Worcester Heatslave 15/19 Permanent Lockout

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Aberdeen
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In November my boiler began leaking water and the engineer fixed this simply enough - release valve on top of the hot water tank but said diaphram in the red expansion tank had failed causing pressure to get high. Humm...seemed ok to me before. The oil then ran out but with a delivery and a few resets the system was working fine. Tank now replaced so all back to normal. The day after the tank was refitted the boiler locked out. Humm...No matter how many times it is reset it won't fire up and locks out. Most of the boiler has been replaced last year so either it is not igniting or something has been tampered with. I am concerned at another call out as the landlord is annoyed with having repairs done but hey it's an old boiler. Got a new lease in January which omits his being responsible for the central heating so am looking for advice.
 
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You've probably got an airlock in the oil supply pipe to the burner. If you search for bleeding the oil supply or similar you will find suitable advice.
 
You've probably got an airlock in the oil supply pipe to the burner.

There is a slight chance this is true, but there isn't any evidence for this, or any other particular problem yet.
 
I had a similar problem recently.

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=169051

If you have an old oil tank it will have a layer of sludge in the bottom. After you got it refilled this sludge will have been churned up with the new oil and might not have settled back to the bottom of the tank before getting drawn in to the filter on the outlet of the tank and may have blocked it. (In my case it blocked the pipe after the filter) I'd be checking the filter and failing that then see if there is oil getting to the oil pump in the boiler.
 
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The father-in-law suggested exactly that. I think the sludge has been churned up and found its way into the system so I'll let settle and have a look. I did tip up the tank last year and remove what I could which was the first time in the five years I've been here.The problem right now is the flexi hose was fitted so tight it is locked so I'll be starting by grinding slim a second spanner to unlock and examine the condition of the oil. Have spotted the bleed nipple so can then bleed. Thanks.
 
With great difficulty I have been able to drain off about 2.5L of oil at the boiler and as suspected it is murky. The next problem is that I was unable to stop the oil flow as the shut off valve when turned to close rotates off the spline. I decided it needed to be locked in place with a 6mm nut but when that was not possible realised it was a left hand thread. So running off contaminated oil at this stage means oil spilling everywhere as I cannot shut off. Are LHT 6mm nuts freely available? This is conspiring against me and still have no heating. Burr...
 
I have put it back on. What is happening is that it can only open the valve so when I try to close the valve it simply rotates off the spindle so valve permanently open. I did come up with an idea which is to put electrical tape on the spindle so as the knob begins to undo it will meet resistance from tape and if this resistance exceeds that is required to close the valve it will close so hopefully I will have control over the flow and let out more oil until it runs clear. Muck has certainly got into the boiler. Could it have clogged something up? I don't know much about how boilers operate my always having electric heating until I moved here.
 
It's a fire valve, and it's duff. Replace the fire valve with a remote type like this. There are other makes, but FEL are better engineered. Replace the handwheel valve you have with a small 1/4 turn valve, like here. If you use compression fittings use an insert like part no 18463, bottom of page

If you need some help, look here. There's a guy I know at AB33 who will fix it.
 
It's just an in-line valve to isolate the flow of oil as it arrives at the boiler but my landlord is responsible for the heating and I've had two call outs recently. He'll go nuts if there is another so I'm trying to sort it. Don't know about the fire valve, there isn't one. Mine is just a tap as you go on to suggest a replacement. The problem is the shut off at the oil tank is also useless and does not work so I'll get 1800L of oil gushing into the utility room if I try to change it. It's a sort of unwritten rule that I do what I can, the landlord does as little as possible and I get cheap rent. A previous engineer pointed out all sorts of things were wrong with the system which needed remedial work but I advised he'll not want to hear about it. I appreciate your advice though.
 
Well I suppose if you are happy with cheap rent and no heating, that's ok. In England it's a legal requirement for the landlord that working, safe heating is provided.
 
Dont get too frightened!

Thw 1800 li of oil will take quite a while to run out during which time you will have fitted the new valve or jammed a nail into the pipe or just squeezed it flat in an emergency.

Best to have all the bits to hand before you start though!

I never understand how this situation can ever arise when new valves cost so little and are easily fitted at a routine service.

Tony
 
I never understand how this situation can ever arise when new valves cost so little and are easily fitted at a routine service.

Service? Service? Och!! noooo, would this be more money yee'll be wantin me tae spend?
 
When you get a country pile for the cost of a wee flat you try not to rock the boat too much but thankfully there are woorburners in the house and yes the landlord is grippy but such are the way highland estates work. I've just put new carpets in so am wary of changing this with a free flow of oil. I'd be best to start by replacing the useless isolator and water trap at the tank which seems to be 15mm / 15mm then reducing to microbore (thereafter with capilliary joints).
 

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