How to dismantle Stanley cooker

Ellisgarden

I have a Stanley traditional no8 solid fuel cooker with high output boiler. Unfortunately the front casting has cracked beneath oven door. I have procured a replacement casting but I need advice as to removing the top of the cooker.
My first question is how to remove the 4 flat silver caps at the corner?
Any advice is really appreciated as I don’t want to create more problems for myself.
What difficulties might I encounter and should I replace the oven brick at the same time?

mtoutlemonde

Ellisgarden wrote: »

I have a Stanley traditional no8 solid fuel cooker with high output boiler. Unfortunately the front casting has cracked beneath oven door. I have procured a replacement casting but I need advice as to removing the top of the cooker.
My first question is how to remove the 4 flat silver caps at the corner?
Any advice is really appreciated as I don’t want to create more problems for myself.
What difficulties might I encounter and should I replace the oven brick at the same time?

I think you are in the wrong forum

Postgrad10

I bet there is one smart teacher on here who knows their Stanley cookers !


If you google your Stanley cooker and model number , the specification should be online. It’ll go through your product piece by piece. It might help you.

mtoutlemonde

Postgrad10 wrote: »

I bet there is one smart teacher on here who knows their Stanley cookers !


If you google your Stanley cooker and model number , the specification should be online. It’ll go through your product piece by piece. It might help you.

Handy side number

Postgrad10

I have Stanley cooker experience. I’ve got my manual and the number of the Stanley engineer 😂

The Continental Op

The four silver caps are expendable they screw into a thread inside the screw it covers.

Take a center punch and punch into the edge of the cover then use that as a point to tap the cover off.

Once its all off go and buy yourself about 5 kg of fire cement as you will need that much to put the whole thing back together.

There are also some other bolts that will need removing often its a matter of grinding them out as they will be seized in place. Stanley use whatever they can get from the local hardware shop for bolts so just used anything that fits as replacements but you will need to see if you can get replacement thread covers and may be replacement top bolts from Waterford Stanley - not that they really exist anymore. But I think spares are still kept in Ireland.

Get your fire bricks from Dineen Refractories http://www.dineensales.com/CookerParts.aspx lot easier to do with the top off.

Suggest moving this to the DIY or Plumbing forums.

Ellisgarden

It is a Stanley Errigal solid fuel. I see 4 screws holding the front,2 at the top and 2 more under oven door and ash pit door. If I remove the silver caps and open nuts(presumably underneath) should the top come off then?
Thanks for the help

Ellisgarden

I tried to move to move to a different forum but no luck. Anyway I am doing fine here

The Continental Op

Parts list at the end of the owners manual https://www.waterfordstanley.com/media/2051264/errigal-sf-manual-040216.pdf from https://www.waterfordstanley.com/resource-centre/technical-manuals/stanley-range-cooker-manuals if you need a different version. The main parts list is https://www.waterfordstanley.com/media/2026498/spare-parts-current-products-4-.pdf which covers everything they have done over the last 10 or so years they don't make the Errigal anymore.

I think you have found most if not all the nuts. I had to drill out the ones in the oven. As I said they only use cheap hardware so that isn't to difficult.

Don't be surprised if some stuff doesn't seem to fit. You really need that 5kg of fire cement to fill up the gaps.

Ellisgarden

Thanks for all the info. I am off on Saturday to collect an Errigal whose front plate is okl. It seem Stanley don’t manufacture here in Ireland any more and I have tried numerous suppliers for the part but none have it and is not in stock in Stanley either.
Hopefully I will get stuck in when the weather is a bit kinder and I will update my progress

The Continental Op

You don't need much in the way of tools but I found an angle grinder with a wire brush and P40 grit sandpaper discs really good for cleaning up all the joints for reassembly. There's a good bit of time to be spent chipping all the old fire cement out of the grooves in the castings.

I found it best to put the firebricks in before putting the top back on. I doubt you'll get the front off without damaging some of the old firebricks even if they are good enough to reuse.

Still great cookers if you know how to manage them. Ours also does direct hot water so has the small boiler.

Stigura

Ellisgarden wrote: »

Hopefully I will get stuck in when the weather is a bit kinder and I will update my progress

Take photo's

Ellisgarden

Thanks again for the advice .l am well equipped with tools and my worry is being short of some part when it is opened up . We cannot be without the cooker too long. I will have plenty of fire cement and Willpurchase a full set of new bricks and have them to hand. I see some of the suppliers have the silver caps so I may order 4 of these as well.

The Continental Op

The caps are extras you can put on at any time. You may want to get a set of the screws that hold the top down. Two of mine came out easy but the other two I had to tap out with a chisel. I could have reused them all but the two weren't pretty and wouldn't have taken the cover caps.

I then replaced a couple of other parts that were rusted out. Found the right hand side of the oven was so rusty at the bottom that it had to be replaced. The problem is that when the stove is cold any moisture in the flue gases tend to condense out under the oven so you get rust there and thats why ours failed (this happens even with the flaps set to allow the flue gases up the chimney).

