help, you're brilliant.

ming wrote:This is where we're stuck.. we are council tenants, so the council installs the stove and we pay nothing. They got a local contractor to do it, and it was only his second ever stove as he usually does gas heating He bought it on the internet from a place that sells them. He phoned them here, in front of us and they said contact the makers. He phoned the makers too and they said nope contact the sellers. So we are stuck. And if we complain to the council then that gets the contractor into trouble and we don't want to do that. because he did his best. You see ?
BUT... on the other hand the doors are meeting the stop perfectly and I think the gap is supposed to be there, I think the problem is lower down around the ashcan. The ashcan front just fixes onto two hooks and I feel this is a bad design. But I'm only the little woman round here and when I said this to them they turned, looked at me, looked at each other, and resumed talking where they left off.
Have any of you got stoves that are fierce and burn a lot of coal? How do you work round that ? Husband jsut put 2 shovels of coal on it overnight and its did ok, didnt roar and is still lit this morning.
ANd thank you for all your amazing patience and help, you're brilliant.

I understand how the "system" works over there in UK, my significant other if from Southern England is actually still works for the Job Centre there. That said someone has to take responsibility. As I mentioned in my post above, anything below the grates needs to be as airtight as possible in order to have any control over the fire. Above the fire doesn't matter near as much. We use furnace cement in tubes like caulking, or gasket material in flat or round that is cemented into place. You need to be able to throttle back and have some control or else a blustery day will over heat the stove or you just won't get what you need from the unit.