Oil ran out - airlock in system a possibility?

wirelessdude01

Oil ran out earlier in the year and only getting around to putting oil in the tank now. Jut wondering if there is a possibility that there will be an airlock in the system?

Vegeta

Yup unfortunately

wirelessdude01

Is this something that I can solve myself?

Robbie.G

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

Is this something that I can solve myself?

It's just a case of bleeding the boiler if you post a pic of your boiler and burner someone will talk you through it

Billy Bunting

And hopefully a dry oil pump left for so long hasn't done damage.

seagoat

I just had mine refilled today after six months empty and can't get it to start. Bled it, oil comes out okay, but no sound of air. It won't fire up at all. Any ideas?

Billy Bunting

You have pushed the reset on the burner ??

If so what happens when you do ?

seagoat

Nothing at all.

Cerco

Have you turned up the thermostats? Is it controlled by a timer?
Do you have power on the controller?

seagoat

I turned up the thermostat, changed the timer to permanently on. Even turned up the frost stat. How do I check for power on the controller?

Cerco

Depends on the type of controller you have.Some have an inbuilt neon to show when it is powered. You could also check that an mcb has not tripped at your consumer unit (fuebox).
If I had no repsonse at all after pressing the reset button I would be looking for a power problem.

Billy Bunting

Check the hi-limit stat, small button under cover at side of stat control.

seagoat

It worked!! Thank you guys so much

scudo2

seagoat wrote: »

It worked!! Thank you guys so much

Well done. Another poor service engineer done out of €100 !!!

Info over phone I ask my clients to put a tenner into a charity box. Up to you.

I know I didn't have any imputed into this one though, came onto it to late, so thank Billy. + others

seagoat

Well, famous last words.....it ran for about five minutes then cut out and won't go on again. Bah.

scudo2

seagoat wrote: »

Well, famous last words.....it ran for about five minutes then cut out and won't go on again. Bah.

Is the boiler hot and the rads not heating ?
If so your pump is not working.

Await your reply and tenner ! If we fix it.

Billy Bunting

seagoat wrote: »

Well, famous last words.....it ran for about five minutes then cut out and won't go on again. Bah.

Does it come back on if you turn up the thermostat or leave it for any length of time ?

seagoat

It came on again this morning on the timer but did the same thing - ran for about a minute then cut out.

Billy Bunting

Billy Bunting wrote: »

Does it come back on if you turn up the thermostat or leave it for any length of time ?

seagoat

No

Billy Bunting

Like Scudo i would suspect your pump, check out this thread...........

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057057042

seagoat

Thanks Billy, I'll give it a go this morning.

seagoat

Took the screw off the motor and had water shooting out non-stop - does that sound right? Didn't attempt any further as back of the unit was getting soaked.

Billy Bunting

seagoat wrote: »

Took the screw off the motor and had water shooting out non-stop - does that sound right? Didn't attempt any further as back of the unit was getting soaked.

You didnt read the link to well, yes you will have some water come out, the advice in the thread read.........

Turn off all heat and allow to cool.The large screw in the middle is unscrewed, there will be a small amount of water leak but a cloth below and bowl will sort it, behind the screw is the pump shaft, there is a slot in the end you can put a screwdriver, turn manually until free, return screw and turn on.

seagoat

Yes I did do that. It wasn't a small amount though, it was coming out non-stop like a tap full on and didn't stop over a five minute period, that's why I was asking. In the end I turned the water off inside the house and that did it.

So there was a slot, I put the screwdriver in and turned it around a few times quite easily. Started the heating again and same thing happened. Fired up, ran for a few minutes, cut out. Not sure if I did the right procedure on the pump or not.

Sorry to be a pain, I did call a plumber a couple of times yesterday but not had a reply yet. Not many of them round here and not always reliable I'm afraid. Most of them have emigrated.

wirelessdude01

Any idea how to bleed this?

Billy Bunting

Open the brass plug on the oil pump (lower right)and press and use the reset button on the burner, when fuel is flowing under pressure, tighten up.

Billy Bunting

seagoat wrote: »

Yes I did do that. It wasn't a small amount though, it was coming out non-stop like a tap full on and didn't stop over a five minute period, that's why I was asking. In the end I turned the water off inside the house and that did it.

So there was a slot, I put the screwdriver in and turned it around a few times quite easily. Started the heating again and same thing happened. Fired up, ran for a few minutes, cut out. Not sure if I did the right procedure on the pump or not.

Sorry to be a pain, I did call a plumber a couple of times yesterday but not had a reply yet. Not many of them round here and not always reliable I'm afraid. Most of them have emigrated.

:eek: I think you really need a plumber.

Tokyo

I'd be checking the inline filter(s) all the way from the tank to the burner, as well as all taps and cutoffs. There's a reasonable chance that when you ran the tank dry, it sucked in whatever **** was sitting at the bottom of the tank.

The grey metallic cup thing over the burner in your second photo is a filter housing. Assuming your oil tank is higher then the burner, you should be getting oil to this point without restriction. HArd to see from the angle of the photo, but the bottom of that filter housing *should* have a bleed screw that you can get oil from the tank to the burner with. If you have oil up this far, and you haven't burnt the pump out, she should crank over after a few tries. If not, it's time to bleed at the boiler itself, and investigate the possibility of a burnt out pump.

wirelessdude01

Billy Bunting wrote: »

Open the brass plug on the oil pump (lower right)and press and use the reset button on the burner, when fuel is flowing under pressure, tighten up.

Using an allen key does it just open x amount?

wirelessdude01

Billy Bunting wrote: »

Open the brass plug on the oil pump (lower right)and press and use the reset button on the burner, when fuel is flowing under pressure, tighten up.

Many many thanks. That worked perfectly.