Temporarily remove gas fire from wall?

[Dan S. MacAbre]

I don't like to decorate around things, but we've a wall with a gas fire in; and I can either try to move it, or paint round it, and lay flooring round it - both of which I don't like to do. I'd be happier if I could just move it a little, so that I could get behind it a bit, and it wouldn't be so obvious that it's been worked around. Trouble is, it has a pointed up balanced flue, which feels pretty solid. I imagine that if I hit it hard enough, maybe with something in between, then it'd move, but the flue metal sheet might also get damaged. Should I just leave it, and work around it? What does everyone else do?

[spuorgelgoog]

Isn't there a way of removing the firefront from the wall mount and flue?

Owain

[Dan S. MacAbre]

I can get most of the decorative bits off, but eventually, there is the metal box with the flue, stuck firmly to the wall. I can't get behind it, or see any way to dismantle it. Unfortunately, right between the fire box and the wall, is the breccia sheet/wood fire surround that I'm going to have to decorate around.

[GB]

I've only once installed a gas boiler with a flue coming straight out the back. That involved hanging the boiler, then pushing the flue in from outside, and pointing up the flue. So, no way to dismantle it without at the very least breaking the pointing. Plus there might be expanded foam round the flue behind the pointing. Can you get a new flue? Otherwise, it's fixed. :)

That's based on my limited experience.

[John Rumm]

Why not look for the installation manual online? It may give an indication of ho it fits together. Normally you can remove the firefront from the sealing plate. You will likely have to decouple the gas union, so make sure you are fully up to speed on how to reconnect and properly test for soundness.

[Dan S. MacAbre]

I think I have it 'filed away' somewhere, and have been looking for it. It's a Cannon Coalridge something-or-other. It's a bit of a monstrosity, and if I do manage to move it, there's an equal chance it will get weighed in. I do a bit of work on motorbikes and cars, and I'm aware that things need to be tightened correctly when they go back together :-)

[GB]

Do you need a manometer for car work?

[Fredxxx]

For setting up his twin carbs?

[GB]

Ah! :)

[Dan S. MacAbre]

I actually have twin carbs on the bike, but only because that seemed like a good idea in 1974. They're a pain to tune, but a manometer would not help, AFAIK. Please let me know if they would. But there are a few things even in a modern car, like fuel lines and brake pipes where it helps to be sure that something is tight enough without wrecking it. Actually, I had to call out british gas to try to detect a leak a few years ago. I could smell gas at a certain place upstairs (thank heaven for mercaptan), but he was unable to detect a noticeable pressure drop at the meter. I eventually found a copper pipe hammered over at the ceiling/wall into a right angle so that it could be plastered over. The plaster had, over time, corroded a small hole into it.

[Mr Pounder Esquire]

Well trolled.

>

[Dan S. MacAbre]

What do you base that on?

[Fredxxx]

Tuning twin cards with a manometer was the in-thing in 1974.

Its rather worrying that you don't know, or have forgotten, this 1970's pastime.

I could go on......

[Dan S. MacAbre]

Well, I was only a teenager in the 1970's. My first bike was a tiger cub, which only had one carb, and then I stopped riding bikes for a few decades. My first missus once had a triumph dolomite with twin SUs (I think), but I left the carbs alone on that. I've only recently got a 74 triumph T100R, but it's still mostly in bits. Eventually, of course, I will reach the carb tuning stage, but I'm actually tempted to just replace the manifold and put a single carb on it, just for an easy life.