Bleeding oil line

[PaulAH]

Ran out of oil last night. Total Butler (aka Total Blunder) hadn't informed us that the "Signalman" oil level monitor, for which we pay them good money, was not working. They were apologetic.

Surprise, surprise, boiler wouldn't fire when tank was refilled. Serious airlock in oil pipe took me two hours to purge. Let's suppose I had to call an engineer. Could I stuff them with the bill?

Paul

PS: Bled by removing pipe from entry point in Riallo burner. Looks like a simple taper fit, now recoupled and working. Correct method?

 

[oilman]

It's one way.

PS if you need your boiler fixing, Total Butler have a guy that does this. I found out from someone who's boiler I was fixing that .........oops it's not professional and it wasn't polite. You have been warned.

 

[PaulAH]

It's one way.

Street? Valve? Sinatra? Too cryptic for this simple soul. Could you explain?

If their boiler servicing is as good as their oil delivery, I'll stick with homespun methods (or call you out). Thanks for the tip.

 

[Birmingham_Spanner]

You could have tried venting the air through the gauge connection port whilst trying to fire the burner from the lock out button. Might take a few goes but it's a lot easier to get to than the suction line/flex hose underneath. Make sure you put a container under the pump first though, to catch any oil.

Not sure if the flexible hoses are tapered, I think the seal is made by the 'cone' form on the hose seating well inside the pump body. Might be tapered, i'll check next time i'm replacing one.

Dump that signalman too. How much do TB charge you for it?

 

[PaulAH]

Dump that signalman too. How much do TB charge you for it?

To be honest I'm not sure. It lurks somwehere in the direct debit payments. Do you think they're a ripoff? I went for it because the missus threatened divorce if we ran out AGAIN over Christmas (only joking but you get the idea). Also the eyeglass column on the tank is so clouded you can't see the contents and, as it's mounted high, I can't be bothered to keep climbing up a ladder to check the oil level with a bamboo dipstick.

Doubt if the squeeze & fire method would have worked by itself. This was a swine of an airlock - no fuel movement at all without sucking, blowing and bleeding. Both filters at the tank and boiler ends blocked and another in the middle. Eventually came through like soda water, needing about 4 pints before it ran clear.

All up and running now but I wondered for future reference if there's a more elegant way than unbolting pipe from burner. Where is the gauge connection port? Here's the baby but it doesn't show enough detail in the drawings:

Edit: Deleted Riello link as it doesn't work

 

[wilhelm]

the flexi hose is a cone/olive . i always put a wrap of ptfe just at olive and a wrap up the thread. saves going back.

if you pay for auto top up, the depot pays the call out for guy to bleed line.
obviously they like to use their own guys to do this.

get sight gauge tube changed on service

i must admit i prefer the bamboo cane (ooerrr missus)

 

[PaulAH]

Useful info, wilhelm. I somehow doubt they'd want to send one of their guys out at 8pm on a Friday evening though!

 

[Birmingham_Spanner]

What flavour riello burner has your boiler got fitted. I find riello are pretty good at providing pumps with appropriately positioned connection locations. Mostly the gauge connector is below the pressure adjuster, more often than not thats the one with the slot in. Ideally both of these are facing you as you look at the pump body with the burner in the boiler.

I try to avoid ptfe with oil as much as possible but maybe i'm over cautious. In theory there shouldn't be any need for it on the flexible hose 'nipple' but in compression fittings on the supply line, say at a remote fire valve, it can solve an insistent leak. Problem with 10mm pipe is that it does not have the strength of larger gauge annealed pipe and so it tends to flaten inside the fitting. Best to keep the ptfe back towards the shoulder of the male fitting if using it. The solution is to use copper inserts in the 10mm pipe which give tne necessary rigidity. Bit more expensive than a roll of ptfe though.

 

[PaulAH]

Here's the baby (hope this link works better)

http://www.rielloburners.co.uk/prd/frmprd0i.php3?pid=rbpb09&nn=01

The pressure gauge extension is the stalk poking out of the oil pump, yah?

The olive/gland at end of fuel line doesn't seem to use anything but an interference fit. Tightned it up and no sign of leaks - without PTFE.

 

[Birmingham_Spanner]

That's the baby. It's nice and long on the RDB so you can get a gauge on without fowling against other parts of the burner. Sterling use them on the Danfoss pumps too. Open about 1/2 to 1 full turn with an allen key and try firing the burner until you see oil (and the burner fires). Leave the key in as you do this so you can quickly nip it back up.

I'm with wilhelm on the sight gauge. Should give years of trouble free service even if they do get a bit hard to see. You could try a watchman which sends a radio signal from the tank back to your house but when all said and done it's just something else to go wrong.

TB should really have sent an engineer out to get you back up and running if it was their fault. Thats just poor service.

 

[PaulAH]

Thanks for the tip, mate. It will come in useful when the new Watchman fails

TB should really have sent an engineer out to get you back up and running if it was their fault. Thats just poor service.

Quite agree, but didn't discover the problem till we got home at 6pm on Friday. What were the chances of them even answering the phone?