firebird popular 82 riello oil burner

celticbhoy27

hi guys anyone have one of these burners for their central heating? mine is currently giving me a few problems! main issue with it is when i turn it on from inside the house it actually only works 20 percent of the time, the timer (old one with the dial you push in as to what time you want the heating to come on) never works! for the most part i have to go out to the garage and manually start it by unscrewing the little cap (next to the temp dial) and pushing the nozzle down which starts the burner everytime! just wondering is it the burner itself thats the problem or the timer inside the house? thanks for any replies

celticbhoy27

prob be best if this was in the plumbing and heating section could a mod please move?

sky6

It sounds like you need a new time clock to begin with. So save yourself a lot of hassle and get anew one. You could also try cleaning the magic eye or Photocell on the Burner. If it's begining to Soot up it will hit and miss start.
It will be more prone to fail in the Cold Weather. A bit like a car battery in the winter. A simple wipe with a cloth will eliminate this problem.

celticbhoy27

sky6 wrote: »

It sounds like you need a new time clock to begin with. So save yourself a lot of hassle and get anew one. You could also try cleaning the magic eye or Photocell on the Burner. If it's begining to Soot up it will hit and miss start.
It will be more prone to fail in the Cold Weather. A bit like a car battery in the winter. A simple wipe with a cloth will eliminate this problem.

thanks for the reply, where would i find the photcell?

sky6

The Photocel will be located on the side of the burner. it will have a cable like a HT lead on a car coming out of it. They are usually just pushed in or else with a little twist. When you take it out it will have a little glass dome on the end. This is the Photocel, just clean it off and it should work fine. It works a bit like the Spark plug in a car. The oher thing you can do if you feel capable is to remove the burner electrodes also and wipe away any soot or oil from the electrodes. making sure that the porcelain is totally clean. Make sure to kill the power to the Boiler before you start.
One of the disadvantages with oil burners is that every time they ignite they create a little Soot. This soot settles on the Electrodes and the Photocel, and over time builds up to until it impedes the boiler from starting. This usually manifests itself in the Winter Months when you need it most. A bit like a weak Car Battery. It'll start the car fine in Summer but in Winter it will let you down on the first really cold day.
Good luck with it.

nophd08

sky6 wrote: »

The Photocel will be located on the side of the burner. it will have a cable like a HT lead on a car coming out of it. They are usually just pushed in or else with a little twist. When you take it out it will have a little glass dome on the end. This is the Photocel, just clean it off and it should work fine. It works a bit like the Spark plug in a car. The oher thing you can do if you feel capable is to remove the burner electrodes also and wipe away any soot or oil from the electrodes. making sure that the porcelain is totally clean. Make sure to kill the power to the Boiler before you start.
One of the disadvantages with oil burners is that every time they ignite they create a little Soot. This soot settles on the Electrodes and the Photocel, and over time builds up to until it impedes the boiler from starting. This usually manifests itself in the Winter Months when you need it most. A bit like a weak Car Battery. It'll start the car fine in Summer but in Winter it will let you down on the first really cold day.
Good luck with it.

Sorry to hijack sky6 but the photocell does'nt work like a spark plug, if it cant detect a flame then it will send signal to control box and burner will lock out or oil flow will stop. Its a safety device.
The "spark" comes from the electrodes.

brightspark

for the most part i have to go out to the garage and manually start it by unscrewing the little cap (next to the temp dial) and pushing the nozzle down which starts the burner everytime

Any chance you could post a pic of what exactily you are pressing?

If it's not part of the timer then I doubt if your timer is the problem.

Is it this part?

http://www.heating-parts.co.uk/media/STOCKIMG/00091D82.JPG

celticbhoy27

brightspark wrote: »

Any chance you could post a pic of what exactily you are pressing?

If it's not part of the timer then I doubt if your timer is the problem.

Is it this part?

http://www.heating-parts.co.uk/media/STOCKIMG/00091D82.JPG

thats the one mate, the black cap in the middle is the bit i unscrew, revealing a little nozzle which i push down and the boiler kicks to life everytime. any idea why?

brightspark

It's a high temperature limit stat. A safety device to stop the burner from over heating the water (not a good idea to generate steam!)

Another Boardsie had the same problem some years ago

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=52413146

Most likely causes are that the stat is faulty or simply set too high

(You did say the system is working ok after reseting earlier so I am assuming the circulating pump is working ok)

celticbhoy27

brightspark wrote: »

It's a high temperature limit stat. A safety device to stop the burner from over heating the water (not a good idea to generate steam!)

Another Boardsie had the same problem some years ago

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=52413146

Most likely causes are that the stat is faulty or simply set too high

(You did say the system is working ok after reseting earlier so I am assuming the circulating pump is working ok)

thanks for the reply mate, and for guessing the correct part i was refering to i know im not the best when describing things, :pac: ill check the stat tommorr and turn it down, hopefully that will solve the provlem. ill let you know how it goes

celticbhoy27

tried turning down the stat and heating works like a charm, you're a star brightspark, was hoping it was something simple. spent enough on plumbing over this bad winter without more bills! thanks again buddy

brightspark

What was it set to? and what did you bring it down to?

celticbhoy27

3 settings are 60 75 90, it was set at 90, i reckon the plumber might have increased it, as i never went near it, i brought it all the way back to 60

brightspark

90 was too high.

You could probably turn it a little, esp if you find your radiators and hot water arn't quite hot enough.

Generally the higher you set it, the more oil you will burn (but your house and water will be warmer)

eamo4648

Looking for some help, riello 40 burner keeps locking out and what looks to be like soot is coming from the vent/flue i have bled the oil so there is no air lock
any ideas

brightspark

eamo4648 wrote: »

Looking for some help, riello 40 burner keeps locking out and what looks to be like soot is coming from the vent/flue i have bled the oil so there is no air lock
any ideas

Soot usually indicates a bad fuel/air mixture something that can only be cured by a competent service engineer.

The photocell is probably dirty from the soot resulting in the burner locking out, you could clean it but unless you get the burner serviced it will soon get dirty again. Also it would be running very inefficiently.

joegaynor

hi all have a grant boiler with a riello rdb burner. recently ran out of kerosene ( not for the 1st time) and got a refill. when i went to bleed the airlock i loosened the bleed screw pressed the reset button and the burner went thru its usual routine, air spitting out ran for 20 secs and stopped and locked out. when i pressed the reset button again nothing. the light on the reset button stays on and it makes no attempt to start. tried cleaning the photocell but still nothing. any help appreciated.