Oil Boiler gone off, reset only lasts a minute and goes off again.

raphaelangelo

I hope someone can help me please. I have a problem with the oil burner which supplies our hot water and heating.

The burner turned itself off this morning so I did as I have had to once or twice before and pressed the reset button, whereupon it fired up again. However by the time I'd put the cover back on the boiler and got myself out from the cupboard which houses it the pigging thing had turned itself off again!

So, I went back into the cupboard, pressed the reset button, it fired up for about 30 seconds to a minute... then turned off.

And then again, same thing...

I know for sure that there's enough oil as I checked only 2 days ago so now I'm stuck for answers. Can anyone advise please?

Thank you.

bobmedley

Which boiler & burner is it? It could be something as simple as soot on the optical flame sensor, or the control box could be shot if it's an old non-condensing boiler.

If it's a newer condensing one, then it may well be problems with the electronics in which case good luck;)

raphaelangelo

It may be neither Bob... I had relied on my daughter to tell me what the oil level was a couple of days ago. She reported that it was between 250 L and "need to top up" but I've just been into the garden myself and checked and the viewing tube style gauge indicated that the oil level is close to "need to top up".

Recalling what had been done last time oil was delivered here (which is a first for me, never lived in a house with oil heating before) I pulled the spring-loaded lever at the bottom of the oil level gauge to get a true reading of the current level.

The oil now in the plastic viewing tube is on the "need to top up" marker which, I presume, might explain why there's enough oil in the system to fire the boiler up, but not enough to keep it going, hence the boiler fires for 30 seconds and then cuts out again.

Or am I mistaken there?

I hope to god it's not serious - it won't be me who has to repair it as I'm a tenant but my tenancy is coming up for renewal and I really don't want to have to report a major, expensive fault right now, just in case the landlord considers it easier not to renew the tenancy.

Thank you for your help, I'd appreciate your opinion on whether my suspicion is right and this is just a case of me relying on a teenaged daughter who didn't look at the oil level properly when I asked her to a few days ago! Meantime I'll go see what make of boiler it is, thanks.

bobmedley

If the oil is extremely low, then there is a possibility that air might have been dragged into the pipe but it's unlikely that the boiler would then fire up and stop several times. The sight guages are quite unreliable - have you looked into the tank to see what the level looks like?

When a boiler fires up but fails to sustain a flame it's usually (but not exclusively) the flame sensor or control box but as I mentioned that's for a non-condensing boiler (the boiler type & model would be useful).

Cleaning the sensor costs nothing, a new one is around £26 if faulty and the control box is around £30 - both can be replaced extremely easily.

If it's a condensing boiler and you have sufficient oil, then it's potentially a call out I'm afraid.

raphaelangelo

I can't see into the tank (too short and it's mounted on a raised bank of earth) but can tell you that the sticker on the boiler reads "Trianco" - that's the only information I can see on it.

The whole thing is very primative looking - a blue casing within which is a metal box at floor level. This has 2 heavy-duty electric flexes and a flexible plastic pipe of about 4 inches in radius like a tumble drier outlet pipe coming from it. The flexible outlet pipe goes up into another metal box which is set up above and further back to the floor-level one. That's about it!

I'm sorry I'm not more helpful in supplying the details but they are non-existant on the damn thing!

bobmedley

I have a Trianco, but your description does not tally with mine so I suspect it's a condensing boiler.

All you can short-term is to try and find out the model no (mine has a sticker on the water jacket) and then look at the Trianco website (if they are still there - they keep going bust:D) where there will be a manual with a Troubleshooting Guide.

It could still be just dirt on the sensor, but that in itself is often a sign of incomplete combustion and ergo another fault. You perhaps should have a delivery anyway just in case there is no oil getting to it.

Has it been serviced lately? If so, you could call the engineer to discuss.

Failing that, you will have to tell the landlord to get it sorted.