Can central heating oil freeze?

elljay

Yes, that seems logical too. I wonder how they deal with it on planes - I have no idea how to prevent it at home. Anyway it seems to be whirring away happily now, no stuttering or anything. Fingers crossed, I've dared to remove 1 boot so far!

Canucklehead

Good evening: Book in an annual service with your OFTEC: make sure he/she gives the entire system a service not just the boiler. If you have the boiler manual it would outline the service procedure or you could contact OFTEC and they will advise you www.oftec.co.uk Note: Temperatures do not dip low enough here to allow kerosene to freeze.

HTH

Canucklehead

peabrain_2

I tried to freeze kerosene. I got it down to -60, still wouldn't freeze. Wind chill is only relevant to heated bodies, has no effect on cold things.

moonrakerz

It may be a combination of the oil getting a little bit thicker due to the cold and general "gunge" in the tank - especially if it is a metal tank. Is there a filter on the tank outlet, have you cleaned it out ?

elljay

What would the filter look like? And how would I find out how to clean it out? I reckon there probably is muck in the pipes etc.so this is very likely to help. thanks. It's a plastic tank by the way.

Can anyone give me an idea how much a complete service is likely to cost?

Thanks

Liz

foulden

Well in my case I went off to Egypt for a week, got back -- weather was milder and still no heating. It turned out to be the Oil Pump - it was replaced and all is working well now. Still seems odd it happened on the coldest weekend for ages, but the heating engineer said you don't need to lag the pipes here.

John.