Taylors stoves

[Dayspring]

Last year I was given a beautiful diesel Taylors stove for my 1896 Plymouth Hooker. I live on board and during february and March I struggled to get it to behave. I failed miserably and wondered if anyone had any advice.

The problem is that it turns itself off after about 45mins. despite what level I put it on. Apparently I have the old version of the regulator and when I spoke to Taylors, they were extrememly unhelpful and suggested that they were not designed to stay on more than 45mins and they needed constant tending! More for the weekend cruiser rather than the liveaboard! (like no-one stays on board at the weekend!

Has anyone else had the same problem and how did you solve it?

 

[Seagreen]

Never heard of this problem. Used Taylors often in the past and they keep running as long as the paraffin lasts.

What model of stove/cooker is this? I can only think that the burners get choked with coke deposits if it's left on too low a setting, so it may need a quick blast every now and then. Replace the burners with new, or given the nut below the burner a tapping with a spanner now and again to loosen the coking.

 

[Porthandbuoy]

I don't know the Taylors stove at all, but your symptoms sound similar to an engine cutting out because the air vent on the tank is blocked. Just an idea.

 

[Seagreen]

The tank has to be pressurised - there is a dial on the tank to measure the PSI/Bar. The only tank related problem could be that there is either a slow leak in the system so that the tank loses its pressure faster than expected, or that Dayspring is not regularly keeping the tank at pressure, or not pressurising it enough (takes quite a few pumps) but even so the tank has to have more pressure every couple of hours in normal running.

Taylors stoves and heaters cannot run indefinitely without the system being regularly re-pressurised. If the system is losing pressure faster than expected, a run round all couplings with spanner to tighten the nuts is whats needed.

 

[KenMcCulloch]

[ QUOTE ]
Last year I was given a beautiful <span style="color:blue"> diesel </span> Taylors stove for my 1896 Plymouth Hooker. I live on board and during february and March I struggled to get it to behave. I failed miserably and wondered if anyone had any advice.


[/ QUOTE ]
I have a <span style="color:blue"> paraffin </span> Taylors' stove that runs happily for hours. However if this is in fact a diesel stove they are I think quite different creatures. I have only dealt with a couple of diesel stoves and they worked a bit like an Aga, actually built to stay permanently lit.

 

[Dayspring]

Thanks for your ideas. It's the diesel version and so doesn't need to be pressurised. All it needs is vertical height or a fuel pump from the main tank. I have the version with it's own tank and sufficient height (according to the hand book!). The vent is definitely open (as I found to my cost on a recent rough trip!). And I would love it to work as an Aga but it won't play ball!

I'm loathe to give up on it as they are worth a lot of money and it was a free hand-me-down!

 

[pyrojames]

It sounds like an air lock/fuel vapourisation problem. How hot does the feed fuel line get while it is running?

 

[mclark]

I have what might be the same stove - its a drip feed burner dripping on to a kind of hot plate, from memory you light it with meths? I say from memory because like you I got fed up with it and took it out. When I forst got the stove it had a standard and speaking to Taylors - what now must be about 18 years ago, they told me there was a modifire guts assembly avaliable which would reduce or clear altogether that problem. They sent me the modified guts, which was a much more complex affair and it did improve the problem but didnt cure it completely.

I have the stove in my shed and keep meaning to try again with it but havent done so yet. If it helps you I will dig it out and photograph the plate assembly which was the modification.

Hope this helps

Mike

 

[Dayspring]

That sounds exactly right. However Taylors told me it was the regulator mechanism that they had modified and was much more sensitive, but I wonder if anyone had tried the new version. I photo of the new innards would be great, Thanks.

 

[mclark]

I have taken a few pictures of my stove now, could you PM me an email address please, I am not up to posting them on here

Mike

 

[Steve_N]

We have a Taylors diesel heater (079D) bought about 3 years ago, so I presume it has the latest regulator: basically just a needle valve with a sight glass to get the drip rate correct.

It runs totally reliably - in fact I don't think that this summer in Scotland would have been surivable without it.. We tend to use it only while stationary as the flue extends above deck and we have an Eber for when on the move.

It's just a wonderful piece of kit - the heart of the boat - and well worth perservering with. It gets lit (I preheat with a gas lighter - no meths) both morning and evening to provide dry heat with no electrical draw. Wonderful for drying gear, towels etc..

While the needle valve and sight glass method is less sophisticated than the carburettor type assemblies on the Dickinsons, Sigmars and Refleks stoves, it has the advantage that you can use fuels of different viscosity e.g. parrafin, kerosene, jet A1, diesel.. without having to re-calibrate anything.

 

[Steve_N]

I've found some pictures.
These show the needle valve and sight glass:

And here it is glowing cherry red! (the pink in the picture):

 

[tritonofnor]

Friend of mine has the same heater (I use the paraffin version). He found after much experimentation that the critical thing to keep it running was not the drip feed, but the length of the flue. In certain wind directions it wouldn't run for more than about half an hour unless he fitted the H shaped chimney and flue extension supplied with the kit. In extreme cases, where wind is funnelled towards the flue from on deck, Taylors did make a flue cowl that had a fin on it, which swivelled to keep the outlet downwind. Unfortunately, since being bought out by Sea Sure, they seem to have lost interest in these products.
As you're in Plymouth, I suggest having a chat with Richard at Yacht Parts. He seems quite knowledgeable on the Taylors range...

 

[Dayspring]

Thanks, is yacht parts in plymouth yacht haven?
regarding steves photos - my regulator looks exactly the same as yours! grrr why won't my work? /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif