tools required for oil boiler servicing?

[BenC]

hopeing to do oftec soon so i can start servicing boilers, just wondering what tools im likely to need and what are the best ones to have, i.e what are the best flue gas analyzers to have.

[mark_mc]

there is a fella on this site called croppie he knows his stuff when it comes to doing oil boiler servicing try and get a chat with him on the fourm

[BenC]

cheers mate, hopfully he see's this thread and leaves a message.

[dontknowitall]

Last time I saw him he was under the afluence of incohol in Croydon ...

Kane analyzers are viewed as the best but other people like Anton - I have a Testo cos it was cheap.

You'll also need a smoke pump (around £90) and a pressure gauge (£60?).

A decent set of spanners e.g. 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21 and a good adjustable spanner.
Set of screwdrivers with different sorts of bits.
Set of allen keys (1.5mm to 6mm)
PTFE tape.
Disposable gloves and cleaning wipes.
I use a couple of roasting tins to hold the burner and control oil spillage.
Kitchen rolls/that blue roll stuff.
Nozzles - you can never seem to have enough of them.
Flexible oil lines - variety of male/female and 1/4" and 3/8". You can guarantee you'll not have the right one when you first go to a boiler - ditto nozzles.
Decent multimeter (not super expensive, just not the cheapest you can buy).
Vacuum cleaner, dustpan and brush.

That's the basics and in time you'll be buying stock if you concentrate on boilers only.

Hopefully Croppie (and there are one or two others) will volunteer some ideas of spares and other tools to keep in the van, e.g. filters, pumps, etc.

I probably do around 12 boilers a year as I do central heating, bathrooms, taps, etc so I don't have a vast array of tools for boilers.

[BenC]

cheers dontknowitall thats a great help. one question whats the smoke pump for and what is it?

edit take it the smoke pump is used to test for sooting

[kimbo]

It's difficult to say what to carry because you never have enough. I carry 3000pds of stock on the van and I never have everything. Basic stuff as already mentioned plus a paint scraper spare Hoover bags vinyl gloves not latex flue brushes glycerine filled pressure gauge plus manifold waterproof work sheet heldite pointing compound etc.

[dontknowitall]

Forgot brushes! Smoke pump is to keep OFTEC happy. Your analyzer will tell you if it's too smoky!

[kimbo]

Smoke pump is more valuable than analyses you should use it before your analyses otherwise you may block all your filters with soot in your analyzer. Also you may get readings on analyzer right but still may be burning sooty.

[BenC]

thanks guys, ill start buying bits as and when i can afford it. ive found a few analyzers but they are second hand and need calibration, i take it the manufactures offer this service? anyone know a rough price for this.
once again thanks for all your help

[Dannypipe]

Bout £85 mate, unless it needs a new sensor, then quite a bit more.

[BenC]

cheers danny

[croppie]

Cheers DK and Mark, my liver has been well and truly punished!

You'll need everything DK said as a start but you'll soon get an idea of what you'll need and what you don't need.

Smoke gun is essential! What this does is test for minute amounts of smoke before you stick your analyser in, what you'll be looking for is a 0-1 reading. Condensing boilers in full plume can disguise smoke particles which could damage your analyser.

Combustion Analyser. I use a Kane 455, others swear by Anton. Most swear at Testo. The 2 most important readings you'll be looking for are CO and CO2, levels as advised by the MI's. Usually you'll be looking somewhere between 11.5-13% CO2.

Oil pressure and vacuum gauges. For setting up and testing oil pumps. 28 sec you'll be looking around 8 bar and 35sec you'll need 12 bar. Again, check your mi's. You can slightly adjust oil pressures to increase or decrease output without dropping or increasing a nozzle size.

Water test paste for checking for presence of water in the oil tank.

A HOOVER! I use an earlex wet and dry but the henry's seem a popular choice. Bit too good for this job!

Manufacturers Instructions. You can guarantee none of your custards will have them!

White spirit for cleaning oil filter.

Then there's other bits and pieces you could get. Kensington do a bit of kit for testing the KBB fire valve, a solenoid tester, oil line priming pump and so on.

And that's just a start!

