What multifuel boiler cooker range?

[T14EES T14UNK]

I never bother to raise the grate. I suppose I should try really. If I want it warmer on the hot plate I just open the air up but I do normally just open the air up before cooking to get it hot and then close when finished cooking.

I suppose it's really for when you don't want the oven to be too much warmer but still need to cook on hot plate.

[County4x4]

This gumming up is caused by the returning cold water, the firebox cannot get up to temperature while continually surrounded by a lot of cold water, this means that crerosotes in the wood are not getting combusted untill the firebox gets up to temperature, instead they are condensing in the flue ways and gumming the system up. This is an issue with all boiler appliances to a greater or lesser degree.

 

A

 

What he said! Friends of ours had all sorts of problems with theirs - burning briquettes and kiln dried 4x4s. Had a lower oven with a puddle of tar on the base of it at one stage. Installer kept telling them the wood was too wet, and we knew damn well it was well under the recommended maximum moisture level. Eventually a mate of mine (Fahrenheit on here) diagnosed the problem in a minute flat from about 120 miles away, and they turned up the return stat temperature by about five degrees or so. This totally transformed the thing - stove would run right up to the top of the temperature dial if required, and the whole thing is running way cleaner.

 

Andy

[StephF]

Customer of mine has a esse swears by it.I supply her with large logs 44cm.Her house is 40foot x 40 foot

 

We installed an esse a few years ago, not one regret! love cooking on it, so easy after the oil range that guzzled oil and never got hot enough.

Does hot water too, and keeps the kitchen warm.

I burn almost 100% softwood around 10-15% moisture, and it is easy and clean to look after, almost no ash.

[renewablejohn]

This gumming up is caused by the returning cold water, the firebox cannot get up to temperature while continually surrounded by a lot of cold water, this means that crerosotes in the wood are not getting combusted untill the firebox gets up to temperature, instead they are condensing in the flue ways and gumming the system up. This is an issue with all boiler appliances to a greater or lesser degree. I have never has a non boiler Esse appliance suffer with this issue and even the boiler ones it only happens occasionally.

 

Esse have now devised a Compatatable Boiler Control unit that limits returning cold water untill the firebox reaches optimum operating temperature. This is fitted external to the appliance into the water system. So in other words it gets the cooker and boiler up to temperature first before getting to work on the water system other than the small amount of water in the boiler when starting off. Talk to David Randleson at Esse for more details or pm me. I am an Esse cooker and stove dealer.

 

A

 

Sorry but I do not buy this. Our stove was fitted with a Laddomat unit when it was installed as I knew of the potential problem of low boiler temperatures making the stove inefficient which applies to all boiler stoves and is not unique to Esse. The problem with the Esse and tar build up was in the oven flueways whilst burning seasoned timber of 20-30% moisture content at the time recommended fuel for the Esse. Only after a campaign by disgruntled Esse owners in a "Country" magazine did Esse finally accept the stove needed fuel of less than 20% MC to operate without any tarring issues in the oven flueways and now comes with recommended moisture content of less than 20%. As for the crack in the door this is due to the cast iron door being banana shaped which was self evident when a spirit level was placed along the door edge showing a gap of 4mm in the centre of the door. A bodge of additional rope packing cured the problem but does not make me impressed with engineering quality.

[Alycidon]

Sorry but I do not buy this. Our stove was fitted with a Laddomat unit when it was installed as I knew of the potential problem of low boiler temperatures making the stove inefficient which applies to all boiler stoves and is not unique to Esse. The problem with the Esse and tar build up was in the oven flueways whilst burning seasoned timber of 20-30% moisture content at the time recommended fuel for the Esse. Only after a campaign by disgruntled Esse owners in a "Country" magazine did Esse finally accept the stove needed fuel of less than 20% MC to operate without any tarring issues in the oven flueways and now comes with recommended moisture content of less than 20%. As for the crack in the door this is due to the cast iron door being banana shaped which was self evident when a spirit level was placed along the door edge showing a gap of 4mm in the centre of the door. A bodge of additional rope packing cured the problem but does not make me impressed with engineering quality.

 

Agreed a door should not be banana shaped, never seen one myself but none the less that does not sound good.

 

All stove manufactures say a MC of 16-18% is ok, anything over 20% to to wet.

 

If you are having ongoing issues with your Esse then speak to David Randleson at Esse about the installation of a boiler control assembly.

 

A

[renewablejohn]

I could let you have a banana shape door as I now have two so long as you dont mind red.

 

As for the Esse stove we have learnt to live with it. We now only use timber with moisture content around 15%. We hoover out all the flues every 3 months so the ovens remain hot.We now only use the boiler for DHW with excess to a thermal store. The main central heating is now provided by a Dunsley Yorkshire boiler in the living room. Eventually we will replace the Esse with a Lohberger but I cannot justify the cost at present.

[Stereo]

Agreed a door should not be banana shaped, never seen one myself but none the less that does not sound good.

 

All stove manufactures say a MC of 16-18% is ok, anything over 20% to to wet.

 

If you are having ongoing issues with your Esse then speak to David Randleson at Esse about the installation of a boiler control assembly.

 

A

 

Thanks I'll give them a call. Like John, I am generally dissapointed also with the engineering of the stove. It's a little crude in places. For example at the back of the space between the ovens there is a ridge in our stove between the oven and the bottom of the flu chamber so sweeping it with the rake is a right pain. The hotplate tappings don't line up properly on mine which means you have to tilt the hotplate up to get the right hand on in and then sit it down to get the other one. I can also see flame past the fire door and always have been able to, just a tiny sliver but it doesn't seal properly. The door catch is a joke on mine and kept sticking up until I had to dismantle and machine it down a bit.

 

This is our second Esse as the first one came with a hole drilled right though the boiler where the top cover hinges had been tapped out.

 

I could go on but I won't. It's a lovely machine when it's been cleaned out. Wish I had bought that Wamsler though.

[renewablejohn]

Stereo

 

I have made specific tools for cleaning the Esse which might help you. To clean between the ovens I have a length of 15mm plastic water pipe taped to a hoover nozzle which will reach from the front to the back of the stove. The second tool is an 18 inch stick with a 2 foot length of plug hole chain attached specifically for gap between the right had edge of the oven and the outer wall of the cooker. Finally I use a 3 foot length of hoover pipe to clean the rear air passage behind the oven. I agree with your comments on the hot plate tappings which are very badly engineered given that they have to be undone every time the stove needs to be swept which on average for us is every 3 months.

[Alycidon]

I could let you have a banana shape door as I now have two so long as you dont mind red.

 

As for the Esse stove we have learnt to live with it. We now only use timber with moisture content around 15%.

 

15% is ideal

 

We hoover out all the flues every 3 months so the ovens remain hot.

 

Thats about what is recommended.

 

We now only use the boiler for DHW with excess to a thermal store.

 

The return water temp from the thermal store is where the gumming ( or tarring) issue is occuring. Esse do have a solution as I have said.

 

The main central heating is now provided by a Dunsley Yorkshire boiler in the living room. Eventually we will replace the Esse with a Lohberger but I cannot justify the cost at present.

 

Having had a look at the Lohberger site I cannot see how that will perform any differently than your Esse unless it has an internal return temp control and it looks like you only have one oven.

 

A

[renewablejohn]

Alycidon

 

As previously stated the return water temperature is totally irrelevant in our case as the flow is controlled by a Laddomat valve which is specifically designed to maintain a high boiler temperature. details below.

 

Laddomat 21

 

At the time of installation Esse had no idea about the benefits of fitting a Laddomat type valve, by the sounds of it something similar is now fitted as standard. The tarring was not in the boiler but around the oven flueways primarily due to the use of normal seasoned timber. Now we know to use exceptionally dry timber we no longer have the problem.

 

As for the Lohberger its just down to engineering quality and a little hindsight like easy access to flueways for cleaning.