All installations should be made in accordance with local building regulations and should only be undertaken by an accredited competent person. Your local building control officer can approve the completed installation. Under UK law it is an offence not to comply with this requirement.
Warning:
This stove must not be installed in to a chimney that serves any other heating appliance and no extractor fan can be fitted or used in the same room as this stove.
Safety:
The stoves heat to very high temperatures during firing. Do not touch with the naked hand. When removing ash remember, it will be very hot for a long period of time after the fire has stopped burning and should be disposed of accordingly.
Assembly:
Firstly, unpack your new Champion Stove and make a visual inspection to check that no damage has occurred during shipping. Please report any damage immediately and prior to assembly.
For safer transport, the stoves travel with legs off, flue connector off and also the top or rear blanking plate off. These are located in the stove body during transport.
Positioning:
The stove must be sited on a non-combustible hearth which is at least 125mm thick and should be in accordance with current building regulations. The hearth should be installed on a floor with an adequate load bearing capacity. If the existing construction does not meet these requirements suitable action should be taken to achieve this (i.e. a load distributing plate). There must be a gap of at least 300mm away from any combustible material and all walls within 300mm of the stove should be a minimum of 75mm thick and must be made of a non combustible material. The 300mm space is particularly important to the front of the stove in relation to carpets or wooden floors, where it is possible that on opening the door a log or piece of coal may fall out.
To get the best transfer of heat from the stove into the room there are two factors to consider. Firstly, the flue pipe from the stove must pass through a ‘register plate’. A register plate is the term used for a blanking off plate, which is installed up inside the chimney (usually out of sight) to prevent heat from the stove being drawn up the chimney to waste. The register plate must have a 5” hole in it for the flue pipe from the stove to pass through, and be made from a non combustible material such as steel, asbestolux, or masterboard. It is advisable to seal this register plate to the walls of the chimney and provide a trap door in it or a double sealed outside soot door for access to clean the chimney from time to time. Secondly the more forward the stove can be sited on the hearth the more heat will be radiated into the room. To achieve this the back flue outlet is favoured, but remember the 300mm gap from combustible material.
Installation:
• Bolt the legs on, remember to only ever hand tighten any bolts when dealing with cast iron as the iron can split if you try to tighten too heavily.
• It is most important that there is no obstruction in the flue or chimney. Please ensure that these are checked and swept before installation.
• Ventilation is essential for the combustion process. It may be necessary to install a wall vent to provide combustion air and prevent the depletion of oxygen in the room. An air brick is a legal requirement for stoves with an output of more than 5kw.
• A properly built masonry or factory installed chimney, preferable with a height of 15 feet or over, should ensure a consistent draught (draw) under a variety of weather conditions. This stove requires a chimney (not the flue pipe) with a minimum diameter of 150mm (6”) the larger the chimney and the cavity may result in less than optimum performance to an extent where it may require a liner to improve the performance. If there is not an existing chimney then a twin walled insulated stainless steel flue to BS4543 can be used and should be fitted in accordance with the manufacturers instructions and building regulations
• The flue draught must be checked and should be a minimum of 1.2mm to a maximum of 2.5mm water guage to gain satisfactory performance of the stove. If there is an excess draft then this will adversely effect the performance of the stove and cause the stove to over fire and crack the casting, a draft stabilizer should be fitted to reduce the draft to within the limits listed above.
• A generous amount of ready made fire cement is then spread round both flue outlets. The flue connector and blanking plate are then screwed in position. Wipe away the excess cement.
• Move the stove into the position you require. NEVER DRAG THE STOVE OR YOU WILL BREAK THE STOVE LEGS OR POSSIBLY LOOSEN THE TOP. Spread a liberal amount of fire cement around the inside or outside of the flue connector and place the flue in position.
• Flue pipes should be of 316 grade stainless steel or vitreous enamel nominal thickness 1.2mm, please note the length of any horizontal piece of flue pipe must not exceed 150mm
• With some stoves you will find an extra internal plate. This is the smoke deflector & removable baffle plate. It should be placed in the body of the stove at a 45 degree angle from centre back rising to just above the door. You will find 4 notches inside your stove which this plate sits upon.
• Light your fire, this will dry the cement.
Operation:
1. Curing the stove
The stove is made up of a number of cast iron components and we recommend that the first 4 burns should be a small fire for up to 30 minutes. This enables the stresses and strains at the joints to be taken up and settle gradually. After this the next 3 burns should be a larger fire for 1 hour. During the curing process the stove will give off a pungent smell and some fumes, this is the paint curing and quite natural and normal, the paint bonds to the stove at between 190 and 200 degrees and the stove should be fired at this temperature for between 45 to 60 minutes then the stove vents closed and allow the stove to cool naturally . Provide ventilation whilst this is happening since the fumes can be quite strong and may set off any smoke alarms in the room. The paint will become slightly lighter in colour when it is cured particularly in the hottest spots. We recommend Stove Bright colour 04002 to restore colour and keep the stove in tip top appearance. We recommend that you repeat this curing process when the stove is lit each autumn or after touching up. .If you are burning mainly wood remove the multi-fuel grate and ash pan as this causes the wood to burn too quickly and instead, burn the wood on an inch thick layer of sand. For burning mainly coal leave the multifuel grate in the stove.
