OIL HEATING HAS DIED ADVICE PLEASE

mouseybrown

ok so im here with 2 small kids hubbie away with work for a few days and my heating wont work!! not a sound when i turn it on its not even trying to fire up its just dead!! Have you guys any suggestions as to what the problem might be before i ring someone to come out. Money is very tight here and i just want to get some sort of idea first . Many thanks in advance. oh its an oil fired system i think a firebird

Diggerdunne

has it got power to it? Has it blown a fuse in a spur or tripped an mcb? Is everything else in the house working?

mouseybrown

yea everything else is working in the house and as far as i know theres power to it because i think it shares the fuse with the light in the shed ?? and thats working. its broken down before but there was always the sound of it going but never firing up if you know what i mean?

aujopimur

Check that you have oil.
If you have a room stat, check its setting.
On the front of the burner (big red box) try pressing the reset button on the front.
Next, on the oil boiler there's a thermostat on which there's a small cap about the size of the tip of your little finger, unscrew this and press down on the little button underneath it.
Post an update for further advice

mouseybrown

Thanks will try all that now

mouseybrown

tried the reset button and nothing happens. maybe, hopefully thats all it is, that the oil is gone i cant check now but as soon as it stops raining ill try check it...(if it is something as silly as having ran out of oil, would the boiler still not try and fire up?)am hoping that is all it is!! as for the little screw thing i cant find that either the boiler is quite old and i havnt a clue where to find it , am afraid i mite do more harm than good .. thanks again guys you are so helpful

aujopimur

If it's run out of oil it will only try once, and then lock out (button the front of the burner)
If you can post a few photos of the boiler it would help.

sullzz

It could have went out on high limit , this would give you no power at the burner , pump probably gone

mouseybrown

Quick update , so i got some oil and the guy bled the thing for me and it fired up and then cut out , fired up and cut out again,. the same thing happened a few times and now when u turn the heating on again theres nothing, so i tried the reset button again and it made all the right nioises as if it was about to fire up but didnt it just shut off , tried this a few times and same thing.. please tell me it just needs to be bled again and how do you do that?? Thanks

aujopimur

It needs to bled, If you can post a pic of the burner with the red cover removed it would be very easy to explain.

mouseybrown

ok so here is a few pictures , hope they are of some use
oil.jpg

oil (2).jpg

oil3.jpg

oil4.jpg

sullzz

In the firs pic , if you slightly undo the hex bolt below the black screw until you get oil without bubbles then press the red button it should fire then tighten the bolt , make sure you don't undo the bolt too much , place a container under to catch any oil , also make yourself aware of where the valve is on the oil tank to shut off if things get out of control .

mouseybrown

i cant find a spanner anywhere oh its so typical!! Would it be possible to bleed instead by turing that black screw above the hex shaped nut??

mouseybrown

scratch previous post i found a spanner loosened bolt a bit of oil came out(pinky white colour?) restarted a couple of times it has fired up but only for a min then died again ??

mouseybrown

yet another update.

had another few gos at bleeding it and eventually she fired up and is still working... so thanks guys.. i know its not rocket science for those in the know, but i wouldnt have had a clue what to do so thanks again

sullzz

Well done , just so you know NEVER touch the black screw above the hex nut , this adjusts the oil pressure and this will cause all sorts of problems.

mouseybrown

i spoke too soon

it worked for about an hour then just stopped, so i left it for a bit, bled it a few times and it fired up again, but this time it died about 30 mins later. Then it worked later on again after yet another bleed then died again. Iv been bleeding it now for ages and trying the reset button and now it wont even fire up HELP i cant stick another day in a cold house with the kids

sullzz

Sound like a blocked filter , try checking that for dirt , turn the oil off at the tank and unscrew the bottom off catching any spilled oil in a container , check the gauze for dirt .

mouseybrown

thanks sullzz

Have you any idea where the filter would be ? or is it obvious like i cant miss it ? will get on to it first thing thanks

sullzz

Its located either at your oil tank just after the isolation valve or just before the burner its a grey round fitting , i tried to upload a picture of be but it wouldn't upload.

FUNKY LOVER

This could get messy,make sure you know what your doing before touching stuff,don't keep resetting the burner if it won't light,this can lead to an explosion in the boiler.

mouseybrown

oh god done that loads last night.. just chanced it there again and i turned on heating and nothing, then reset and it fired up , heated the rads now has died again. do i need an expert in?? (hope not as am broke)(still havnt got around to checking for the filter as wating on kids to take a nap before i dissapear into shed!)

TPM

A few things that it could be are
Blocked oil line filter as already said.
Blocked filter in the oil pump.
water in your oil
or maybe just needing a service

If you are not familiar with oil burners some of these might be a bi tmuch to take on yourself

but it sounds like the oil pump is on its way out, I have seen your type of burner behaving like that for a while before they give up completely, unfortunately they are expensive.

you shouldnt press the reset button too often it can damage the burner, overheat/melt the electrode
Burn out the ignition coil
And it can cause unburnt oil to collect in the boiler and catch fire or even explode as already stated.