zoothorn

Great help thanks! I do like an onoff sketch in the morning.. Ok the thing I don't have, are both pB tapers @ the corner areas, where the reveal meets wall pB's. Both window reveals similar. So adding the plaster bead will cause a nasty step. I recall you saying I could feather-in this, back to the pB face (assuming I'm only filling the screw holes/ sanding flush/ = pB's done & prepped for painting: is that the grand-plan idea?**) I think I might do away with the tiling corner trims: although neater, I think a -major- faff for me to get right 1st time (especially the corner pieces). I used grout carefully moulded (& a quick job) to finish off edges of my bathroom tiles fine, in a 45* slope.. so could do same across the corner junction of the tiles (leaving a gap > fill with grout into a neat 45* angle).. & on the tops like my bathroom tiles. Maybe preferable to placcy too-? Can you just remind me though what the bigger picture is, re. **finishing off the pB itself? the last upper 3rd of reveals will still be bare pB.. & top too: I think its sensible to finish off these bits before tiling maybe, as you alluded to?

@Onoff can you give me an idea how I finish the 3 sides of the reveal area: do these need finishing before the tiling of the corner area (simply the 2 big pB face areas above blender & gaggia)? I was thinking of tiling today, from the LHS vertical edge @ reveal here >> end on RHS vertical edge of the other sill, as I thought this simplest. But exactly where to start the very 1st tile (relative to the reveal edge, at Left, this -is- where I will start from).. I don't know. Set across the reveal edge 1cm? or flush with reveal edge? if flush then how the bare pB ends will be finished/ how much thickness this will add etc etc. I could tile the reveal.. but, I 'm only going up to 60cm of corner, which equates to 2/3rds way up reveal (if I follow this tile top line around).. so what happens to this last 1/3rd of bare pB reveal sides, & upper reveal section.. also as you can see the sink reveal side has a bad convex 'bow' half way up, so I think tiling this out might be tricky.

Now which publication is that from? looks like your gonna tile all over her back....

I can't believe you did a model of your khazi! it looks like the gents on the millenium falcon.

Anyone know how to plan the tiling for this corner area with 2 windows either side? I'm using 20x10cm tiles in brick pattern. thanks, zoot

I just don't have room for an register plate, there's only 1" around the 5" flue joining the start of the old chimney which has wadding, then light grey I assume heatproof mortar over it (as its still in place). I've done a smoke test on this joint area.. its fine/ no leaks. Im not going to have any hetas inspector here. If it passes as safe, & my builder installed it with all his decades of experience, then that's fine with me whether or not I have a piece of paper to tell me so. If I get a fitter to come in & fashion a register plate, take out the flue, refit the whole lot yes I'll have a piece of paper maybe.. but a £750 bill & still a smoking stove/ it won't solve the issue. I can pretty much conclude, I think with the help on here, that it -is- a cold/warm chimney issue. That makes most sense esp if the colder it is the worse the smoke-out is (I think that nails it for proof right there). If though I can somehow catagorically proove this is true then that would be great.. as I won't be spending £alot on any 'hunch'. But as to a fix assuming it is unoquivocally a cold chimney: would putting a steel liner down.. mean a warmer chimney? if so, how so?

Understood Peter, & I'll try & get my builder to have a check.. but wouldn't I see evidence of smoke leaking at this point if this was some, or all of the cause-? I'm going to try your paper idea to warm up the base of chimney 1st. If I can only establish -for definite- what the cause is > I can progress to try & address it.

Ah.. mine's actually top-out Triassic- Id thought maybe back-out might be an avenue before! I think from the consensus of a few replies, the cold chimney might be the cause: maybe then, if I'm seeing this issue moreso at the start of stove-use period, this concurrs with this train of thinking. But its only conjecture that I'm seeing this prob more now, than say march.. IE its a hunch but not a certainty this is what Ive seen.

I'm not sure it has a register plate, more alot of heatproof wadding secured around the flue > the start of the chimney. But it is pummice-lined though Peter, aparantly according to my builder whose poked his nose down many a chimney, this pummice type is VG if not 'the best' I think I heard him even say.. he was quite adamant I just didn't need to go a steel liner/ heatproof chips affair. But if my builder hadn't taken into account the temp of it when cold/ mine possibly excessively cold to start off with in comparison to a modern liner.. & I can be certain this temp is the cause of my issue, then a liner is possibly the way to go. I need to rule out the other possibles first tho. Am I barking up the wrong tree re. my big 10" diameter chimney (double the diameter of a 5" steel modern liner chimney) as possible cause?

yes will do.. but hang on I can just walk into the forest & retrieve free fuel yes-? if so, yes sure.. will do.

