Discuss Re starting Boulter Camray 5 about 10 years old in the Plumbing Jobs | The Job-board area at PlumbersForums.net

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Diane2

first time ever had outdoor temp down to - 11 woke up this morning to find boiler on lockout. site guage on tank wont move and there is half a tank. Pretty sure the oil has waxed, got hair drier on line so it now seems ok but boiler wont re start so assume need to bleed oil pump. Can this be done or is it expensve call out just to bleed oil pump. Can only happen at a weekend cant it!
 
prob frozen at filter..water that is. pour a kettle over it.
Thanks Lance. We think we have got the oil moving again, but as we understand it once the boiler has gone onto lockout the oil pump has to be bled as assume it couldnt get oil so took up air. any clue where this bleed area might be. Can see where oil line comes in and joins burner but there is no obvious valvle. Suspect its a case of taking off lead and letting gravity do it, but dont want cause worse problem if it isnt! Have visions of oil pouring over kitching floor!
 
Pump & oil line normally won't need bleeding if oil was just shut off somehow.
Does sound like you have water in oil line - possibly due to open sight gauge or can be from tank. This would really need filter opening & cleaned / renewed & oil line flushed out.
You could try to bleed oil pump, but you have to be careful, as there is a pressure adjustment screw on all pumps which mustn't be touched. Depends what oil pump is on burner.
 
If it has a Riello RDB burner ( red plastic cover over left hand side of burner) then remove red cover by slacking the slotted screws, & you will see the oil pump with oil hose going into it. If it has the long brass stem about 3" long with a Allen screw in end - that is bleed point. Do NOT touch smaller stem that also has an Allen screw, as it is pressure adjust.
 
What a great forum thanks to all of you. Husband is going to have a look under the red cover to see what we can find. will come back to you all. Frustrates me that an engineer will call to do this simple job at a great price and now we are at the pension age, no joke!
 
Afraid if the boiler is stopped due to frozen oil line, then you need it looked at by a good engineer. It is not a simple job. On a service, the filter needs checked for water & dirt. Danger is the water getting into oil pipe & then to burner, which will destroy oil pump. The Kersone oil will not freeze, but water in it will. The water turning to ice is hard to do much about if the pipe is buried, when temperatures are well below 0.
Just to rub it in, - temperatures here in N.Ireland are high! :smile:
 
Thanks for help we have now managed to find the bleed valve and whilst it produced a little amount of air bubble and oil, still no joy. The oil line isnt buried but runs alongside the house about 6" above the ground. Going to have a look at the outside filter but agree with you and just hoping to hear when engineer can come. What a pain - never happended before but dont recollect temp drop to -11 before. We arent even in the frozen north but Northamptonshire and not particularly open! Darent look in the greenhouse!
 
What a great forum thanks to all of you. Husband is going to have a look under the red cover to see what we can find. will come back to you all. Frustrates me that an engineer will call to do this simple job at a great price and now we are at the pension age, no joke!

What's frustrating about it?
 
If you have water in the line that usually means the bottom of your tank is full of water. Take off the lid and put a broom handle down to the bottom and see if you can feel ice.

I take it you are on Kerosene? Kerosene will only wax at around -25C, and its nowhere near as cold as that here!!

The only way to get you going if there is water in the bottom of the tank is for the engineer to dangle a length of 10mm copper pipe over the top of the cap and into the fuel, then connect the other end to your line as a temporary measure. This way the fuel will be drawn off the top of the ice.

Once everything has thawed you need to get the water pumped out of the bottom of the tank and find out how it is getting in. One customer last week found the filler cap stem had worked loose and rainwater was running past the seal and into the tank. Check all the fittings at the top of the tank are sound and that the gaskets are OK. Also check there is a cap on top of the sight gauge.

Once water get into the tank it is there for good unless someone removes it. The oil sits on top so it cannot evaporate.
 
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Had service contract with same company for over 20 years who kept being taken over and we now find, having made the first call to break down in 15 years that "they have no one in our area and cant guarantee an engineer before Tuesday" that's what is frustrating! Time to look for a better company I think.
 
Thnks for that advice. Think that is probably very near the mark. The tank is about 10 years old and was a replacement for the old metal one. It's a round 1300 litre one and the caps etc look well sealed but assume that a bad timing combination of condensation and sudden drop in temp could mean there is ice on the bottom. As a total ignoramus does beg the question why is the fuel line from the bottom and not the top, but presumably there would need to be a lot of pressure to keep the oil flowing uphill so to speak, or a very good pump drawing it up.
 
Pump will not have to work uphill if, as Whpes said, the oil pipe is taken from top of tank to near the bottom of it. Once the pipe is full of oil, it will be same as bottom connection. Only problem is it will fill with air & will not bleed as easy when you ever run out of oil.
One thing I would say you should have is a paper element oil filter fitted at tank, as this should help prevent water passing the filter into the oil line & burner. Water shouldn't pass the oil soaked paper element. Boiler will still stop, but problem will only be at oil tank then. Crossman make these filters. Far superior to ordinary types.
 
that does sound a good idea. I will store all your info so can at least sound intelligent when engineer finally arrives.
 
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