Oil Fired Boiler problem, help required please

Bollotti

Hi,

We have a trianco Eurostar oil fired boiler.

Yesterday, it stopped working, so we had a very cold night.

Basically the boiler is cutting out after about 5 minutes. It restarts again straight away, but keeps cutting out.

With the highwinds I think that the fule has been blowing soot back into the boiler. We live very rural on the top of a hill, so frequently have high winds. I think the directioin of the wind may have something to do with it, as it is blowing directly into the flue.

This has happened in the past, and it was the photocell.

I have removed this this morning, and it looks clean enough, at least you can see through the glass okay.

Is it likely that this will need to be replaced, or could it be someone else?

Plenty of fuel in the tank.

We cannot get a plumber until Tuesday at the earliest, so I would like to try and sort this today.

Fortunately we have a stove and open fire downstairs, which keep this area warm, but not the upstair bedrooms.

With three children it is pretty important I sort this as soon as possible.

Any advice gratefully received.

jonoware

Sorry this is not a helpful post with the silver bullet answer but I do have the same boiler and the same problem. How to you remove the photocell to test and what was the problem with yours?

Thanks

jonoware

Bollotti

Hi,

The photocell is located behind the reset button at the bottom of the boiler.

If you look to the back of this (you will need to lift out the expansion tank), you will see it secured by two screws. Undo these, and it slides out. You will be able to see if it is sooted up, just give it a wipe with a damp cloth.

The problem with my boiler was not this, the gasket had failed on the boiler, and it had been throwing out soot and poisonous gases, probably for months.

The heating engineer immediately condemed it! The carbon monoxide levels were very high. Luckily the boiler is located in a seperate room, or it could have been a lot worse.

Two other plumbers/heating engineers had looked at this in the past few months and didn't pick it up, which was worrying. They also replacing many parts at the cost of hundereds of pounds, which as it turned out were totally unneccesary

Have now replaced the boiler with a new one, a Warmflow, which is quieter, and more economical. All changed over in a day.

A Grant Vortex was also recommened as a replacement.

The cost of the engineer repairing the old boiler was going to be a several hundered pounds, which when added to the cost we have already outlayed made it a no brainer.

Hopefully the savings we make on fuel, will make it pay for itself in a few years too, as the Trianco was very thirsty.