Ok will try this.. neat suggestion. So you & as ProDave seems to suggest too, seem fairly certain on the cold chimney as cause? IE I should be looking at this rather than cursing the stove itself? Is the larger (say twice vs a steel liner affair) diameter of my chimney any issue? I'm doing complex thought experiments sucking on straws into my milkshake, & different diameters of straws. Rather like Einstein used to do, just on a bit smaller scale.

Hi PeterW- there's a door thing (another daft design faux pas IME.. the lever to slide in/out tucks away in the 'in' position around the back/ you have to reach right around the stove, all your body practically ontop of the stove, to get at it.. I want to rip the head off whoever designed it).. but I use to aid draw for refueling, & it does, I think. The baffle looks in good shape, correctly in place & not heat-damaged/ warped at all.. thank gawd. The cowl is a standard terracotta coloured affair I bought on my builders' advice from builders merchants. @dpmiller The whole set-up isn't Hetas or BC signed off, nope, this is wales- you just get things done here (my 40 yr experienced builder, & known as the best around here, as I said installed stove, flue, checked chimney, rebuilt chimney even, put cowl on). It shouldn't affect my solving the problem though. thanks alot for replies/ help chaps.

@ProDave Hi there- its a 5" flue, 3/4 metre or so in length, with a dog leg 45* elbow just above stove going up & back, 2nd 45* elbow > connecting to > a 10" dia circular pummice-lined chimney all the way up straight 7m, new pot & cowell atop. Pummice-liner was checked as good by my very experienced builder, who installed the stove & flue connecting to it. I think he put a camera/ light down. He also rebuilt my chimney top section/ pot/ cowell/ bird guard atop.

Hi Cpd- it is strange. One thing is definite: the colder the temp is.. the worse the smoke is. 1) when you say internal flue, do you mean the width of the ~1m section between the chimney & the stove? 2) 7m. so a good height plus Im the end of a small valley whereby the end of the house with chimney on, gets whacked by wind/ weather: usually I get a vg draw due to this. 3) as the pot is before the ridge relative to the weather coming in, always, due to a west-facing small valley. 4) I do get occasional downdraught, quite considerable, due to probably yes a microclimate in this wee valley.. 98% of the time not. If only I could rule the stove in or out by trying another.. but this is just not possible/ I barely know anyone here/ I'm fairly new, let alone anyone having a spare to lend me. I'm rural you see- plus the only stove fitter not happy with me as my builder chose to install my stove, over ruling him/ not best pleased after his visit aftershave & fancy new stove van et al.

Ok thanks alot Ed- seems like some various terminology which could fool a good few; once I 'd established the likelihood of the red up in the loft could only likely be doing the 'loop' terminal duties I could proceed/ as said I like to understand xyz in principle before I jump in. Great- progress then. Its copper btw! & cheap as chips in B&M for £10 (same as Next ones fwiw). Ok onto the tiling. If anyone can help me on where my tile reference point/ vertical line should be, with respect to my corner area to tile.. I'd appreciate it & can get cracking on this (the corner itself-?) cheers chaps- zoot

Well, I guess it could be distorted.. but how on earth I would be able to establish this I've no idea. It is the original baffle, & I did buy the stove with some prior user OTT heat issues*.. or.. the parts are just terrible quality & not up to par: I say this because I bought a replacement iron front section (with two upright 'prongs' to stop logs hitting glass- another appalling design as you keep nudging it out of place loading in logs as the 2 prongs are so stupidly big & intrusive) which has bowed out of shape like the prior one, within 18 months of normal use. For eg I had to replace the grate, front bit mentioned above, & pan is distorted (but useable). Anyone else have this Harmony 1 multifuel stove? I just cannot believe how many huge design faults I find with it, considering its meant to be a very costly belgian made all solid iron stove, with VG reviews. Its an absolute joke, aside from the current smoke issue (which may well not be its fault).. but replacing it/ an extra £1k I cannot afford, &, may well not be any different re. this smoke issue until I can establish the cause.

