Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

How do you clean your own boiler?

  • 07-09-2008 1:09pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 18


    Hi we have a Firebird S 50-90 indoor boiler and it needs a service (clean) is there anyone that could give a quick guide as to how to clean it correctly?


Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 79 ✭✭blathnaid21


    How do you clean a boiler?
    In: Cleaning, Plumbing [Edit]

    [Edit]

    Boilers can be quite complex and it may be desirable to find a trained professional, at least for the first time maintenance is done on the boiler so the process and specific stems used for the boiler can be watched.

    But if this option is not chosen, the following was stated in the Routine servicing section of the a Baxi Luna HT 330 manual (this is a modulating fully-condensing boiler, but the advice is probably applicable to most boilers): after turning off the gas and opening up the boiler, "chuck for any dirt in the combustion chamber. Use a vacuum-cleaner for this cleaning operation", "check that there is no dirt in the siphon", and "check that the gas valve is calibrated correctly".


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    Why don't you get it serviced by a oftec registered service engineer?


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,775 ✭✭✭JamesM


    troybadoo wrote: »
    Hi we have a Firebird S 50-90 indoor boiler and it needs a service (clean) is there anyone that could give a quick guide as to how to clean it correctly?

    It is better to get a qualified service engineer, but this is a DIY forum, So..... Make sure the power is turned off to the burner. If it is a Riello burner, there is one nut holding it in place - remove it. Lift out the burner.
    There are 4 nuts holding on the front cover. Remove the cover - without damaging the gasket :eek:
    Remove the baffles and clean out any dirt you see in the boiler - brush and vacuum.
    If the dirt is reddish brown, with some yellow sulphur, it is probably burning OK. Replace the baffles and the front cover.
    Before you replace the burner, if it is a Riello, loosen the 2 philips screws on either side of the head, remove the head and gently clean around the nozzle assembly with a cloth, tissue or kitchen paper. Clean the head and refit it. Replace the burner.
    Jim.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,422 ✭✭✭Avns1s


    JamesM wrote: »
    It is better to get a qualified service engineer, but this is a DIY forum, So..... Make sure the power is turned off to the burner. If it is a Riello burner, there is one nut holding it in place - remove it. Lift out the burner.
    There are 4 nuts holding on the front cover. Remove the cover - without damaging the gasket :eek:
    Remove the baffles and clean out any dirt you see in the boiler - brush and vacuum.
    If the dirt is reddish brown, with some yellow sulphur, it is probably burning OK. Replace the baffles and the front cover.
    Before you replace the burner, if it is a Riello, loosen the 2 philips screws on either side of the head, remove the head and gently clean around the nozzle assembly with a cloth, tissue or kitchen paper. Clean the head and refit it. Replace the burner.
    Jim.

    Good post. One thing to add is that you should replace the nozzle as you clean the boiler. If you replace with exactly the same, you shouldn't need to go adjusting the pump pressure.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,775 ✭✭✭JamesM


    Avns1s wrote: »
    Good post. One thing to add is that you should replace the nozzle as you clean the boiler. If you replace with exactly the same, you shouldn't need to go adjusting the pump pressure.

    I was trying to keep it simple :D On the Riello, you can remove the nozzle, if you are careful, without moving the electrodes. But if you do have to loosen off the electrodes, then you must make sure that they are reset in the same position, or they can short out on the head or nozzle. If the head seems reasonably clean, I would think that the nozzle is OK. If you do change it, as Avns1s, said, make sure that it is exactly the same as the one you took out, output, angle, and solid, hollow, or in between.
    Jim.


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users Posts: 3,422 ✭✭✭Avns1s


    It can be hard to remove the nozzle without removing the electrodes. It's simple to move them anyway.... a philios screwdriver and loosen the clamp and just slide them forward.

    You're right about putting them back in the same spot and not causing a short. Take note of the starting position!


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    Diy is great, but the problem is some people are competent and some aren't and the ones who aren't think they are, so as a diyer how can you be 100% sure the appliance is safe, having dealt with the after effects of death by carbon monoxide poisoning, i get nervous when i see post like this.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,719 ✭✭✭oleras


    gary71 wrote: »
    Diy is great, but the problem is some people are competent and some aren't and the ones who aren't think they are, so as a diyer how can you be 100% sure the appliance is safe, having dealt with the after effects of death by carbon monoxide poisoning, i get nervous when i see post like this.

    Fit a monitor.


