Help needed!

dufferlover

Right, bought a house, a 30 year old bungalow, got the keys in mid October. Oil heating, green diesel actually. Got 320 euro's worth when we moved in. Flicked the switch and the rads in the three very back rooms worked. Hired a plumber who bled and balanced the rads and discovered the pump was gone and he replaced that. We had lift off.

Only worked properly for a while though. Then it was back to the back of the house heating up goodo, while the rads further up would only get Luke warm in spots. Went away for Christmas and put the heating on a timer, arrived home to discover it never worked. The house was Baltic! Flicked it to constant and the boiler wouldn't kick in. We dipped the tank and it had plenty of oil. My husband noticed the tank wasn't level so he levelled it, while also filling a drum and putting some oil in. He bled the boiler and we had lift off. Same thing happened again last weekend. Had a plumber in yesterday who took out zonal valve and all the rads heated evenly. It was bliss to finally have a warm house.

Just flicked the switch there now in the hotpress to put the heat on before bed and nothing. Boiler won't kick in. We put a 25 euro top up of oil in it on Sunday when we thought we ran out, surely it couldn't be that.

Sorry for the long winded post. It's just driving us crazy. We seem to get it up and functioning for only a day or two at a time and it's gone again and have already paid a plumber close to 500 euro.

Anyone any ideas or suggestions. I'm no expert but feel free to ask more questions and I'll try shed some more light, not heat, on the subject!

shane0007

You may have an oil leak. The line from the tank to the boiler would need to be pressure tested. Also closely inspect the oil tank for cracks and signs of oil on the ground.

dufferlover

shane0007 wrote: »

You may have an oil leak. The line from the tank to the boiler would need to be pressure tested. Also closely inspect the oil tank for cracks and signs of oil on the ground.

Cheers Shane. Will have a look in to that in the morn. More effing money no doubt!

shane0007

Get an OFTEC technician in. They will have the correct test equipment and can also set the boiler up to run efficiently.

dufferlover

We've also dipped the tank when the boiler wouldn't kick in and every time there has been plenty of fuel left

shane0007

Could be a burner issue. Is the red light alit on the burner itself? It is the red reset button on the burner part of the boiler?

dufferlover

As I said we dipped and there is oil in there but on speaking to the plumber this morning he says it's probably too low to be burning. Something about you have to keep it above a certain level?

Husband bled the boiler this morning and it kicked in. He then levelled the tank and the boiler stopped.

Now here's the how long is a piece of string question .....
We've put 400 worth of oil (in this case green diesal) in to it since mid-October and if it is gone, does that seem like we used an awful amount. On average we'd have the heat on for just 2 hours per day, a little more at the weekend if we're there. It's working out at about 40 per week for oil.

Before we bought the house our engineer noted that the boiler was old and most likely not energy efficient. Here are some of his notes:

"The property is heated using an oil fired boiler, with a solid fuel fire in the sitting room and a solid fuel fire in the dining room. The oil boiler is a Gerkros 60/95 make. The oil boiler is located in a small rear boiler shed. It is in poor order and has rusted a little from a roof leak. It exhausts through the wall.

It is not a condensing boiler. Condensing boilers are more efficient. While the boiler is in reasonable condition and is running, a condensing boiler is more efficient and cheaper to run."

We're now thinking would we be better off biting the proverbial bullet and installing a new boiler. I'm heavily pregnant, I don't want to get ill from the cold plus we'll certainly need a heating system that works when we have a child in the house.

dufferlover

Here is a pic of the boiler that the engineer took before we bought the house. It might help.

shane0007

Was is always running on green diesel or was it on kerosene?
You cannot swap over with adjusting the burner to suit the fuel being used.
Gerkros boiler are a heap of dung, bottom end. If you are going to replace, change to a Grant Vortex, powerlflush the system & upgrade the circulating pump.

dufferlover

How much would you be talking about for the Grant Vortex one Shane. Ball park obviously. Don't know what is was ran on before. Previous owners are dead! We're only there since October so that's why it's been difficult to pin point problems.

dufferlover

Right, we've decided not to jump the gun and replace the boiler just yet and have booked a highly recommended plumber this time to come out and service the boiler. Sure we have no idea when it was last serviced. Might never have been serviced for all we know! He is going to make sure it has been adjusted to burn the green diesel. If not he will remedy that. He can't come until Friday so gonna have to lash a bit of oil in to it this evening to keep us going until then, otherwise I'll freeze!

jimf

dufferlover wrote: »

Right, we've decided not to jump the gun and replace the boiler just yet and have booked a highly recommended plumber this time to come out and service the boiler. Sure we have no idea when it was last serviced. Might never have been serviced for all we know! He is going to make sure it has been adjusted to burn the green diesel. If not he will remedy that. He can't come until Friday so gonna have to lash a bit of oil in to it this evening to keep us going until then, otherwise I'll freeze!

as advised earlier you need to get an oftec reg tech in who will have the proper equipment to set up your boiler properly

simple way to find out ask your plumber does he have a fluegas analyser if he says no then he cant possibly set it up correctly there is more to it than changing the nozzle and adjusting the pump pressure im afraid