what qualifications/certs should plumber have for dealing with oil boilers?

freelancerTax

hi
im looking for a plubmer to have a look at my oil fired boiler/heating system -
should i be looking for someone with particular qualifications/certs?

thanks

Wearb

If its the plumbing part then a Plumber. Some plumbers are also good on the oil side, but that is not a given. For the oil boiler side, then an oftec registered technician or someone that's doing oil boilers for a living. There are threads on here that explains oil boiler servicing. This for instance

What sort of problem are you having?

freelancerTax

so i had a plumber out to look at it already -
he says that the system needs to be sealed as its currently a "semi-sealed" system - because of this the rads take forever to heat up

plumber i had out already is not available atm, so im looking for someone else

thanks
ft

Wearb

Sounds like a plumbing problem, therefore needing a plumber. What other heating sources do you have? Are all rads equally slow to heat? When was boiler last serviced?
Post your approximately where you live and you might get a recommendation from this site.

freelancerTax

there is no other heating source - all rads are equally slow to heat - takes a good hour to get hot...

boiler was serviced 2 weeks ago and is working fine according to the guy who serviced it (he said it may be slightly undersized for the property size)

i live in north cork near to fermoy.

thanks alot for your help Wearb!!!

ft

Wearb

How many rads (count doubles as 2)? What exact make and model of boiler? What size is house? BER, or year built?

I am asking so that I/we can judge if boiler is correctly sized.
often an indication of an undersized boiler, or poorly performing one, or circulation issue, will be poorly heating rads. If turning off half of them (you could give it a try) causes the remaining to become very hot, then one of the above is the issue.

btw did you get a performance printout from the service person?

freelancerTax

hi
12 rads.
the boiler is a warmflow kabin pak 50/70
160meters squared (detatched 2 storey)
ber is a b3 year built 2005

i dont have a printout from the service, i have only bought the house and it was the vendor that got the service done.

thanks for your help
ft

Wearb

It's not a problem of boiler size.
I don't know that I would put much faith in that service, especially without a printout.
However assuming a good boiler service, its then down to circulation, maybe poor pump, or sludge in the system. You might find lots of sludge in the expansion tank.
Anyway for now, try it with half rads off. After a couple of hours, check the on Ines for heating. Check top and bottom centre.

In the end it will need a good plumber to fix it. A sealed or open system should both work ok IF plumbed properly.

Wearb

Btw. Can you isolate the cylinder when heating rads?

freelancerTax

hi
i also had a plumber look at the boiler - he took diagnostic readings like co2 and stuff - he said the boiler seems to be working fine - ill have a look for the readings. i will try turn on half the rads next week when im there.

Wearb wrote: »

Btw. Can you isolate the cylinder when heating rads?

what is the cylinder? sorry im not too knowlegable on plumbming


edit....
found readings

Combustion Analysis Results:

Reference: Boiler no 1 Boiler no 2

Appliance: Kabin Pac 50/70

Log ID: N/A

Date: 04 April 2017

Fuel: Kerosene

02%: 5.4

CO ppm: 55

CO2%: 11.5

Ratio: .0005

Eff iciency Gross 87.6

Condense: N/A

Flue: Passed

Ventilation: OK

Location: Outside

Service due date: April 2018

Gas Analyser Model: Anton Sprint V2

Calibration Due Date: July 2017
thanks
ft

Wearb

freelancerTax wrote: »

what is the cylinder? sorry im not too knowlegable on plumbming

thanks
ft

Cylindrical tank in the hot press that provides domestic hot water.

freelancerTax

Wearb wrote: »

Cylindrical tank in the hot press that provides domestic hot water.

hi
yes you can turn them on and off separatly
i tested the rads without the hot water tank on

thanks
ft

Wearb

Those look like handwritten readings and not from a printout.

Very little more I can do to help. Needs a plumber to sort it out.

freelancerTax

ok thanks for the info

do you think i need a plumber or a boiler servicer?
do you know any good ones in north cork?

thanks
ft

Wearb

freelancerTax wrote: »

ok thanks for the info

do you think i need a plumber or a boiler servicer?
do you know any good ones in north cork?

thanks
ft

Plumber. Especially to check for leaks, flow and return temperatures at boiler, and to see if and/or why there is a circulation problem. If you're lucky it might just be a greedy cylinder, but even a bad plumber should have already checked that out.

You will need a plumber that will give it proper attention. It can be difficult to get such people. I wouldn't know anyone in that area.

Tom44

freelancerTax wrote: »

hi
i also had a plumber look at the boiler - he took diagnostic readings like co2 and stuff - he said the boiler seems to be working fine - ill have a look for the readings. i will try turn on half the rads next week when im there.



what is the cylinder? sorry im not too knowlegable on plumbming


edit....
found readings

Combustion Analysis Results:

Reference: Boiler no 1 Boiler no 2

Appliance: Kabin Pac 50/70

Log ID: N/A

Date: 04 April 2017

Fuel: Kerosene

02%: 5.4

CO ppm: 55

CO2%: 11.5

Ratio: .0005

Eff iciency Gross 87.6

Condense: N/A

Flue: Passed

Ventilation: OK

Location: Outside

Service due date: April 2018

Gas Analyser Model: Anton Sprint V2

Calibration Due Date: July 2017
thanks
ft

What was the flue gas temperature? And nozzle size?
The readings are correct.
If its to low on a standard boiler, then it will take forever on the older versions of Warmflow.
Some modles only have only two flat plate baffles and are very inefficient.
Ring Amber fuels in Fermoy for recommendation's
Or OB plumbing supplys in Cork, they sell Warmflow.
If fitting a new boiler, Grant are the best IMHO

There's is no differences in a semi sealed and a sealed system from an efficiency point of view, or heat up times. So that recommendation doesn't impress me. :mad:

freelancerTax

Tom44 wrote: »

What was the flue gas temperature? And nozzle size?
The readings are correct.
If its to low on a standard boiler, then it will take forever on the older versions of Warmflow.
Some modles only have only two flat plate baffles and are very inefficient.
Ring Amber fuels in Fermoy for recommendation's
Or OB plumbing supplys in Cork, they sell Warmflow.
If fitting a new boiler, Grant are the best IMHO

There's is no differences in a semi sealed and a sealed system from an efficiency point of view, or heat up times. So that recommendation doesn't impress me. :mad:

Thanks for the info tom,
You know any good plumbers in north cork area?

Thanks
Ft