Home heating help!

bluevoice

Hiya -

So this has been an issue on and off for awhile now:

Our furnace (outdoor, kerosine) will hear up to a point (rads are quite hot), then shut off, and begin to moan in a rhythmic, wookie sort of way.

I've bled the bloody thing, and recently had the valve and the pump replaced. It's obviously something to do with it overheating, but for the life of me, I can't tell what the specific issue is!

The last time I thought I'd fixed it by reworking the temperature gauge prongs - this worked for four months, but we just bought more oil and - bam - wookie moaning again.

Any advice?

demanufactured

Get a plumber

bluevoice

demanufactured wrote: »

Get a plumber

Wow, yeah so not helpful. Silly me, I thought this was the 'Do It Yourself' forum, not the 'Pay Someone Else To Do It For You' forum. A'hem.

Any serious advice?

K.Flyer

Get an Oftec registered Oil Technician or a Blueflame certified oil technician. Either one will be trained and equiped to repair your boiler.

Sir Arthur Daley

bluevoice wrote: »

recently had the valve and the pump replaced.

Who did this work?

dodzy

demanufactured wrote: »

Get a plumber

Why did you even bother?

Deep Thought

dodzy wrote: »

Why did you even bother?

Isn't that what trolls do ?

bluevoice

K.Flyer wrote: »

Get an Oftec registered Oil Technician or a Blueflame certified oil technician. Either one will be trained and equiped to repair your boiler.

I will of course get a technician in if I absolutely need to. I don't really have the money at the moment, however, plus, when I do, I want to be able to give them an intelligent summery of what might be wrong. Ideally this would be something small that I could fix myself. That's why I'm here.

bluevoice

WikiHow wrote: »

Who did this work?

A plumber.

Basically what I'm asking is, has anyone else ever experienced this issue and if so, what was the underlying problem? Even if I get a plumber/technician in, I need to have a good idea what to tell them, as the problem may not happen when they are here--as this afternoon (after being off overnight and all morning), I turned it on and it's working fine so far.

All I've done is taken the thermostat prongs out and made sure the wires were okay- all looks fine. I also have lifted the thermostat box up off the top of the furnace. The thermostat inside the house is at 23 degrees (warm I know, but we need it to dry clothes).

Again, if anyone has any idea about this rhythmic groaning "wookie" noise, or have experienced it themselves, do let me know, thanks a mil.

Sir Arthur Daley

bluevoice wrote: »

Again, if anyone has any idea about this rhythmic groaning "wookie" noise, or have experienced it themselves, do let me know, thanks a mil.

What is make and model number of it?

K.Flyer

bluevoice wrote: »

Hiya -

So this has been an issue on and off for awhile now:

Our furnace (outdoor, kerosine) will hear up to a point (rads are quite hot), then shut off, and begin to moan in a rhythmic, wookie sort of way.

I've bled the bloody thing, and recently had the valve and the pump replaced. It's obviously something to do with it overheating, but for the life of me, I can't tell what the specific issue is!

The last time I thought I'd fixed it by reworking the temperature gauge prongs - this worked for four months, but we just bought more oil and - bam - wookie moaning again.

Any advice?

Have I got this right.
You start the boiler, everything heats, gets to high temp, then stops, will not re-fire, then "wookie" noise.
Does the boiler re-fire at all when the noise starts or does it go to lock out (red light).
Or does the boiler run as normal but with "wookie" sound inbetween firing cycles.

jimf

K.Flyer wrote: »

Have I got this right.
You start the boiler, everything heats, gets to high temp, then stops, will not re-fire, then "wookie" noise.
Does the boiler re-fire at all when the noise starts or does it go to lock out (red light).
Or does the boiler run as normal but with "wookie" sound inbetween firing cycles.

lot of new technical wording here k flyer

Bruthal

bluevoice wrote: »

Wow, yeah so not helpful. Silly me, I thought this was the 'Do It Yourself' forum, not the 'Pay Someone Else To Do It For You' forum. A'hem.

If someone wants to do something, such as wire their house, does them asking about it in the DIY forum then make it a DIY job? Im not saying your task cant be DIY, if you know what I mean.

K.Flyer

jimf wrote: »

lot of new technical wording here k flyer

I'm considering running a translation course for non-oftec terminology

Sir Arthur Daley

This "wookie" noise seems very spookie.

jimf

K.Flyer wrote: »

I'm considering running a translation course for non-oftec terminology

when you break the code you might be good enough to post over on the p&h forum so all the lads can benefit

Bruthal

WikiHow wrote: »

This "wookie" noise seems very spookie.

Be worse if it was Vader

jane82

You have 2 big pipes connected to boiler op. Do both of these pipes get fully hot before the boiler trips?

Sir Arthur Daley

jane82 wrote: »

You have 2 big pipes connected to boiler op.

We don't know, one cannot say, OP needs us to provide us with more information.

bluevoice

WikiHow wrote: »

What is make and model number of it?

The make is Firebird...(not sure of the model at the moment, I'll look tomorrow), but I found a picture online that looks pretty darn close:



Ours is in a bit better nick tho.

I recorded the wookie noise on my phone tonight, will post up a link tomorrow.

Thanks!

jane82

Is that a gate valve on an expansion vessel? Maybe that chap got potentially dangerous advice through a diy forum too.

K.Flyer

I'd be more worried about that connection on the return, looks like Acorn to me and I presume then that the Acorn running behind the vessel is coming off the flow.

scudo2

bluevoice wrote: »

Hiya -

So this has been an issue on and off for awhile now:

Our furnace (outdoor, kerosine) will hear up to a point (rads are quite hot), then shut off, and begin to moan in a rhythmic, wookie sort of way.

