OF Burner keeps cutting out

[bowler]

Hello all,

I'm new to the forum and hope you can help me with a little problem. My boiler (OF) is fairly old and had been working ok up untill yesterday. It then started firing up and cutting out every 10 seconds or so. If fires up for about three seconds and then cuts out again - this was happening continuously. It also appears to be chucking out some black smoke as the wall beside the flu has becone quite stained? I've been in the house a year and am not sure if the boiler has been serviced in a while. I removed the burner and hoovered out the boiler which contained a considerable amount of debris (orange powder) which prob suggestes it hasn't seen a service in a while. Anyone know of any quick checks I could do myself to id the problem?

Thanks in advance,

Darren.

 

[heat24seven]

Get a registered gas engineer to inspect your boiler, dont want to be disrepectfull but your not competent enough to be working on this boiler , your boiler isnt burning correctly be it ventilation or whatever reason and needs to be checked out by a registered competent engineer , its not worth the risk you are taking by working on it ,carbon monoxide has some very serious outcomes the worst one being DEATH !

 

[dontknowitall]

Shame as it sounds as if the boiler hasn't been serviced for years and needs one desperately. Only licenced engineers are allowed to service boilers and be prepared for a number of extra parts.

I agree with heat24seven. Just not worth the risk unless you know what you're doing and have the necessary qualifications.

 

[Plucky]

In all fairness the poster is talking about an Oil Fired boiler. (at least I think he is). Still you need to contact an Oftec qualified specialist in really.

 

[dontknowitall]

Ah! OF - oil fired - didn't think of that, Plucky!

If it's oil fired then (stupidly?!!) you don't need qualifications, despite the fact that you've a potential lethal liquid being heated until it bursts into flame and .... oh never mind ... !

Bowler

If it's oil fired, and you're going to fiddle around, first isolate the electricity. This is important as it doesn't take much to light the vapours (the oil itself won't burn but the vapours can be lit from the tiniest spark, even static electricity if memory serves me).

It sounds as if the oil pressure is wrong - this isn't the sympton but is usually the cause. What's caused that? Maybe the oil pump failing?

The sympton is the incorrect amount of air (and danger of carbon monoxide as mentioned above). Without going into technicalities if you just change the air setting without checking the oil pressure you won't know if it's burning efficiently (e.g. it might be using far too much oil) or letting off too much carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide.

A service normally fixes issues like your's Bowler. Cost from £60 to £120 usually, including a new nozzle and flexible fuel line. New pumps and things will cost more, but more often than not, a standard service will have you up and running quickly.

If you use an OFTEC registered technician then the form you receive can be kept as part of your HIPS pack if you sell the house to prove you've maintained the boiler. You don't HAVE to use an OFTEC engineer - nor are they necessarily more expensive than someone who isn't registered.

Other advantages of using OFTEC people is they have to retrain every five years to keep their subscription, ensure their knowledge is up to date and carry out work according to best practice.

This best practice includes testing the flue gases, oil tank safety and various other matters. Unless extremely dangerous (i.e. life threatening), the technician is not allowed to disable the boiler and can only advise on various items. For example, if you don't have a fire valve fitted, he will record that fact and notify OFTEC but neither party can turn the machine off. They're much more understanding than their gas counterparts in this respect!

In summary, I'd get it serviced. If you start fiddling with the settings and don't understand the correlation between the oil pressure, air intake and flue gasses you might make matters more confusing - and time consuming (and costly!) - for an engineer.

Hope it's sorted quickly.

 

[justlead1]

Hi. In support of other posts, get it serviced. The engineers carry all the diagnostic / analyser equipment, the service should resulting in a good flame and economy on fuel oil. Your fuel suppliers will give you the names of respected operators. Good Luck

 

[migoplumber]

firstly, get your boiler serviced as you have been told above.
do not start reading your manual and adjusting oil pressures, or air dampers.

your problem is the flame detecting device, which will just need a clean.
simple quick and easy job.

please get a qualified engineer with the right commisioning tools to service it. will take an hour and become more effiecent.


shaun

 

[bowler]

thanks for all the replies guys. just got round to checking today. boiler/burner def does need serviced. cleaning the photocell fixed the cutting out. i looked inside the boiler and it is black with soot! i have a benetone burner spare (which has been serviced recently) but would need to wire it in. i spoke to my mate (who lives about 100 mile away) who service boilers. he says this one is not as straight forward to connect due to it being wired from a thermostat or something? he lost me straight away. could anyone help me out with this? it would be great if i could wire this one in without having to pay a spark for a call out. i've attached some pics (soory for the blurred one!). mate reckons with a diagram it would be easy enough?

 

[migoplumber]

even if you change your burner, it will still need commisioning. this is the same end result as getting your present burner serviced.
keep your spare burner as a spare!
get your boiler and burner professionally serviced.

shaun