2. Recommended fuels
The recommended fuels are wood (dry and seasoned for a minimum of one year), house coal, anthracite, smokeless fuels such as ‘home fire’ and various types of preformed briquettes. Under no circumstances burn “petrol coke” this is product for boilers and furnaces, and it will burn out the internal grate and baffle plate in a very short period of time.
Do not use gasoline, lighter fluid, kerosene or other flammable liquids to start or rekindle the fire for safety reasons.
3. Starting & maintaining the fire
Build a fire directly on the grate with crumpled newspaper and kindling wood or two “firelighters” and kindling wood. Have the primary air vent slide (situated in the ashcan door) and the secondary air wash vent slide (situated above the main loading door) wide open. When the kindling is burning well add larger pieces of wood or coal as desired.
There are IMPORTANT differences in the method of operation for burning coal or wood.
Coal or a mixture of coal and wood needs a flow of air for combustion through the bottom of the grate. Wood does not require this and will readily burn on a bed of ash with a flow of air over the top.
If you are only burning wood you may start with a bed of sand or allow a bed of ash to build up to a level of about 25mm forming a flat surface on which the wood may burn. You will then use the “Air wash” top slide to provide the combustible air.
If you are burning coal or a mixture of coal and wood, do NOT allow a bed of ash to build up above a level of the sides of the ash can. Coal needs combustive air to flow through it from underneath. At the same time, when burning coal, this air is needed to keep the grate from overheating. Failure to allow a sufficient flow of air through the grate will result in the grate burning out in a short period of time. You will get some spillage of ash to the back and sides of the ashcan itself and you must ensure that this is also cleaned out regularly. Ensure that soot and resin deposits are regularly cleaned out from behind the internal baffle plate. If you do not do this you will buckle the baffle plate or in the extreme, burn it out.
DO NOT operate Champion Multifuel stoves with the bottom (ash pan door) left open. This will cause the stove to burn beyond its rated output (5KW/ 16KW ). This is called “over firing” and can cause damage to the stove. In the extreme it may crack the casting.
Each stove has a kilowatt rating. That is the approximate maximum temperature the casting is able to cope with. It has nothing to do with the heat production which depends on which fuel you use and how much of it you use. If you require less heat burn a smaller fire.
For overnight burning close all the air flow dials and dampen the fire down by covering it with a coating of coal dust or dross. Overnight burning is a skill which has to be developed over time. Some people never manage to learn this skill others pick it up within about a month.
Important: The fuel level inside the stove must not under any circumstances be above the level of the internal cast iron fire bricks as this will cause an excessive heat build up and crack the outer casting.
THE AIRWASH SYSTEM:
This is a system where secondary air is drawn into the stove (by combustion) through the top vent slide and deflected down the back face of the glass, thus preventing the smoke coming into contact with the glass and depositing soot on the glass. It does not mean that you will never have to clean the glass, but substantially increases the periods between having to do so. The air wash system works best when burning dry wood. Wood which is not completely dry and seasoned and pitchy wood will produce more deposits on the glass and reduce the effectiveness of the airwash system. Also, deposits will form on the back of the glass when the stove is operated on low heat for extended periods.
To clean the glass either use an oven cleaning fluid or dip a wet cloth in the wood ash (not coal ash as this may scratch the glass) and gently rub clean. Only do this when the stove is cold.
TROUBLE SHOOTING:
• Smoke comes out of the stove when the loading door is open.
The chimney into which the 125mm flue pipe is installed may be less than the minimum 150mm required.
Deposits (soot) may have built up in the chimney and be restricting the “draw”.
The flue and chimney has not reached operating temperature for the stove. Burn paper and kindling wood to increase the heat
• The stove does not produce the expected heat into the room.
A register plate has not been installed, or not sealed to prevent heat being drawn up the chimney to waste.
Green, wet or un-seasoned wood is being burnt.
The chimney has excessive draw. Seek installer advice with regard to installing a Flue Draught Stabilizer.
The stove has been totally recessed into an existing fireplace and the heat is being absorbed by the surrounding fireplace walls rather than being radiated into the room. For the maximum efficiency of heat transference into the room the stove should be sited on the hearth of the fireplace rather than recessed.
• The stove burns too fast.
With burning wood use whole logs rather than split ones. The wood being burnt may generally be too small.
The “airtight” seal between the fibre rope on the doors and the casting may have been lost, adjust door handle lock nuts to reinstate this seal.
The chimney has excessive draw. (Seek installers advice) blank off some air vent holes.
The fibre rope seal between the door and the glass is leaking.
Tighten glass retaining clips.
The fibre rope on doors and glass has worn out. Replace.
Should you not be confident with these instructions and are unsure of the correct way to install and maintain this stove we recommend you employ an experienced installer .