I've bled the bloody thing, and recently had the valve and the pump replaced. It's obviously something to do with it overheating, but for the life of me, I can't tell what the specific issue is!

The last time I thought I'd fixed it by reworking the temperature gauge prongs - this worked for four months, but we just bought more oil and - bam - wookie moaning again.

Any advice?

I've PM info. on what proper servicing is.
As for advice :
Call a professional.
Don't take chances.

I could give you some fix it advice.

But I won't.I don't take chances with something as serious as a boiler and a thermostat that you are fiddling with.
Boilers can, and have exploded in the past, and most certainly will in the future due to DIY fiddlers !
( no offense intended )

If I could help with something safe then myself and the other professional installer and service engineers here would gladly and safely help.

bluevoice

K.Flyer wrote: »

Have I got this right.
You start the boiler, everything heats, gets to high temp, then stops, will not re-fire, then "wookie" noise.
Does the boiler re-fire at all when the noise starts or does it go to lock out (red light).
Or does the boiler run as normal but with "wookie" sound inbetween firing cycles.

You've got it right. The boiler does not re-fire at all (nor does it go to lock out, however - no red light). However, I honestly haven't left it on long enough once the noise begins to see if it will re-fire, because the noise is rather alarming.

Here is the noise by the way:

https://soundcloud.com/thisangel/wookie-noise

And in recording last night I found the source: The pump. The NEW pump. Also the noise is WAY louder in the house than out.

bluevoice

scudo2 wrote: »

I've PM info. on what proper servicing is.
As for advice :
Call a professional.
Don't take chances.

I could give you some fix it advice.

But I won't.I don't take chances with something as serious as a boiler and a thermostat that you are fiddling with.
Boilers can, and have exploded in the past, and most certainly will in the future due to DIY fiddlers !
( no offense intended )

If I could help with something safe then myself and the other professional installer and service engineers here would gladly and safely help.

I know-and thanks. Don't worry either - I'm a musician & writer, and not anywhere close to being a qualified anything else - I won't mess with anything complicated on things that can potentially go boom in my face. That would be bad.

Just right now I can't afford to get someone in. I'll save up and see when I can.

At least I think I've narrowed it down some.

Cheers.

bluevoice

jane82 wrote: »

You have 2 big pipes connected to boiler op. Do both of these pipes get fully hot before the boiler trips?

Yeah. Everything is quite hot. In fact the closest rad inside (back garden wall) is too hot to touch.

bluevoice

Bruthal wrote: »

If someone wants to do something, such as wire their house, does them asking about it in the DIY forum then make it a DIY job? Im not saying your task cant be DIY, if you know what I mean.

I know what you mean, I was mainly asking if anyone had ever dealt with such a thing, because I couldn't find any answers anywhere else, and everyone I asked just laughed or looked at me funny. Of course 'wookie noise' is funny, but I think thats the best description -- plus almost everyone knows what a wookie sounds like :P

Bruthal

Did you try lowering the stat on the boiler itself? Maybe its too high, or faulty.

Sir Arthur Daley

jane82 wrote: »

Is that a gate valve on an expansion vessel? Maybe that chap got potentially dangerous advice through a diy forum too.

K.Flyer wrote: »

I'd be more worried about that connection on the return, looks like Acorn to me and I presume then that the Acorn running behind the vessel is coming off the flow.

The picture is another ones setup got off the internet, one cannot be deducing theories from it, OP needs to put a picture of his own setup up.

bluevoice

Bruthal wrote: »

Did you try lowering the stat on the boiler itself? Maybe its too high, or faulty.

I did yeah. I'll try to get a photo up in a bit. At this point I think its the pump.

Bruthal

bluevoice wrote: »

I did yeah. I'll try to get a photo up in a bit. At this point I think its the pump.

If the pump was gone it would probably trip out very quickly and without heating the rads.

Sir Arthur Daley

bluevoice wrote: »

I did yeah. I'll try to get a photo up in a bit. At this point I think its the pump.

How long ago did the plumber replace this pump?

K.Flyer

WikiHow wrote: »

The picture is another ones setup got off the internet, one cannot be deducing theories from it, OP needs to put a picture of his own setup up.

I was just making an obsevation with regards to the pic that OP put up with the knowledge that its not his boiler.

bluevoice

WikiHow wrote: »

How long ago did the plumber replace this pump?

About 6 months ago.

Sir Arthur Daley

K.Flyer wrote: »

I was just making an obsevation with regards to the pic that OP put up with the knowledge that its not his boiler.

I appreciate that but it may confuse the OP more.

Sir Arthur Daley

bluevoice wrote: »

About 6 months ago.

Get your plumber back to diagnose if the pump is faulty or not, if it is return it, it should have a one year warranty.

bluevoice

Sorry, I realize that posting an image of another boiler from the web was confusing.

HERE are some pics of our actual boiler:

pic 1:

pic 2:

pic 3:


aaaand for good measure, the wookie noise: https://soundcloud.com/thisangel/wookie-noise ...which is defo coming from the pump.

I'll give the plumber a call again on Monday and see whats the what. No way I can replace the pump myself if thats what is needed.

whizbang

Soundcloud link not working for me, anyone else...?

Dried leaves in the air intake.
Dried bearings in the motor.
Drive coupling in the oil pump
Drive pin in the oil pump
Circulating pump housing rusted


dry humour not working at all..