Oil boiler works when it feels like

pmm141076

My cousins oil boiler fires up when it feels like. I've got a small bit of plumbing knowledge have diagnosed changed parts etc but this is a bit beyond me. What it looks like is the boiler isn't getting enough water. There is no expansion tank in the attic also no pressure vessel anywhere I can find. Pressure seems to be regulated by a switch which is manually operated inside the hot press. This connects to an electronic valve the motor part of which is sitting on the floor and not on the valve There is a pressure gauge which is reading between 20 and 28 psi approx 1.7 bar. There is loads of oil no air in the system and oil is flowing normally.
My cousin is living in a fairly rural part of the country and decent plumbers are few and far between. Any ideas ?

Wearb

What you describe is a bit like “ car won’t start. I replaced tail bulb, still won’t start”

Does the oil boiler start up?
Please explain, second by second, what happens from time boiler is switched on?

Was it serviced recently? Do you have a printout of combustion figures?

pmm141076

My apologies for being unclear. First time posting on a site like this.

Is exactly as in the title of the post. Boiler will start and run for any length of time . This varies up and down at will and with out any interference. At times it could be days before the boiler fires. If the reset switch is pressed boiler will prime for and cut out within a couple of minutes or may not start at all.
I was thinking that it may have been a water pressure issue seeing as it's a manual fill system and would have though the water pressure should have been above 2 bar.

Wearb

Very unlikely to be a water pressure issue with oil.
Is it left turned on all the time? What controls it’s on and off periods?
Type of boiler and burner?

And my other questions in my last post?

pmm141076

Boiler serviced 12 months ago and despite its appearance ( tis rough ) was given a clean bill of health. Is burning kero. Boiler is a Firebird popular 90. Burner is a Riello D3. No combustion data was given on completion (as I said rural area). It is controlled by a smart controller no model on the unit but it is a climate make. Thermostatic valves on all rads.

K.Flyer

Simple things first, is the thermostat in the house turned up to approx 20 degrees.
When you turn on the heating using the clomote does the boiler do anything or will it only react if you press the reset button?

pmm141076

Stat in the house is approx 20 degrees. Boiler will fire occasionally when you turn on the switch in the house but may or may not light. It will fire if you press the reset button but again may or may not light. Have cleaned the diesel filter nothing major in that and bleed the boiler of diesel again

K.Flyer

pmm141076 wrote: »

Stat in the house is approx 20 degrees. Boiler will fire occasionally when you turn on the switch in the house but may or may not light. It will fire if you press the reset button but again may or may not light. Have cleaned the diesel filter nothing major in that and bleed the boiler of diesel again

Given no flue gas analysis print out, there is every chance the settings are off and it just needs a decent service.
If you post youtr general location, don't have to be specific, someone here may be able to recommend a decent service tech to sort it out.

Wearb

K.Flyer wrote: »

Given no flue gas analysis print out, there is every chance the settings are off and it just needs a decent service.
If you post youtr general location, don't have to be specific, someone here may be able to recommend a decent service tech to sort it out.

Some of us back-woods yokels even have flue gas Analysers.

pmm141076

Can't attest to the quality of the man that came out to service the boiler the last time but he didn't give analysis of the flue output. On saying that anyone in the clifden areally that might be able to help out give a shout

jimf

pressing the reset button and it may or may not fire is the only clue I'm getting that it is a burner issue

pmm141076

With any luck is something simple. At times when it fires it stays running beings the system up to temp and cuts in and out as expected and other times just cuts out and won't re fire

agusta

When the burner cuts out and wont fire.Does the burner motor run for 12 seconds and cut out within 5 seconds? or does the burner motor not start up/not run at all when restarting