You'll probably also want to replace all the bolts you take out. Can't remember the size but they are all standard metric so you can pick them up at most decent hardware shops.

I've done the firebricks a few times and thats just a days work. I would say with the dismantling like you are doing if you have the part ready to replace it could take a good 2 days. I might have spent more time than others might cleaning parts before putting it all back together. It could be done in a day if everything was clean and you knew what you were doing.

I did ours in the summer and took my time waiting for the extra spare parts I needed (oven side and a fire brick missing from the first order) added another 10 days to the time the stove was out of action.

If you have a whole stove for replacement parts I'd strip that down first so you can see how it all goes. Do bear in mind it might not be exactly the same. There are some small variations so while all the parts will fit together they may look different on two different stoves. Mine had the right hand side of the oven in two parts but now Stanley supply that as one single part with no join.

listermint

Took apart our Stanley no.8 that came with the house about 18 months ago. As wasn't redoing entire kitchen and wanted it gone.

Had the while thing apart in under forty minutes into all its component parts. Threaded bars in each corner held much of it together. Had no problems with any seized nuts or bolts or anything. This stove was prob thirty years old plus and well used.

Watch out for any cracks in the firebox surrounds they appear to crack easily enough

jelutong

If it’s working ok now why not wait until the heating season is over?

Ellisgarden

Many thanks again. It seems I would be better leaving this till the weather improves. It looks like I might meet other problems when it is opened. It is a good idea to familiarise myself dismantling the complete cooker. I now realise from your post that some of the the internal parts you mentioned may not be usable from the sacrificial cooker as it has been laid up for a while too.
I will keep you posted

listermint

jelutong wrote: »

If it’s working ok now why not wait until the heating season is over?

True. It's only the oven. Do you need to sort this before spring...

The Continental Op

Does yours have a boiler?

listermint

The Continental Op wrote: »

Does yours have a boiler?

If directed at me, ya mine had one.

The Continental Op

listermint wrote: »

If directed at me, ya mine had one.

Sorry meant OP, was just thinking thats a small added complication. I gave the boiler on ours a good clean with a view to replacing it if necessary. I've swapped out bolers before and you have to take the top off and to my mind thats about the biggest job you can do on those apart from what the OP is doing and what I had to do which was very similar. My Errigal had the front parting company from the rest of the stove so had to remove it completely to refit it.

Ellisgarden

Yes. My errigal cooker has a boiler, the higher output one I believe, wrapping around the firebox and a round pipe fro front to back at the top right.I have another query. My cooker is fitted very tight at the sides. Do you reckon I will be able to remove top leaving the cooker in situ. I don’t want to disconnect the boiler if I can help it.

The Continental Op

LOL almost exactly where ours went and possibly the same reason, corrosive flue gases, moisture and rust?



My thougths about the boiler were if does need replacing when the top is off anyway is the time to do it. They do however seem to last almost forever.

I think you can do it in situ, I did ours with lots more room with the boiler still connected but if you were really unlucky you might need access to the sides if something doesn't come off the way it should. The other issue is its hard not to dislodge dry old firecement thats holding components together once the top and sides are off. I'm over fussy so anything that came loose got removed and replaced with new fire cement, however the main component that also came out was the side of the oven near where your crack is.

When removing the front there are also two screws inside at the front of the oven. You can see where the floor of the oven cracked when the front panel was pushed out by rust.

Ellisgarden

I see the 2 screws and 2 more on either side of these 2 and 2 more on the top at the back. Will the sides remain in place if I remove the top and front?

The Continental Op

There are no sides to speak of. Just a couple of sheets of thin steel that hold some fiber glass insulation in place. I was trying to remember how they are held in place but you should be able to leave them in position? Looking at the diagram there are two screws you won't be able to get to and the front edge of the sides tuck in behind the front casting you are replacing. There is a solid upright behind the fire bricks on the left of the fire box and one on the right of the fire box which is the left side of the oven then the also the right side of the oven so 3 solid supports that run front to back inside the stove.

If you want to pay for it to be done these guys will send out someone that should know what they are doing at an hourly rate plus parts http://www.handfenterprises.ie/range-cookers/stanley , at least they offered that when I contacted them.

Living Off The Splash

I have a Stanley Super Star 80. Stopped working recently. Can anyone recommend someone who can come to our home to fix the problem. No heating at the moment. We have gone through the list of Stanley engineers on their website who service their gas boilers....nobody available. Based in Blackrock, Dublin.

Failing that. Is there a company out there who will disconnect and dismantle the boiler and take away.....lots of free spare parts. 😉

kadman

Forgive me for opening an old thread, but its the best source of information on the errigal cooker available on the net at the moment. Well done boards.

