Understanding my new Trianco oil burner - do I need a tiger loop?

[garyo]

Hi chaps,

I've just moved in to a house and after an uneventful three weeks, the burner has started tripping out.

It's a Trianco Eurostar, and the burner is an Ecoflam 550104/21 MINOR 4TC EUROSTAR 100/125.

The pump is a Danfloss BFP 21 R3

This is the problem: When we moved in, the previous owner said the oil was low. I looked at the sight gauge on the tank, looked at the actual oil level in the tank, noted that it was 25% full, and thought that she was somewhat alarmist given that it was June!

This week has started tripping out and I couldn't restart it. Last service was 2 years ago so I decided to check the obvious suspects : the pump coil, the electrodes, the nozzle. In disassembling the nozzle feed pipe I noticed it was dry. So then I loosened, and the removed, the bleed plug on the pump and also found that was dry. Clearly no oil was getting to the pump/boiler.

The bottom of the tank is around 30cm lower than the bottom of the boiler. There is a single pipe from tank to boiler. On the outside wall of the house where the pipe enters the house there's a sight glass, which is full of oil, and a mystery white box containing what I presume is a primer pump? The quality of workmanship is something to behold!

Oil tank-> 5 metres of pipe -> White box & sight glass -> 5 metres of pipe under the floor of a downstairs room -> indoor boiler.

The primer pump is permanently powered by a 13 amp socket, and has no other control cables going in to it, and only seems to do anything when a green 'start' button is. This spins the pump, gurgle gurgle, a little churn is visible in the sight glass, and then if I hold it down for around ten seconds, I can get the boiler to run for a few minutes before the burn eventually goes lumpy then trips out.

My theory is that when the level in the tank drops below the pump level, a reverse siphon action is stopping the pump pulling the oil it needs. What I don't understand is why there's a need for the primer pump at all - shouldn't the Danfloss BFP be able to pull up through a 30cm height difference? Is there a reg that says there's a need for the sight glass at the point of entering a building? Would a modern installation be done like this, or would there be a straight run of pipe and a tiger loop?

The tank has an exit filter which I'll change next, in case that's making things hard work for the BFP.

Thanks

Burner

• garyo
• 6 Jul 2016

Primerpump

• garyo
• 6 Jul 2016

Primerpumpcloseup

• garyo
• 6 Jul 2016

 

[oilboffin]

Looks like an oil lifter it's not necessary just fit a tiger loop and with the danfoss pump itl be fine
but always keep a pretty full tank which will stop condensation good luck

 

[garyo]

I've been googling the pump and it includes a 3L reservoir. There's a fairly new kitchen in the house so suspect they might have had an Aga that needed gravity feeding, perhaps.

Re: the tigerloop - Am I on a sticky wicket with tha: I only have one pipe going from the lift pump into the house under a concrete floor, which would mean I'd either need the tiger next to the burner - but it's inside so how would it vent without smelling the place out?

 

[halfway]

You can get deaerators with a vent that can be piped. I would suggest that with the bottom of the tank only 300mm below burner, that an ordinary single pipe could be used without deaerator or lift pump. Maybe even rise the tank a foot, but should work as is.

 

[garyo]

You can get deaerators with a vent that can be piped. I would suggest that with the bottom of the tank only 300mm below burner, that an ordinary single pipe could be used without deaerator or lift pump. Maybe even rise the tank a foot, but should work as is.

I'm with you - having done some more reading it seems over complicated for what it is. I'm going to remove the lift pump and see where that leaves me. The tank is close to empty so now's a good time to try to raise it up too.

One other thing - do all these filter bowls tend to take the same sized filter cartridge - any idea what size it would be so that I don't have to take it apart just to order one?

 

[oilboffin]

If you lift the tank remember to make sure the base is300mmwider on all sides to comply to regs
To be safe

 

[halfway]

You have a plastic tank, so don't put too much stress on it when rising. Make sure its new base supports ALL flat areas of the bottom and extends a few inches beyond the base area of the tank. I cant see an isolation valve between the tank and filter. Perhaps it forms part of your gauge or is out of picture. If not one fitted, make sure to do it when tank is empty, or can be tilted back far enough.

That filter bowel usually contains a plastic filter that can be rinsed clean. In my opinion they are good enough if the tank is properly maintained, but the recommended filter nowadays is a bigger one than that and contains a 50 micron (not sure off the top of my head) paper type filter. Maybe call into a plumbing shop and fit the newer one. I decide on the advice I give on which one to use, after looking at the condition of the bottom of the tank and the service periods.

EDIT: I have just seen this reply in the reply box. i thought I had posted it hours ago. Here goes now.

 

[garyo]

Thanks. There's a great big valve right at the tank exit before the union that feeds in to the base of the sight gauge/etc.

Having thought about it some more, I'll leave raising the tank for now and see how the system runs without the oil lifter and with a new filter in place.

 

[halfway]

In that case make sure that the joints are good and can't suck air. Might be a good idea to have the level of oil above the oil pump and be sure to purge it all of air before running it. It should then be capable of running the tank dry, which you don't want to do. That last foot of oil will create a progressive vaccuum reaching about -.03 bar at near empty, which the pump should be well capable of.