(Ran Ed's likely logical way.. red just had to go to my Live, or the Switched terminal or there'd always be an open circuit! so all termin-ology aside):

It would indeed. But for what reason I have no idea, especially as its so physically big as to make squeezing it in would be extremely tricky (IE in case you meant something else.. or.. there's a reason to which I'm missing/ just cannot understand).

Ok I see where the discrepency is. You refer to " Switched terminal (“live” in that diagram or “line” in more modern terminology): your red wire. " Now, on the diagram there are -two- terminals labelled with the word "Live" (Plus, to p*ss me off even more.. on my diagram.. the middle teriminal is labelled "Loop" & the RHS terminal is labelled "Live"). Ok to clarify/ condense to one Q. The middle terminal of three-in-a-row (Loop on mine): Are you saying leave this one with no wires connected-?

To be honest jfb its probably got 2x air vents' worth of venting.. as its an older cottage with a few gaps here n there. But nothing excessive, or nothing 'sealed room' to think this makes any difference. If the front door's open for eg, while I start the fire up, its exactly the same as if I close up the vent entirely. No difference whatsoever.

Hi Declan, I recently swept it.. it did this issue the very 1st fire afterwards. Yes I have a thermometer, as I mention its fairly ok once up to speed @ 350*C or above. The issue isn't once its up to speed (tho not great even so) its everything up to this: which means worst is 1st load once innitial small kindling plus smaller load ontop ie 1 or 2 logs slplit into 6 or 8 small bits piled ontop of the kindling. Now if I start just kindling (a log behind & to the sides always) open & load with small split logs once kindling charcoal.. then the smoke is appalling/ I cannot do this. So I have to start it with kindling + a fair stack of small split logs already ontop (+ my large log behind + to eithet side too) IE a good load to limit the ammount of times I have to open door to reload to get it up to speed. But even so I need to add 2x loads between the innitial load's burnt down & it up to speed. That's twice, minimum, each time I use it, smoke pours out/ alarm goes off/ I have to open all doors windows to clear smoke.. a hopeless situation if its cold outside. thanks for your input- zoot

Hi Ed, thanks for that. One thing I don't understand though.. you say leave the RHS Live junction place in the ceiling rose, unconnected. If this Live junction therefore has -only- the red wire coming in from the lamp itself, & nothing connected to it.. how does the light work-??

Hi folks, I have an issue that's now requiring a solution, so bad it is. I have a 10 kW (efel/ nestor martin harmony 1) multifuel stove which has caused endless problems, the single most infuriating currently is smoke pouring into the room when loading it. So much it kicks off the fire alarm, get in your lungs, & causes the house to smell permanently of a veil of smoke. That bad. I have to load up as fast as possible, door a small a gap as possible.. but even still it pours out the front, top (I almost have to wear a mask now). Not so bad once up to speed @ 350*C + due to smoke being burnt off.. but heaven knows what Co its belching out: albeit the Co alarm has never sounded once, thankfully. Once up to speed it works pretty good though. I cannot establish why. I have good draw (visible to see & established so by my very good, very experienced builder). I use all the open functions to aid draw for refueling. Whacking in a new stove is n/a until why has been established.. as it might just do the same. To be honest the stove is a dreadful design, & replacement parts for it terrible quality.. but even so it should -not- belch out smoke like this. My n'bor has a small cheapo chinese horrorshow & a chimney 2/3rds my height.. but not a sign of any smoke coming into room on refueling/ zilch/ just as it should be. Thanks, zootH

Could someone help on my tiling plan.. I've looked at www info, centrelines etc/ perfectly simple for the cooker area.. but my config for this awkward sink side "L" shaped corner worktops + 2 window areas, doesn't tally with anything 'standard' afaict. What I plan to tile is.. from the RHS of the sink sill: 60cm H of this corner area + the thin strip under sill 2. Thanks alot zootH

Onoff.. back to this plan of yours here, are you suggesting get rid of the connector block/ use the 2 earths, 2 neutrals, & 1 live coming down > into the new ceiling rose.. or keep the connector block in place? If so could you do one of your sketches for me? For a simple light this existing config I find & trying to fit onto, is causing a huge headache not concurring with the ceiling rose wiring diagram. I really need to get this light fitted today so I can have light to work with.. it doesn't work as it is (all 4x bulbs shot).