I now find myself in leaky boiler territory with my Stanley Errigal as of 2 days ago, with the tell tale puddle under the cooker. Sure enough on closer inspection, I have a major leak at the base of the back of the boiler. So i have taken off the top which was ok, and I have removed the oven firebrick, and released any fire cement at the oven side of the boiler. There is no cement on the left hand side of the boiler, just insulation and the side panel.

This is where I have hit a momentary halt in the progress. I have disconnected the pipes to the back of the boiler, and I would like to ask those that have experience of changing an errigal boiler, a question or 2.

1. Is the boiler lifted of vertically , or is the rear lefthand stay rod removed first, and then the boiler is slid out rearwards.
2. Is the front panel taken off to release the front of the boiler from the narrow cemented fire brick above the front door.
3. 3. Is it beneficial to fully remove the left hand side panel of the cooker.

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated, I have taken some pictures but I will post them later. Thanks. Anything I have overlooked please enlighten me .

K.

Ellisgarden

It seems you have the cooker pulled out and accessible . I had to replace the front of my Errigal and then the boiler came out easily. I imagine you may do the same because if you remove it from the back it will be very difficult to seal the boiler to the front . Removing the front just involves # screws at bottom and 2 more in oven. It will involve more cleaning and fire cement but a good job. Hope this helps

The Continental Op

I'd love to be able to confidently answer your questions but I have always ended up stripping the whole thing right down to the base as more and more fire cement drops out so end up rebuilding it. I find that as soon as you remove one part another starts moving so because I have the thing started I just keep going. I did have major issues with our Errigal when new - Stanley said it had a boiler and it didn't and they wanted to send out an engineer to fit a boiler. I spoke to the engineer and he said it only needed the top removing. In the end I got a replacement with a boiler which is what I'd ordered in the first place. To replace the small hot water boiler in mine you can pull it out the top but the back and the side end up needing removing along with the top.

However from looking at the part diagram instructions I suspect anyone with the large wrap around boiler is going to have a more difficult problem. I suspect you have to remove the rear left hand stay rod and slide the boiler back before you can lift it out because the larger boiler protrudes slightly into the fire door. If you do remove the front which will make the job more easy you will in effect have to rebuild everything as the front section has almost every part that runs front to back connected to it. If its in good condition then you will probably be able to keep the oven in one piece but check for rust just inside the little cleaning door below the oven. With it mostly in pieces you might want to take the front off and remove any rust around that area which in time will go the way of my picture above.

Spares if available shouldn't take too long as I believe they still hold them in Ireland but might have since moved them to the UK. If you haven't already then I'd check Dineen for a new boiler http://dineensales.com/CookerParts.aspx (not https but safe).

Edit> I notice the Waterford Stanley parts list links no longer work and their site is as sh!t as the company with page not found for the cooker instructions/parts so if anyone wants the Errigal instuctions with parts list they here they are

errigal-sf-manual-040216.pdf

and old spare parts list with some more errigal parts diagrams

spare-parts-current-products-4-.pdf

Ellisgarden

IMG_0921.jpeg

IMG_0920.jpeg

IMG_0919.jpeg

IMG_0918.jpeg

Here are a few pics. of wrap around boiler. As previous poster said it may be better to rebuild the cooker with the front removed also as fire cement will crack and loosen every where.

Rose patrol

Hi guys,

Though this topic is from '21 I have a question.

We rent a house that has a Stanley "Super star" in it that heats the (big) boiler behind it.

But.... It is smoking......

We applied new fire cords, on the door is now 10 mm together with an 8 mm in one corner because the inner ridge is there broken off, 8 mm under the "cooking" plate on top. And 2 mm cord under the small plate on the right side and 2 mm on the plate that closes off the part to the "chimney".

But still its smoking. This comes from under the top of the cooker.

My question is;,, does it also needs a serious amount of fire cement under this that seals off the top plate to the front plate of the cooker ?

Thanks in advance

The Continental Op

If you are rebuilding one of those (I've only done on and not the same one) I'd get at least 2kg probably more of fire cement. So yes they do use a lot.

However if they are running well with the chimney providing a good draw then even with gaps it won't smoke unless the wind blows down the chimney. So I'd start by giving the chimney a good sweep and trying again.

Ours always starts to smoke when the chimney needs sweeping.

Ellisgarden

As said on the previous post the range will not smoke if the chimmney is clean. It is important also that the vents down the right side of the oven are clean and the soot scraped out through the bottom cap under oven door.Make sure that the vent from flue outlet at top of range to bottom of oven on left is clear.

lf it smokes with main damper open the problem is generally the chimmney. If it only smokes with damper closed then the problem is likely to be the oven smoke vents at side or to the vent to the flue.

Remember a fire needs air. Airtight doors and windows can cause problems as well as being dangerous due to Carbon monoxide!!!!!!!!

Mr321

As stated above. Start with the elbow bend that comes out from the chimney, clean it/scrap it out. Follow it then with the chimney sounds like a drawing issue. The damper should never be shut solid, always leave it slightly open a few mill and the wheel on the bottom door of it has one never spun tight.