Oil burner will not start off timer

[David89]

My Dad has a fairly old Ecoflam Minor 1 Burner around 20 years old. Serviced last October
New pump fitted and set up, all cleaned and adjusted and running fine.
Just before Christmas he called to say the heating had not come on so i popped round and found it locked out. Checked oil (Half Tank) oil reaching pump, bled ok (No Air lock)
Pushed the re start and it fired straight away and ran perfect again.
since Christmas this has happened again a few times but always ONLY after a timed start.
If we leave the heating on continuous, it works fine. Cutting in and out as the temp reaches the set thermostat settings.
I have then set his next timed event (ie switch on 6am )the next morning, the heating pump comes on but the burner does not fire up. If i then push the Red button, it cycles through pre ignition but NEVER starts on the first push. I wait for 45 seconds and try again, it cycles through and after a few seconds, the solenoid clicks and it starts and runs perfectly until the timed session finishes. It Always starts second push, never on the first ....
Any ideas would be appreciated.
TIA

 

[snb]

most likely the motor coil needs replacing. you can test using a multimeter. probably got a 4uf coil. if reading is more than 10% below it needs changing

 

[David89]

The Fan motor?
I can get someone round to test that and see if it is the problem.
Thanks

 

[oilhead]

No, just the capacitor as SNB says. Also at this time of year, a weak mixture can occur as the cold air is heavily charged, and over aired causes flame lift off. A good CO2 in september can be very low in february.

 

[David89]

Ah right. Sorry if this is a dumb question but, why does the boiler fire up and run second try Every time. It almost seems as if its a fuel starvation issue that clears once its been tried once ?
TIA

 

[oilhead]

That's a possibility, but we aren't there so cannot comment totally. If fuel starvation was the problem, then after prolonged running one would expect the symptom to show again. Check your filter certainly. The advice you've been given is based upon experience and your description of the fault. Why not get back your engineer from October? You have already appeared to rule out fuel supply problems.

 

[David89]

Yes I intend to get him round as soon as he can fit us in. With this extreme cold snap he's been swamped out with work.
Thanks again for all the advice,.

 

[Terrywookfit]

Is the boiler a Trianco??

 

[David89]

No it's an Ecoflam Minor 1

 

[oilhead]

No it's an Ecoflam Minor 1

No, that is the make of burner. It will be fitted to a boiler, which could be a Trianco. If so, depending on the model, that may have a bearing on your problem.
If the boiler does not start from cold, but runs all day, then there may be problem with fuel fall back overnight, but if there is a lazy capacitor, then if you tried once, you have put some charge into the capacitor, then topped it up with the second try. Likewise, if the burner is overaired, the first try will have sprayed some oil into the combustion chamber and round the blast tube, and this with the second dose, richens up the mixture.

 

[David89]

OK thanks. I will try to find out the boiler make. I think the only marking on the front is Heat World. Can't find any other markings, sorry.

 

[oilhead]

Heating World is the make. No big problems with them as long as serviced and cleaned out regularly.