  • Registered Users Posts: 44,080 ✭✭✭✭Micky Dolenz


    It would be advisable to clean the photo cell also. I would always replace the injector and clean electrodes. its is good to check for signs of leaks around the automatic air vent and esp pump valves.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,775 ✭✭✭JamesM


    gary71 wrote: »
    Diy is great, but the problem is some people are competent and some aren't and the ones who aren't think they are, so as a diyer how can you be 100% sure the appliance is safe, having dealt with the after effects of death by carbon monoxide poisoning, i get nervous when i see post like this.

    That is why I gave very simple instructions for cleaning the boiler - without changing any settings or parts.

    Oil is quite different to gas. If an oil burner is burning badly, The smell will alert you long before there will be enough carbon monoxideto kill you. Unless you have no sense of smell and can't figure out why your eyes are stinging and watering. You would probably also see lots of smuts all over the place.
    Jim.


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users Posts: 44,080 ✭✭✭✭Micky Dolenz


    JamesM wrote: »
    That is why I gave very simple instructions for cleaning the boiler - without changing any settings or parts.

    Oil is quite different to gas. If an oil burner is burning badly, The smell will alert you long before there will be enough carbon monoxideto kill you. Unless you have no sense of smell and can't figure out why your eyes are stinging and watering. You would probably also see lots of smuts all over the place.
    Jim.


    I would advice against anybody opening and possibley breaking seals on their boilers, unless they are out door or sited in a not lived in space. CO is deadly and acts pretty quickly. More people have been CO poisoned by coal fires than gas appliances and you'd have thought they should be albe to smell that coming.


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    oleras wrote: »
    Fit a monitor.
    I wouldn't bet my life on one, thank god at the end of the year it will be illegal to work on gas if not a RGI and with oil to follow at the end of next year if not OFTEC registered, it may sound a bit ott, but the standard of many installations is brutal and it's not just the burner set up, if your not sure, how do you know yours is safe, but i suppose it's natural selection people who can follow a manual will be fine, the one's who can't i can send flowers.


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    JamesM wrote: »
    That is why I gave very simple instructions for cleaning the boiler - without changing any settings or parts.

    Oil is quite different to gas. If an oil burner is burning badly, The smell will alert you long before there will be enough carbon monoxideto kill you. Unless you have no sense of smell and can't figure out why your eyes are stinging and watering. You would probably also see lots of smuts all over the place.
    Jim.

    My background is gas, but i am an oftec registered tec as well, taking into account your post, i was invited to look at a new extension being built, having a bit of cop on a noticed all of the give away signs of carbon monoxide poisoning, everything but the diarea which nearly followed when i saw the old boiler which was being used till switching over to a new one, the boiler had been built around and had no ventilation, it was a open flued oil boiler that was using it's own products of combustion as air intake, the walls were covered in soot and every one on site was showing signs of poisoning, there were plumbers, builders and chippies on site all working away quite happily, so the thing about common sense is it's not always common, Gary.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,775 ✭✭✭JamesM


    Gary, I don't mean to be flippant, but I think that backs up what I said - they were all still alive !
    I'll bet there was nobody sitting down around that boiler relaxing and having their tea break in that area. If it had been a gas boiler there would have been no smell or soot, it might have seemed a nice warm place to sit around and have a nice cup of tea. In that case they might just have fallen asleep :eek: - as has happened to others.

    I know what you are saying, but some people are going to have a go anyway, so maybe it is better to help them to do it properly - and warn them about taking on too much.
    Jim.


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    And i don't mean to sound like some woe is me boiler nerd, yes they are still alive but the old boy who was living in the old part of the build nearly popped his clogs because of the fumes, he didn't say anything because he didn't want to upset his son and he thought he was ill due to paint fumes, the son didn't say anything because he hadn't payed the builder yet, and Tipperary's finest who dropped the flue and built a house around the boiler house didn't say anything because the plumbers were on site and the plumbers didn't say anything because nobody complained to them, so neither the soot, odd bit of dizziness or common sense got them to make the boiler safe, so you have to factor in stupidity.

    I have already worked through one recession in London during the eighties and there was a marked increase in deaths and explosions on the area i covered when people started to save money by servicing there own appliances, I know most people are switched on enough to service there own boilers if need be, as it's not rocket science, but i never taught one apprentice or installer who got their head round all the safety aspects of a domestic installation the first time, also as a boiler manufactures technician i am introduced to new levels of stupidity on a weekly basis and it because of that i disagree with working on a appliance that can have a detrimental effect on the living environment, albeit a one in a million risk, why take the risk? right I've said my bit and I'm starting to bore myself, Gary.:(


Advertisement