Flavel Vanessa Oven Service

[x25dave]

Hello all, does anyone know if I can service my Flavel Vanessa Cooker?
There are yellow tips on the flames of the two top burners, I think that this is a bad sign.
I am reluctant to buy a new one, as this one has not seen a huge amount of use.
Is it possible to fit new jets, and clean the burners?

Regards Dave

 

[charles_reed]

Hello all, does anyone know if I can service my Flavel Vanessa Cooker?
There are yellow tips on the flames of the two top burners, I think that this is a bad sign.
I am reluctant to buy a new one, as this one has not seen a huge amount of use.
Is it possible to fit new jets, and clean the burners?

Regards Dave

you are right, it's a bad sign denoting incomplete combustion.
Take off the burner rings and clean all the rust out of the holes and surfaces.
When you replace them you'll have nice blue flames again.
I service my Leisure Products stove every other year - the only burner unaffected is the ceramic one in the oven.

 

[x25dave]

Thank you Charles. Would a wire brush be too severe?

 

[rob2]

I wouldn't go beyond a brass brush as you don't want to remove sound metal! In most cases the flames first go as described with yellow tips as it worsens the flames will stand off - not burning close to the jets only further out where the gas/air ratio is correct and this often means that you can't get a flame to stay alight at all jets at once.

Whilst the initial air mixing is done immediately after the tap, the burner sits a little off the base drawing in the last bit of air required. Either the base of the burner has rusted and is blocking this aeration vent or it has become blocked with grease from your efforts to clean the cooker. Often the most difficult part of maintenance is getting the screw out that holds the burner in place. If I remember correctly, there are ribs on the base of the burner to create the required gap. If these have rusted away, you can place strands of wire under the burner to hold it up but I'm not sure how long this wil be effective.

Rob.

 

[TQA]

Take care with the top burners and the grill, when I tried to clean mine they fell apart.

As far as I know burners and grille are no longer available.

 

[neil_s]

Gentle tapping followed by a good blow through did the trick on my Vanessa burners this spring.

 

[Kwik Decision]

I did a take apart, clean up (inc pricking out jets with a length of thin wire) and put back together on all the burners on our 28 yr old Vanessa 2 yrs ago - prompted because it was was making the pans sooty. It was a straightforward job, with the cooker out of the boat and in the garage, and it has been working well ever since (without sooting up the bottom of pans any more). I don't know if I was lucky, but all the screws etc I tried came undone quite easily - ie none were rusted up, as I was expecting.