Oil boiler not taking in oil

teekayd25

Hey all,

Have bled a Firebird oil boiler through its pressure valve a few times today but not able to get it back working (worked fine for the last few days after a tank refill).

Have also been fiddling with the safety valve at the end of the oil line coming into the boiler . . . should this be tightened fully and completely? When it is there seems to be a little bit of leakage.

There is also a small valve after that that is at a 45 degree angle to the oil line. Don't know if it should be left like that or turned to the left to line up with the oil line or turned to the right to make 90 degrees.

Any ideas?

Sparkpea

safety valve? do you mean the fire valve? what type is it? small valve at angle? any chance of some pics to let us know what exactly you're talking about..

teekayd25

Thanks, have uploaded one of the oil line (fairly rough one, had the torch in the other hand!).

Boiler is firing up but the oil just doesn't seem to be reaching it. I guess there could be some kind of problem further up inside the burner itself, but if I thought these valves were set properly I could rule them out.

Cheers

Sparkpea

ok the one on the left is what I'd call a cheap firevalve. I too never can remember what way they should be set but I think its opposite from normal. So basically to open it you should be turning it anticlock wise I *think*. The other one just looks like a lever valve and the red lever/knob should be going in the same direction as the pipe/hose to be open. What I would do is turn the lever valve so its closed and disconnect the hose from it, then open it into a dish or something to check the oil is flowing through it steadily. If it is then you need to reconnect the hose and bleed the boiler to check your getting oil through the oil pump.

This post should explain how to bleed a burner

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=68257797&postcount=14

teekayd25

Cheers Sparkpea, well I got the oil flowing through those valves anyway and went to try another bleed . . . no luck yet as regards getting the whole thing going but I will prob go again in the morning.

So in the post you included, should I actually have the system turned on when I go to bleed the burner (I didn't have earlier)?

Thanks for your help.

joctcl

On the burner itself behind (in my case red metal box 3 screws)you should have 2 very obvious looking nuts. Have a shallow dish or bowl ready. With boiler switched off and oil flow open unlock one at a time they usually have a copper washer and watch all the bubbles! You should see good flow, sometimes when you get a refill it distrurbs all the crud at the bottom of the tank and this can block the pipe hence why perhaps its was firing and stopped again.
Close the nut/s being careful not to overtighten.

teekayd25

Thanks lads, well the situation now is that I have bled the burner again but still no luck getting everything to click into place.

Am wondering what is the longest it should take to clear any air out? I would say I gave it 20 minutes to half an hour in all.

Is there a chance frozen pipes or airlocks on the way into the house might possibly be to blame? Am also thinking that the boiler might have overheated a couple of nights ago and could there be some thermostat switch or something that would need to be reset?

joctcl

Hi Teekayd25,

When you said you bled the burner you have good flow through the pipework, did you take the small nut off the front of the boiler unit and see all the bubbles?

I cant believe after posting I ran out of oil last night and had to bleed after an emergency delivery today.

It shouldn't take 20 mins just long enough to get a good oil flow through.

Its a grotty job but if you only have a very small trickle consider blowing back up the pipe.

If it fires solidly for 5 mins then cuts out and you can feel red hot pipes on the way out to the house they you may have a frozen pipe, highly unlikely though unless you had the -15 in Donegal last night!

Can you feel your pump which is close to the boiler whirring indicating there is water pumping around the system? this will pump even if the burner is not running

There should also be a little bottle or air vent above the boiler to allow any excess air escape. Sometimes they get blocked with rubbish and a gentle tap (not with a hammer as you will break it off) should clear it or you can hear it escaping.

There is also an emergency blow out valve again on the pipework so that if the boiler should overheat water or usually steam will release and no damage done to the boiler.

Sparkpea

if u had good flow through then u should be able to get it bled, pipe wouldn't be froze

teekayd25

joctcl wrote: »

Hi Teekayd25,

When you said you bled the burner you have good flow through the pipework, did you take the small nut off the front of the boiler unit and see all the bubbles?

I cant believe after posting I ran out of oil last night and had to bleed after an emergency delivery today.

It shouldn't take 20 mins just long enough to get a good oil flow through.

Its a grotty job but if you only have a very small trickle consider blowing back up the pipe.

If it fires solidly for 5 mins then cuts out and you can feel red hot pipes on the way out to the house they you may have a frozen pipe, highly unlikely though unless you had the -15 in Donegal last night!

Can you feel your pump which is close to the boiler whirring indicating there is water pumping around the system? this will pump even if the burner is not running

There should also be a little bottle or air vent above the boiler to allow any excess air escape. Sometimes they get blocked with rubbish and a gentle tap (not with a hammer as you will break it off) should clear it or you can hear it escaping.

There is also an emergency blow out valve again on the pipework so that if the boiler should overheat water or usually steam will release and no damage done to the boiler.

Thanks joctcl, you got the oil delivered, I guess that's the main thing!

Well I was bleeding the burner through the allen key nut and a one a little behind that. I kept seeing bubbles (at the allen key one) actually, which made me think there might be a lot of air in there . . . but there was a good flow of oil anyway so I guess that means the problem might be something else

It's an outdoor condenser boiler, normally when I turn it on there is a nice bit of steam straight away, like in the vid below . . . now it just makes an empty, airish sound that suggests no oil is being burned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9hv8NUwOkc

I think the pump here is inside the hot press; pretty sure there's a couple of airlocks inside the house by now as well.

Just to be safe I've been draining off the water tank in the house and closed off the supply to it so maybe it would be a bad idea to turn the boiler on now anyway?

teekayd25

@Sparkpea

What about a frozen pipe between the boiler and the house (they are a few yards apart)?

Sparkpea

thats more likely, few kettles of hot water over it

teekayd25

@joctcl

Sorry, picked you up wrong about the pump, the one in the hot press was used until the boiler was installed a few months ago.

Yeah, it sounds like there's a bit of water fizzing around when I turn on the boiler, poured the few kettles over the area that might be frozen just now as well so hopefully closing in on the issue now.

I guess it would be bad to run the boiler now if the hot taps / cylinder etc. are empty so I suppose I will see what things might be like tomorrow when the water tank is full again.

Cheers