Wellstood Cooker probs & poss solutions. Re re-bricking in an ancient thread of 2006
This is in answer to an ancient thread but if anyone is interested, and/or bothered about something to do with their Wellstood, feel free to give me a nod.
I repair these here over the ditch in the Sth Is of Kiwi land.
If you cant find bits, give us a call/email as we have moulds/patterns and have new cast iron panels for them. We also make new boilers which increase the hot water heating by half (from 3Kw to 4.5Kw). We also make sets of fire bricks for these as well as all Rayburn models, Esse, Doric and a whole lot of other fire appliances.
They may be old (1950's & 60's) but they are a cracker of a cooker and compared with the more recent cookers, are far more likely to out last them. We are replacing cast iron panels on these later cookers more than the old Wellies! They seem to have cut down the material weight and therefore they dont seem to last the distance as much as those like the Wellstoods and older Rayburn models.
When we rebuild them, they are taken back to the base plate and all threads are sorted and new ovens usually needed. We enamel them on both sides of the sheet steel as the normal problem is, that if condensation gets to be coming down the flue, then the water plays havoc on the refractory cement and then gets through into the fiberglass insulation. Because the cooker is sealed, it means the fiberglass cant dry out so rust starts and then wrecks the sheet steel ovens, then it starts on the cast iron flue ducting on top of the cast iron oven panel.
Lesson of the story, make sure your chimney flue is 6" (150mm).
If your boiler bursts its bubble, take the top off the cooker (it needs a bit of patience & skill) and then remove the rear & side panels. This will allow you to remove the wet fiberglass insulation before the moisture eats into your panel steel ovens & costs you lots more than you want.
Theres lots I could tell you but then, I might be wasting my time cause this thread is SOOOOO old.
Feel free to email me if you want. I'm pretty sure I have ticked the correct box to enable members to contact me.
Cheers
