Oil Boiler Won't light

yank_in_eire

I've just moved into a house that has oil fired heating. There was a leak at the tank end of the copper tubing that supplies oil to the burner so I had to remove the fitting and replace it. My wife decided to tell me afterwards that you shouldn't get air in the line. Now the boiler won't light--is this due to the air in the line and if so how can I fix it?

Kashkai

Hi Yank,

You'll need to loosen the oil feed pipe that leads into the burner unit. The pressure of the oil in the tank will force the air out of the pipe and then you'll be fine.

If this doesn't work, you might have an airlock at the tank itself in which case you shou also loosen the pipe here as well. Be careful though as the pressure of the oil might give you an unwanted shower.

yank_in_eire

Thanks a mil--I'll give that a go

JamesM

You should not touch the oil pipe :eek:
You need to find a point on the oil pump for bleeding it. The oil pump is the unit the flexible oil pipe goes into.
What this bleed point looks like depends on the make of oil pump. It could be a nut, an allen screw or a bleed nipple. Sometimes it is a flat screwdriver slot, but if the screw moves easily, do NOT turn it - it is an adjustment and must not be changed. What make of burner is it and approx what year ?
Jim.

Kashkai

JamesM wrote:

You should not touch the oil pipe :eek:
You need to find a point on the oil pump for bleeding it. The oil pump is the unit the flexible oil pipe goes into.
What this bleed point looks like depends on the make of oil pump. It could be a nut, an allen screw or a bleed nipple. Sometimes it is a flat screwdriver slot, but if the screw moves easily, do NOT turn it - it is an adjustment and must not be changed. What make of burner is it and approx what year ?
Jim.

Jim,

I've had all sorts of oil burners in the past and have had numerous airlocks. At first I called out plumbers a 80 quid a go to sort the problem and all they did was loosen the oil feed pipe to bleed the air out of the pipe. A couple of oil delivery guys also performed similar feats for me. I've now done this several times myself with no ill effects apart from a small amount of oil on the ground.

Why make a simple job any harder for Yank??

tred

Prosperous Dave wrote:

Jim,

I've had all sorts of oil burners in the past and have had numerous airlocks. At first I called out plumbers a 80 quid a go to sort the problem and all they did was loosen the oil feed pipe to bleed the air out of the pipe. A couple of oil delivery guys also performed similar feats for me. I've now done this several times myself with no ill effects apart from a small amount of oil on the ground.

Why make a simple job any harder for Yank??

However its not the difficult to blead the burner internally, once u have a wrench. there is no need for a call out for this, once you can find the bleed valvle. what make of oil boiler is it?

JamesM

Prosperous Dave wrote:

Jim,

I've had all sorts of oil burners in the past and have had numerous airlocks. At first I called out plumbers a 80 quid a go to sort the problem and all they did was loosen the oil feed pipe to bleed the air out of the pipe. A couple of oil delivery guys also performed similar feats for me. I've now done this several times myself with no ill effects apart from a small amount of oil on the ground.

Why make a simple job any harder for Yank??

Dave,
The oil line usually enters the oil pump underneath the pump. Loosening this line will not clear an airlock. (Unless you remove the burner and turn it upsidedown). Why put Yank to that trouble when he can open the proper port for the job without causing leaks and damaging the connection. A plumber who opens the oil line instead of the proper port, does not know what he is doing. You must clear the air from the highest point or at the plug for the pressure gauge.
Jim.

Lex Luthor

JamesM wrote:

Dave,
The oil line usually enters the oil pump underneath the pump. Loosening this line will not clear an airlock. (Unless you remove the burner and turn it upsidedown). Why put Yank to that trouble when he can open the proper port for the job without causing leaks and damaging the connection. A plumber who opens the oil line instead of the proper port, does not know what he is doing. You must clear the air from the highest point or at the plug for the pressure gauge.
Jim.

I use the port for the pressure gauge too to bleed any airlocks.

Kashkai

JamesM wrote:

Dave,
The oil line usually enters the oil pump underneath the pump. Loosening this line will not clear an airlock. (Unless you remove the burner and turn it upsidedown). Why put Yank to that trouble when he can open the proper port for the job without causing leaks and damaging the connection. A plumber who opens the oil line instead of the proper port, does not know what he is doing. You must clear the air from the highest point or at the plug for the pressure gauge.
Jim.

Jim,

I'm not getting into an argument here and I'll stand corrected if needs be, but three different plumbers and two oil delivery men have bled airlocks by opening the oil feed line for me and in all cases it has worked.

However, please let me know what method do you use and what the pressure guage looks like, what is its function, i.e. is it for bleeding the system etc as I just love getting info that will mean I won't need to pay a tradesman good money for a simple job

Dave

TKK

I deliver oil for my father's business most weekends and regularly have to bleed the burners. On every pump there is a bleed point be it an allen key/hex nut.

In the majority of cases all you need to bleed a burner is a philips screwdriver (to get the covers off) and a 15mm spanner to open the bleed nut. As a general rule just look for a nut/allen key that has no obvious purpose and is not located quite close to the oil feed pipe.

JamesM

Dave, There are many makes of oil pumps on many makes of burners. The are all different, but use the same principle. What make of burner do you have. The pressure gauge is for measuring the oil pressure ! There is a port for this on all pumps. To open it, (as TKK said) you need a 15mm spanner, or an allen key or, sometimes, a screwdriver. (Do not turn the oil pressure adjusting screw, which is sometimes a screw slot) As well as the pressure port, on most pumps, there is another port for venting the pump, which can be opened the same way.
The pressure gauge port can be low down on the pump. The vent port is usually higher up - sometimes on the top.
If your oil line enters high up on the pump it would be possible to vent it through this. But in most cases the oil line enters the bottom of the pump. It is logical that you want to bleed at the highest point to get the air out - Or where there is pressure (pressure gauge port) to force the air out.
Take it from me, that people who do this for a living do not usually open the oil line to bleed an oil pump.

It is not good for the burner to let the oil run out - 5 times :eek: It can damage the oil pump.
Jim.