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Pretty pissed off and scared


hendriQ

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3 hours ago, Temp said:

I believe its done like a funnel so that any tar/condensate/rain running down the inside of the flue doesn't  leak out of joints but ends up in the stove.

 

1 hour ago, saveasteading said:

provide no hindrance to smoke travelling upwards.

And you woodburners are happy to have this happening in your living room, or should that be renamed, dyingroom.

When it gets cold can I pop over and sit in your warm room.  I will not smoke more than 1 packet of Marlboro Reds (even though they are in a black packet).

You will not notice me being there.

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>>> The second installer said that it wasn't best-practice to seal stuff with fire rope - he said fire rope is only really good in limited situations and this wasn't one of them.

 

Yeah, I sealed mine with both fire rope & fire cement - I believe I probably got that info from Morso and/or Schiedel, the stove/flue suppliers.

 

A bit odd for a 'professional' to forget the seal. Maybe there is some seal there too but it's a very lightweight application?

 

I can understand your concern, but once it's fixed and you have ample CO alarms, you should be good to go.

 

Alan

Edited by Alan Ambrose
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Yeah, from Schiedel install instructions:

 

https://www.schiedel.com/uk/schiedel-download/icid-installation-instructions/?wpdmdl=6823

 

"APPLIANCE CONNECTOR
1. The protruding liner of these components should be pushed into the appliance spigot with the male collar pointing upwards. The liner can be trimmed to suit the depth of the appliance spigot.
2. On solid fuel appliances the appliance connector should be sealed to the appliance with fire rope and fire cement or high temperature sealant to provide a gas tight joint."

 

Alan

 

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Our stove gets about 3 mm taller when hot and this caused some movement at the joint between stove and stove pipe. Doesn't seem to have caused a leak though.

 

I guess I should throw in a reminder to install Carbon Monoxide detectors in any/all rooms with a stove or flue. 

 

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  • 1 month later...

So by way of update, the stove was purportedly fixed in early December. The guy applied some fire cement, gave me instructions on how to cure it and then told me “it would definitely be fine now”.

 

Well we ran the stove at least once a week over the last 5 weeks or so, all good.

 

Then tonight it happened AGAIN. I’m fuming. I paid by credit card so solid be relatively straightforward to get all my money back, although I need to check as the transaction was over a year ago. If not I will sue .

 

Is my reaction a reasonable one?

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The question is do you want the hassle and bother of a complete replacement, either from this company or (more likely) another company.

Changing a stove is not a 5 min job, not to mention the lead times. You'll lose use of your stove for this winter, i imagine.

 

An alternative might be to ask HETAS to investigate and get to the bottom of why it has leaked smoke again.

 

Might be worth @Trw144 weighing in here, given I think he used to work in the industry so will probably have seen these types of issues and understand how they tend to be resolved.

Edited by Adsibob
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1 hour ago, ProDave said:

Did you take a video this time?

Yes, it shows smoke coming out from the same place as last time. I guess my options are to claim against my credit card company under section 75 of the ConsumerCredit  legislation which - checked - I am still well within time to do, or try to engage with HETAS to get to the bottom of what the cause is, or speak to the Stove manufacturer or give the supplier and installer yet another chance. I am loathe to do the last option, unless there is a defect in the stove itself they just smack of incompetence.

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8 minutes ago, hendriQ said:

Yes, it shows smoke coming out from the same place as last time. I guess my options are to claim against my credit card company under section 75 of the ConsumerCredit  legislation which - checked - I am still well within time to do, or try to engage with HETAS to get to the bottom of what the cause is, or speak to the Stove manufacturer or give the supplier and installer yet another chance. I am loathe to do the last option, unless there is a defect in the stove itself they just smack of incompetence.

Do all of them, just check that if you are in an official dispute with one of the parties, that does not exclude you claiming against the other parties.

You may need some real legal advice on this.

 

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SteamyTea,  o great guru:  can you similarly advise how I  easily reduce normal photos when I have taken them at say 5Mb  ?

Can only then post one at a time.

ie just a few clicks and not having to make and save otherwise unnecessary copies.

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16 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

SteamyTea,  o great guru:  can you similarly advise how I  easily reduce normal photos when I have taken them at say 5Mb  ?

