Dirty Photocell

fitzie79

Last night I came home to find that there was no heating working in the house. My first thought was that we had run out of oil (happened last year :rolleyes:) but thankfully this was not the case. On investigating it turned out that the photocell was caked in black soot and this was preventing the boiler (Firebird Kitchen C35) from starting. I cleaned the photocell and it's back working now. The boiler was only installed 16 months ago in a new build - is it unusual that the photocell would have gotten so dirty so quickly? Could it be a sign that there is something not running properly with the boiler? I had it commissioned when it was installed and was going to get it serviced once the winter was over. Our oil usage isn't too large either as the house is well insulated and we have a stove in the main living area.

Billy Bunting

It's had a hard 16 months, I would get it serviced. It is quite common on the RDB burner that if you get a bit of a windy night and the wind blowing against the flue is stronger than the force of the burner fan it can cause the photocell to soot up.

Sparkpea

I'm not a service engineer but from my limited knowledge of the burners, especially one 16 months old I would say no this is not normal. I don't often see photocells that dirty but then again I'm not working on the burner side of things day in day out. Is cleaning a photocell part of a general service?

Its always a good idea to get the boiler serviced annually whether you think its performing ok or not. You're obviously not going to see a mad difference in oil usage on a 16 month old boiler but keeping it cleaned and uptodate once a year should be done religiously imo, treat your boiler like you're car, neglect it and it will let you down.

sullzz

Sounds like the oil pressure and air settings are not set right , if they are not set right it causes sooting , as the other lads said get it serviced

JohnnieK

If it's 16 months old there should be a boiler passport with it. This will hold the commissioning slip and would also have your warranty. You would know by looking at it if it was commissioned or not. If not then it was never set up correctly and needs to be adjusted.

fitzie79

JohnnieK wrote: »

If it's 16 months old there should be a boiler passport with it. This will hold the commissioning slip and would also have your warranty. You would know by looking at it if it was commissioned or not. If not then it was never set up correctly and needs to be adjusted.

i had it commisioned when i got it alright and I still have that slip. will be interesting to see if something has changed when i get the service

jimmytheface

Hey Fitzie can I ask you was it commisioned by an OFTEC tech ? A dirty photocell is wrong air/oil settings plus an unserviced boiler simple as that. You NEED specialist equipment to correct these settings and don,t told anything other . A boiler is open to all sorts of abuse from pet hairs to dirty fuel and as its a precise piece of equipment it needs regular service. As your one is still in warranty any faulty parts will be replaced but be warned every single boiler maker in Ireland will only deal with warranty problems if your service is carried out by an OFTEC guy , if not OFTEC they will not listen to you , even some house ins companies will not pay up if a broken boiler causes frozen and burst pipes or leaks and wasn,t serviced by an OFTEC guy .

fitzie79

The boiler was commissioned by the local firebird approved guy in my area ( I contacted firebird directly to get his name). very disappointing that after following the right steps in getting it commissioned that something is not right. would having the wrong air/oil settings affect the efficiency?

kscobie

fitzie79 wrote: »

The boiler was commissioned by the local firebird approved guy in my area ( I contacted firebird directly to get his name). very disappointing that after following the right steps in getting it commissioned that something is not right. would having the wrong air/oil settings affect the efficiency?

The usual way out with this boiler is to change the jet down a size and adjust the settings, thats what the firebird recomendation to the engineer is

DoneDL

check if the nozzle is hollow as Firebird changed to solid to correct flame recognition problems.

jimmytheface

Ya wrong air/oil settings does effect performance , as I said causes what you see as in black dirt / soot build up . Electronic analyser is the only sure way of correcting this .I know the guy who commissioned the boiler might be firebird approved but was he OFTEC ? there should be OFTEC stickers on the boiler somewhere .Firebirds website has the settings for the type of boiler you have and burner being used and this is what OFTEC work of . Remember thye boiler is Firebird and the burner more than likely RBD and they are two seperate things.Also not servicing your boiler once a year is not Firebirds fault nor is the site conditions of the boiler .Hence service it regular. I don,t work for Firebird by the way ..