ESSE Woodfired Range Cooking and Heating

[Ironheart]

If any of the CL forum members have joined RM and want to pick up where we left off please post your thoughts or point me in the direction of where you've all gone.

If anyone else wants to talk woodfired cooking then please fire away.

[Oola]

Just wanted to say hello Ironheart, welcome to RM. Good to have you on board :)

[Ironheart]

Thanks Oola. Much appreciated.

[jazzactivist]

Hi Ironheart, welcome to Rural Muse. I'm an old CL-er and while I have two woodstoves in my current house (only used for 1 pot cooking or boiling a kettle if there is a power cut!) I will soon be moving to a house that has a gas fired Aga. Not quite cooking on wood, which I would prefer, but different for me nonetheless. So, I would appreciate any input on this thread. Thanx for starting it.

[Ironheart]

Hi Jazzactivst. I have to be honest and say that I work for ESSE and joined the old forum to try and help out ESSE woodfired owners with any operating issues they were experiencing.
I can't give you any specifics about your AGA but it will have similar cooking characteristics to an ESSE but not the same flexibility.
There is a lot of cooking info on our website at http://www.esse.com/cookers/cooking.html you will also find a recipe section which is being compiled by River Cottage head chef Gill Meller who has a woodfired ESSE at home.
I hope the move goes well and if you ever feel like swapping to a woodfired range cooker let me know.

[lily]

Hello Ironheart, we have a gas Esse, only problem seems to be the lack of service engineers. Ours needed a service over the Chrismas period last year and we had to wait weeks to get in touch with the lone engineer for our area. Just wondering why firms who happily deal with Aga/Rayburn/Stanley won't touch Esse?

[Pippa]

Same here Lily. My Esse is oil and nobody likes servicing it.

[lily]

Perhaps we will get the reason why from Ironheart. Although I'm pleased with the Esse, I'd be reluctant to recommend one due to the servicing issue.

[Ironheart]

Hi Pippa & Lily

I'm afraid that it's purely a matter of numbers. There are plenty of people out there who will service your ESSE's but a lot more who are only interested in other brands. There's nothing difficult about ESSE servicing but it is certainly sensible to find someone who has attended one of our training courses or who has done work for a reputable ESSE dealer.

We are finding that this is changing and more installers and servicing engineers are taking up our training courses.

There are some good online resources to help you find a servicing engineer. For oil, the Oftec website http://www.oftec.org and gas, the Corgi website http://www.trustcorgi.com both of which have an excellent database and good ESSE representation.

If you have tried these already and still not found anyone then give our customer services team a call on 01282 813235. They will be more than happy to try and locate a good ESSE engineer for you.

Thanks for choosing an ESSE they are great cookers.

[Rosa]

Hello Ironheart, if you are still reading these posts, I'd be grateful for your advice. We had an Ironheart stove installed in May of this year. We've only used it a few times (despite constant rain this summer, it's too warm to keep it going just yet). But I'm very worried about signs of rust! Not only do the hotplates become rusty if not oiled, I've noticed little rust patches developing on the body of the stove. I've phoned the local supplier who installed the stove, but I keep being fobbed off (the manager is always out when I ring). Could it be that the stove wasn't coated properly in the factory? Surely this shouldn't happen. I've used Rayburns and Agas in the past and never experienced this problem. Your advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

[Ironheart]

Hi Rosa.

Sorry to hear about your rust problems but you shouldn't worry too much about them.

At the end of the day the Ironheart is not enameled like our other ESSE cookers, AGAs and Rayburns etc and that is part of it's charm. As such it is more susceptible to the potential for rust if the paint surface is compromised through cleaning or impact for example. You should have been supplied a stove paint aerosol can for periodical touch ups. And I would strongly recommend that you use this. In humid periods where atmospheric moisture levels are higher like they have been recently and also at cooler times when there's more chance of condensation, the chances of rust increases.

In the old days weekly black leading was the way to keep rust at bay on products like the Ironheart. Your cooker will need a degree of maintenance, particularly when it is not used for any length of time.

Similarly the hotplate will rust if the cooker is to be left 'cold' for long periods. It does need to be oiled regularly. We find an oil spray works best for this.

No real harm can come from these surface rust signs. Just clean them, ensure the surface is dry and touch up with the stove paint supplied (or oil the surface for the hotplate). If you didn't receive one I'll arrange for one to be sent to you.

I hope this helps. Please let me know if you still have any concerns.

[Rosa]

Thank you for your detailed reply Ironheart. It's a relief to learn that it's not a fault with the stove. I was supplied with some stove paint, so there's no need to send more. I forgot to ask if you'd kindly recommend a suitable cleaning product for the satin steel hotplate covers?

[TomB]

Hi, just thought I'd share something with you that I have discovered with the Esse. If you hang a towel (proper one, not teatowel) on the rail in front of the oven door, and put a folded teatowel on the hotplate cover, the top oven will reach higher temperatures than without. I have found this to be effective by the difference of half to full 'segment' of the temperature dial. Maybe a sign that this door could be better insulated...
Also, if you haven't already seen it, take a look at the woodheat website, there is some great information there.

[TomB]

should have said esse W23 there, sorry!

[Rosa]

Hello Tom, it's good to have your input.

I know that when I used to hang wet washing on the metal rail in front of the Rayburn, the oven temperature would shoot up. The difference with the Ironheart is that the temperature on the outside of the stove is colossal ! Possibly a towel would scorch. Not that I've used the cooker much (newly installed May of this year). I don't intend to light it again until the autumn, but I've found that it's essential when cooking to use the purpose designed fireguard over the glass door. Otherwise your legs start to fry! As we have a very cold kitchen, however, the appliance is very effective at heating the kitchen as well as the adjacent room. And it looks fantastic!