Can only then post one at a time.

ie just a few clicks and not having to make and save otherwise unnecessary copies.

Power Toys is [maybe] your easiest option [assuming you are in windows]  Once installed you can right click on the photo in explorer

 

PowerToys Image Resizer utility for Windows | Microsoft Learn

 

On Android

 

How to resize a photo in the Gallery app on your Galaxy phone | Samsung Caribbean

 

On Android you need to be in the Gallery App and not Photos App.  Three dots is now on the bottom .

 

Edited by Blooda
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19 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Load it up to Youtube and then put the link onto here.

I can do that, but as I'm now in a dispute with the company (i sent them a threatening letter by fax a few minutes ago - i know who still has fax, but luckily they do) and rather not post it here as they have a copy of the video and they'll be able to put 2 and 2 together.

 

Anyway, not much to see other than grey smoke billowing out of a tiny gap between two pieces of metal.

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As part of the investigation, did anyone check the flue?  check it was not blocked?  swept it?  been up on the roof to check the outlet, used a smoke candle etc?

 

Normally the flue draws and as already sated that will be a negative pressure inside the flue with respect to the room so a leak would draw air in.  The fact smoke is leaking out really suggests to me the flue is partly blocked so the heat of the stove is forceing the smoke up the flue.  Re sealing the joint had hidden the true fault for a while until the seal cracked a bit and allowed the positive pressure smoke out.

 

I would get an independant HETAS engineer to check it out, check out the flue and write a report.  If he can point to a defect in or blocked flue etc you might have a chance of a claim against the original installer.

 

Or having identified the true fault it might just be quicker and easier to fix it.

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20 minutes ago, ProDave said:

I would get an independant HETAS engineer to check it out, check out the flue and write a report.  If he can point to a defect in or blocked flue etc you might have a chance of a claim against the original installer.

I agree with this, save that both the original installer and the purported fixer were Hetas registered, so it doesn't sound like such a good accreditation.

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25 minutes ago, ProDave said:

The fact smoke is leaking out really suggests to me the flue is partly blocked so the heat of the stove is forceing the smoke up the flue.

Also, i'm no thermodynamics expert but is a partially blocked flue likely when the fire lights so easily and draws very well for a good 30 minutes before the issue developed. I also can't see what it would be blocked with. Brand new installation, with a flue pipe going all the way up to the top of the house.

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4 minutes ago, hendriQ said:

I agree with this, save that both the original installer and the purported fixer were Hetas registered, so it doesn't sound like such a good accreditation.

But did anyone investigating this examine or test the flue?  or just re seal the leaking joint and hope?

 

It really should not need to be a perfect air tight seal.  I have worked with some builders that have an old stove they use on  new builds in the winter.  They just stand their "portable" stove on a couple of concrete blocks in the fireplace, a short length of flue, not even properly sealed to the stove stuck up the chimney.  Because the flue draws air when working properly, not a drop of smoke leaks from their temporary unsealed joints.

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47 minutes ago, ProDave said:

But did anyone investigating this examine or test the flue?  or just re seal the leaking joint and hope?

 

It really should not need to be a perfect air tight seal.  I have worked with some builders that have an old stove they use on  new builds in the winter.  They just stand their "portable" stove on a couple of concrete blocks in the fireplace, a short length of flue, not even properly sealed to the stove stuck up the chimney.  Because the flue draws air when working properly, not a drop of smoke leaks from their temporary unsealed joints.

I see where you are coming from now.

 

When the "fixer" attended in late Nov to diagnose the issue, he did get some cardboard and light it on fire to see if the flue drew. I can't remember if he went outside to look at whether the smoke came out the chimney. Is that the test he should have done?

Edited by hendriQ
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Does the flue come out of the back of the stove in to a T piece?  Occasionally the end cap can drop off the bottom when it gets hot and kills the draw of the flue. 

 

Maybe a long shot but one I've seen happen..

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8 minutes ago, Miek said:

Does the flue come out of the back of the stove in to a T piece?  Occasionally the end cap can drop off the bottom when it gets hot and kills the draw of the flue. 

 

Maybe a long shot but one I've seen happen..

No, it goes straight up. 

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