EcoFlam Oil Fired Boiler, Buzzing?

[skylined_gtr]

Hi All

I'm no boiler engineer but I am mechanically and electronically minded so I'm hoping you can help me troubleshoot the problem as I have had an 'engineer' come out to look at it and he pointed to the fire stop valve being the problem which I am confident it is not!...

Red lockout light/reset switch was on, so I pressed it in, the blower motor started and ran for about 5 seconds but didn't sound like it completed the ignition sequence. The blower motor 'slowed' down then I was left with an electrical buzzing noise, about 5 seconds after that the lockout light came on again.

Took the assembly out and tried to turn the motor by hand, felt a bit stiff at first but then seemed to turn reasonably well considering it still had the oil pump attached. Turned it a few times by hand, put it back together and tried again. Same thing happened, it ran for about 5 seconds, didn't sound like it completed ignition sequence, then slowed down and started making the buzzing noise.

Any ideas what this could be? I'm uploading a video to YouTube and will post the link here so you can see. Happy to try anything, I'm freezing!!!

Thanks (Please note this question may be posted elsewhere to get some help as I am FREEZING!)

 

[skylined_gtr]

..here's the link on Youtube, hopefully you can hear the buzzing after the burner motor comes to a halt.

http://youtu.be/AfnnX3z1kOA

 

[Terrywookfit]

Disconnect oil pump and try motor on its own.

 

[skylined_gtr]

Good idea! Do you mean I should remove the oil pump from the motor completely? Doesn't look too difficult, it's a Danfoss pump, it's got 4 bolts on it that I can see.


...and the other question I have is there is a bit of a fuel smell coming from inside the furnace casing, where the blast tube goes through, looks a bit damp with fuel in there. Is this a problem? Picture attached:

Untitled

• skylined_gtr
• 8 Mar 2015
• 1

 

[Terrywookfit]

Remove pump completely. 3 grub screws and high pressure oil connection.

 

[xr4x4]

I'm guessing the buzzing is the fuel solenoid opening fuel line, then due to photocell seeing no flame, lockout.

So you will problaby be getting a small amount of fuel dribbling out the nozzle.

It really doesn't sound healthy, my guess would be the motor(fan)

 

[skylined_gtr]

Thanks for the direction! Before I removed the pump, I checked it was giving good pressure by removing the bleed screw. It's got really good pressure!

I have taken the pump off with the 3 grub screws, twidded it by hand and it moves well (like a pump should IMO). Turned the blower motor and it felt VERY stiff until I rotated it a few times.

Then I powered the motor back on (without the oil pump) and it carried on for a lot longer before lockout (I'm guessing because the photosensor didn't detect a flame!). I think the motor would have carried on to be honest!

So the question is; does the motor die under the load of the oil pump? I'm guessing so. Could it be faulty windings in the motor or the cap, or both? Just want to check it's not the transformer before I go ordering parts!

Thanks for the help all.

 

[skylined_gtr]

I'm guessing the buzzing is the fuel solenoid opening fuel line, then due to photocell seeing no flame, lockout.

So you will problaby be getting a small amount of fuel dribbling out the nozzle.

It really doesn't sound healthy, my guess would be the motor(fan)

I know what you mean about the buzzing, I can hear the fuel solenoid click and there's no buzzing around that. There's no buzzing from the cap so I'm guessing the buzzing is either from the transformer or the motor, that's where I am stuck.

 

[skylined_gtr]

I'm pretty sure it's the motor. I've stripped the motor out of the housing and turned the fan end... it's quite tight to turn, so I'm guessing that's the problem. I'll order another one unless anyone recommends trying anything else?

I'll post back and let you know what happens.

 

[xr4x4]

Fan motor...

If the fuel and pump is disconnected, you can fool the photocell to allow it to run longer.

The photocell needs total darkness then light when it's supposed to fire. I.e the click of the solenoid.

I'm not familiar with your model. It this may be possible with a finger covering it, then a torch.

 

[skylined_gtr]

I could make it run for longer using the way you've suggested. Feeling the movement of the impeller makes me thing it's way too stiff for a motor though.

Does anyone know how to remove the impeller from the motor on these things?? It's a SIMEL motor.

 

[Burnerman]

For sure a motor fault ......these should spin dead easily - bearing replacement is simple though, probably 6202zz.
The impeller usually has an Allen grub screw, accessible through a hole in the vanes.
John

 

[skylined_gtr]

Thanks mate, that was the one! Released the grub screw, couldn't get the impeller off so I gave it a little tap with the tapping stick and voila! The bearings are fine again now! Put it all back together and fired her up. It's working!

Only problem I've got now is plumes of smoke coming out of the exhaust outside.. I mean clouds of the stuff! Everything was fine before this, any suggestions?

 

[Burnerman]

For sure a curious one!
One thing that springs to mind is that the motor isn't spinning as fast as it should (3000 rpm).....there's definitely a bearing fault here if fiddling with the impeller improved things.
Only a wild guess though, and the boiler will quickly soot up if it's not sorted.
John

 

[skylined_gtr]

I get ya. Do you think it would be ok to increase the air to it as a temporary fix or am I asking for trouble?