[BenC]

cheers croppie thats some good information there. do yo know of somewhere i can downlaod m/i

[croppie]

Here's a couple of sites to begin with -

Warmflow Technical Literature

Boiler Downloads | Grant UK

Boilers, oil fired boilers, incinerators, Northern Ireland, UK, Ireland, balanced flues, flues, free standing boilers, home heating boilers

Enviromax Condensing Boilers

[WHPES]

I get all my spares from Heating World of Spares.

I only carry one type of flexi hose, the one HWOS calls Long01. If I find a different one on, I change the fittings to suit the Long01 hose. I don't see the point of carrying loads of different ended hoses. In all the time I have been doing boilers I have only ever come across 2 boilers which this hose did not fit and needed an elbow at the opposite end to the pump because of shortage of space.

Combustion analyser and printer (I scrounge till rolls from my local pub for it as one lasts ages and I'd never get through a full box of them)
Smoke pump and papers
Pressure and vacuum gauge set
Fuel priming pump (one from an automotive supplier is adequate)
Bearing puller for removing fans and motor bearings - I find this is the best BERGEN Prof Heavy Duty Bearing Puller 'B' Type 24-55mm on eBay (end time 06-Mar-11 19:11:56 GMT)
couple of pairs of 6202RS bearings (from Ebay - bur only get good branded ones, SKF, NTC etc) You'll know when the bearings are worn as the burner motor will make a rumbling / whining noise.
Pump drive couplings from HWOS
Selection of nipples, elbows, couplings etc from the fittings page at HWOS
Pipe flaring tool off Ebay (no point in getting an expensive one as you don't need it that often)
OFTEC forms - servicing and commissioning, oil storage risk assessment, installation
One of those magnetic pickup tools which looks like a radio aerial with a magnet on the end
1/4" ratchet set and extension pieces (get a good quality set such as Britool)
T handle long reach hex set
Screwdriver handled socket driver
glass rope and glass rope adhesive
STAG B jointing compound (prefer this to Heldite another post mentioned as Heldite is awful to get off your fingers etc)
PTFE tape (normal and gas tite (yellow spool))
roll of 10mm copper pipe (white plastic coated) and roll of uncoated
spare 3m 65 degreesC Teddington KBB fire valve (you can get more of different sizes as you go on)
GOOD selection of nozzles (from 0.50 to 1.0 USgall/h - larger ones you won't come across often and can order them as required. Get just kerosene ones to begin with (ES & EH). Some boilers will specify W nozzles you can buy as and when on next day delivery)
PLENTY of 10mm brass inserts for copper pipe (HWOS do packs of 100)
Selection of steel nuts for when you loose some behind the back of a boiler so you don't need to spend ages looking for them.
Heat proof gloves for dismantling hot combustion chambers (I use welders gloves)
disposable vinyl gloves like the dentist uses
Barrier cream
Beaded hand cleaner
Hand cream
One of each of the cleaning brushes that HWOS do
Container to put waste oil into when cleaning out filters etc
Spare filter elements (just get the two Crossland ones to begin with)
Vacuum cleaner and spare bags (I use an old VAX cleaner but any will do)
Dust sheets
Kneepads (a MUST HAVE!)
Tub of fire cement
Tube of heatseal silicone and gun
Multimeter
Spare 3 amp fuses (a lot of boilers just have 13 amp fitted so should be changed)
Boiler manufacturers literature to show to customers when persuading them to change to a new boiler.
long 18/19mm drill but for drillling holes through walls for oil lines / fire valve capillaries
Parts organiser box for all your fittings
Nozzle box
Set of flat, pozi and philips screwdrivers
8mm copper pipe and fittings for where you have a tank lower than the boiler (lot of people post problems on here caused by too large diameter pipe where tank is lower than boiler - always follow the table in the OFTEC book!)
Set of combi spanners from 6mm up to 17mm and inlcuding ALL the inbetween sizes
Scraper (paint scraper)
Selection of metric machine screws (probably be able to get an assortment box from Toolstation these days)
Torch (head torches are useful)
Tape measure
Circlip pliers
pump pliers
Standard pliers/nippers
Set of adjustable spanners

Beware of buying analysers not working. Sometimes they can be very expensive to fix.

If they are just out of calibration it is simple to sort. Don't buy anything too old. You want something which comes with a printer too!