Hi All,

We have an old stone house in Wales that has an open vented central
heating system (feed tank in the loft) where the water is heated by a
Stanley oil fired range in the kitchen. Some of the downstairs rads
have cold spots in them where they are presumably full of sludge and
need cleaing out.
I have drained and refilled both open and closed systems before with
no problem and would like to drain down the system then remove the
offending rads and give them a good hosing through. Trouble is I am
not sure if you need to do any different when a range is involved (its
one of those oil fired ones that both cooks and heats the water for
heating and bathing) as opposed to a 'normal' boiler? I was going to
turn the supply off to the feed tank in the loft, drain the system
from a rad in the hall (lowest) remove/clean/replace the bad rads,
turn on the water to the feed tank and vent the rads while they fill
then finally turn on the power to the range (which also powers up the
pump in the utility room) which hopefully will push the water around
the system and vent them again before having a cuppa. Do I need to do
anything more to allow the range to heat the water properly (vent it
or something) or do i just treat it as any other boiler?? Sorry if
that sounds a bit obvious to some but I've never really come across a
range before and dont want to mess it up or burn it out by turning it
on without water in it.
Thanks in advance for any help given,
Steve.