Will see if I can find the woodburning site you recommend.

[Ironheart]

Hi Rosa

I would recommend using a stiff bristled scrubbing brush and detergent then wipe them down with a soft cloth. The satin lids are made of stainless steel but the finish is textured so polishing agents and cleaners are no use.

Always clean them when the cooker is cold and you could also place an old towel under the bolster to stop water getting onto the hot plate and cooker top.

I hope this helps.

[Ironheart]

Hi Tom

Thanks for the info. I'm pretty sure the insulation is more than adequate in the doors and bolster lids but I will pass your findings onto our development team and feedback in due course.

It could be that your rope seals have compressed a little and the door hinges need adjustment to compensate. The towel could be 'protecting' any heat leaks around the edge if this was the case.

[Pippa]

Hello Ironheart, My Esse oil fired twin burner boiler has died today for no apparant reason. It was serviced last Sept. when 4 replacement flexi oil lines were fitted. Do these need changing every service, I was led to believe they were and this could be the problem this time. The boiler is only used for about 2 hours a day to heat the water as I no longer can afford to cook on the range, surely these hoses should last longer than 11 months. Any ideas? Thanks.

[Ironheart]

Hi Pippa

I sympathise with your dilemma over the cost of running your ESSE for cooking. The price increases are a real dilemma for those who rely on oil.

I would have thought that your oil lines should last longer than one year and I will look into this for you. It's difficult to offer any further useful advice without a bit more info, can you give me any more details... service history, model, age, symptoms etc. I will do my best.

[Ironheart]

Hi Pippa

Rubber oil lines will perish over time and having spoken with a few installers, opinions vary as to their life expectancy. Some say 1 year others 2. Flexi oil lines are date marked for this reason.

Ideally your main oil line should be copper up to a tee at the cooker and then 2 hoses run from both arms of the tee, 1 to each burner. So you should only really have 2 lines to replace. If they have perished then you would almost certainly be able to smell oil or see signs of oil leaking.

It is impossible to advise without knowing the specifics of your particular installation. Your service engineer is the best person to diagnose the problem but I hope this info is useful.

[Pippa]

Thanks so much for your research. I have phoned an engineer, waiting for him to get back to me. I cannot smell oil at the moment, but red light comes on when I switch on, but pump? doesn't click on. Will report back when problem solved.

[Pippa]

The problem was the junction box, a Honeywell idiot proof job with circuit board. Have now had fitted junction box that needs person with skill and brains to wire up, boiler serviced and all well. Junction box was 8 years old and the guy who did all the work will now service the boiler every year. Thanks for previous help.

[NewUK]

Any one having difficulties posting?

[NewUK]

Hi Tom. I tried to email you at your email address but no response? I can't post on this useless website and have been trying for 3 weeks!! DESPERATE to discuss Esse issues!!

[buecherwurm]

If you are so desperate why don't you send a private message to Ironheart?

[Ironheart]

Hi Tom. I tried to email you at your email address but no response? I can't post on this useless website and have been trying for 3 weeks!! DESPERATE to discuss Esse issues!!

Hi. No problems posting but this forum doesn't seem to be particularly active. Happy to discuss any issues or questions you have regarding your ESSE.

Ironheart

[seligsuffolk]

Hello everybody . We bought our Esse woodburning range on ebay in June of this year, installed it a month and a half ago and although things started to go a little bit wrong...... now we have a full blown crisis. The flue will not draw when you try and get the fire going at about 6.30. This was masked by my getting up earlier for work and keeping the range really hot. The house is full of smoke, we cannot cook except on electric, or heat the water. As for c/h, forget it! I have taken the fire out and will take the tops off for the second time so the Hetas engineer can have a look but my patience and health are wearing thin. We have just discovered that Esse will not honour the guarantee.
Moral, pay the vast amount to a supplier/installer and keep them coming back until the thing works properly/gets over the inevitable teething problems, they are not easy to run, W25s and the wood really has to be the best available.

[seligsuffolk]

The Hetas engineer duly arrived and discovered a blockage in the flueways, now unblocked and running nice and hot when needed. Thank you Esse David for advice on the phone too.

[Oola]

glad you got it sorted out seligsuffolk

[purcell]

Staff at the factory of SolarUK, the Sussex-based designer of solar hot water systems, are using a cardboard pulp squeezer to produce fuel pellets - very handy at a time when households and businesses are looking for economical alternatives to gas and electricity.

The squeezer is essentially a very simple tool. Shredded cardboard and paper as well as some woodchips are added to a dustbin half filled with water – just enough material to soak up the water. The bin is then left for an hour before stirring. Up to a day later the contents are stirred again before being put into the chamber of the squeezer. A motor is turned on, driving the piston that squashes the paper into pellets. The finished pellets are then left to dry.

It’s as straightforward as that: the only other pieces of equipment you need are a good-sized dustbin and a shredder for the cardboard and paper.

SolarUK had found that there was no easy way to recycle cardboard in the area around Northiam, East Sussex, so it's using this handy machine to turn waste, potentially destined for landfill, into a clean-burning, low carbon fuel.

http://www.prlog.org/10374294-sussex-solar-thermal-company-turns-its-cardboard-into-green-fuel.html

[Crocus]

Hi Purcell! I've noticed you're on line and posted on here. To to the introductions and welcome thread (sticky thread in General), and tell us a bit about yourself? We would love to know your interests, hobbies and the like. Crocus.