Hopping Stanley ! Advice Welcome !

maireadmarie

We've had a Stanley No.8 cooker for years; one thing I've always dreaded about it is the way, when the fire gets going, it makes a very loud, rattling, explosive kind of noise, which seems to be to do with the water going through the pipes into the hot water cylinder, which is in the hotpress on the wall of the bathroom shared by the kitchen where the cooker is. As a result, I have always kept the fire to the front of the Stanley, which means the water never really heats up much. We're putting in a new Stanley now, the same make, has anyone any idea how we could stop this happening? I'm not sure what is causing the 'hopping'; could the hotpress be too close to the cooker, the pipes having only a short run from the Stanley into the hotpress through the wall?
Thank you indeed for any advice!

mukki

you just need to get a pipe stat fitted to the hot water pipe, to turn on the radiator pump when the water gets too hot.

you probably should also get another stat fitted onto the water tank to stop the rads coming on when there is no hot water

maireadmarie

thank you, Mukki, for the reply.
there are no radiators, the boiler is just for domestic hot water. The noise is from the hot press where the pipes come in to the cylinder. It puts the heart across me, to be frank. I think there's going to be an explosion!
I should ask, what's a stat?

chuckles30

Do you have an expansion tank in the attic? The reason I ask is that the same thing happens in my mother's house. She has a solid fuel stove and it heats the water in the hot water tank and also she has central heating off of it. When the water reaches a certain temperature it starts making a noise (almost like a kettle boiling). When this happens, we switch on the central heating. If the central heating is not switched on, the banging and clanging starts. (The next bit is my understanding but my plumbing knowledge is limited, so I'm open to correction from anyone with plumbing expertise). If the heat is not switched on, the hot water goes up into the expansion tank in the attic. The banging is caused by boiling hot water going through cold pipes and it's just noise, not a fault. This hot water is then gone out of the system, as hot water at least, so my mother always considered this a waste of 'good hot water' so we were trained as children what to listen out for.

The 'stat' that mukki refers to is a thermostat. I'm not sure how they work in this scenario as the central heating was installed way before thermostats were common place. So we just use our ears!!

maireadmarie

Thank you, Chuckles, for the reply, and sorry I'm only getting back now. The problem is, we haven't got central heating; I believe the boiler in the cooker for central heating is what they call 'wrap-around'; ours is just a hot-water boiler. If I keep the fire to the front of the firebox, the noise doesn't happen, but then we only get luke-warm water. There is a cold-water tank in the attic; I don't know what an expansion tank is. My mother and mother-in-law both had the same type Stanley cooker and could have as large a fire as they liked without this noise ever. However, in both cases, the copper cylinders were further away than in our case; the pipes from the back of the hot-water boiler in the cooker have only a short distance to travel into the hot-press. Maybe the noise is harmless but it sounds very dangerous, somehow.

Dermot2468

Do you have any plates to put in front of the boiler to stop as much heat going into the boiler as that could be the problem. also i believe that banging noise is the water boiling in the pipes

maireadmarie

Thanks indeed, Dermot, and to everyone again. I may have the answer and it's along the lines you mention, Dermot, and all. We should have a thing on the hot-water feed pipe called a safety valve, apparently! We have to investigate this further; you are all wonderful for the responses.

One option would be to get a bigger hot water cylinder and make more use out of the fire. It sounds like the water is only boiling when the cylinder is full and there is no where for the excess heat to go.

A simple test, next time it starts popping,
first check if the bottom of the cylinder is hot!! (near boiling hot) then
turn on a hot tap, is the water at near boiling temprature? and after running off a few litres (sinkfull - half a bathfull) does the popping stop. If so a bigger cylinder or shorter fires in the range.

A safety valve will only help in a pressurised system, not one where the water is boiling.

maireadmarie

Thanks for the input, Dolanbaker. The hopping and banging noises :mad: :mad: start shortly after the fire is lighted, and long before the water in the cylinder heats up. The only way to stop it is to put the fire out, bank wet ashes or the like against the back of the firebox and wrap the pipes leading from the back of the cooker into the copper cylinder with towels wrung-out in cold water.

Sounds like there is a blockage in the pipes between the range and the cylinder, the water can't circulate quick enough to avoid boiling in the range.

I think you will need to flush out the systen.

Avns1s

maireadmarie wrote:

Thanks for the input, Dolanbaker. The hopping and banging noises :mad: :mad: start shortly after the fire is lighted, and long before the water in the cylinder heats up. The only way to stop it is to put the fire out, bank wet ashes or the like against the back of the firebox and wrap the pipes leading from the back of the cooker into the copper cylinder with towels wrung-out in cold water.

Is there a circulation pump on the system and is it working. Sometimes they can stop if they haven't been running for a few weeks. Need a turn with a screwdriver to free them out.

maireadmarie

Thanks again, Dolanbaker. If that's the case, we should find it now when we're installing the new range! Hope we do! And to Avns1, many thanks too. Is there a circulation pump just for domestic hot water? I'm not sure, I'll check it out. Good news, we're going to try and find a plumber this time around I'm not sure I could take another 20 years of those noises!