HRM Wallstar Lockout.

[Alfredo]

We have had exactly this problem with HRM Wallstars, and HRM are not being entirely truthful when they say they are oblivious to this problem as we have talked to them a number of times on this subject.

First things first. A small bubble of air at the top of the clear oil line inside the boiler is normal. What is not normal is seeing that bubble fed by more air and eventually locking out the boiler.

We have inherited these systems. Our 'elastoplast' cure is to put in a tiger loop. This certainly works, but Wallstar snootily say it invalidates the warranty as you are modifying the boiler. This certainly cures the symptoms, but not the cause, so its an expedient solution at best.

The boilers we see with this problem tend to have top exit oil lines from the oil tank, and we THINK (but we are not 110% sure) the problem lies in the oil pickup system letting air in. Our clients will not wear the cost of replacing these, particularly as they are almost new systems.

We use bottom exit oil tanks on our installs and do not have this problem at all.

Alfredo

 

[oilman]

If it's an air build up, then using a 6mm supply pipe will reduce the problem. The next thing (airbuild up only) is to turn the pipe to run horizontally immediately inside the box, and make the pipe run uphill all the way to the pump. That means all the air will be continuously removed.

 

[Birmingham_Spanner]

I know this thread is donkeys years old and there will be plenty of trolls willing to flame me for posting to it. But as I stated it I reckon I can may be excused. incidentally, I don't follow the "this thread is x years old, what are you doing posting to it" idea. Surely time should not get in the way of the dissemination of knowledge and experience.

Anyway. I apologise for not responding to the very helpful people who gave input to this problem, but I believe I have found the culprit. The EBI Ignition Unit. Due respect to whoever suggested checking this out earlier.

Next question I guess is what is causing these little devils to fail after 7 or 8 years? I have plenty of transformers on the old Inter 10's and Selectos D42's that are still rocking and rolling after 30+ years. Either they "don't build them like they used to", they are susceptible to the outdoor environment or the TF control box is frying them. More suggestions/experience always welcome. Cheers for the advice and sorry for not bringing this thread to some sort of conclusion last year. Guess it can take a while before you are sure of what the cause is.

 

[aidy t]

seems like i got the same problem as you so i'll be watching with interest to see how you get on with the new photocell as i been on hrm diognostics website and they think it will be the photocell or the control box.

 

[NorfolkBoi1]

Next question I guess is what is causing these little devils to fail after 7 or 8 years? I have plenty of transformers on the old Inter 10's and Selectos D42's that are still rocking and rolling after 30+ years. Either they "don't build them like they used to", they are susceptible to the outdoor environment or the TF control box is frying them. More suggestions/experience always welcome. Cheers for the advice and sorry for not bringing this thread to some sort of conclusion last year. Guess it can take a while before you are sure of what the cause is.

The Danfoss transformers are fried by the Satronic TF model control boxes. If you can speak to Danfoss (good luck with that) they will tell you that the Satronic TF boxes have been frying there transformers for years now. HRM will also confirm this. Whenever changing a transformer I would also change the control box (if it is a TF model) to one of the new DKO types as they dont seem to have this problem. If you just change the transformer the fault in the existing TF box will remain and cause failure of the new transformer. With regards the air in the oil line, this is not a problem for the wallstar. A static bubble in the line that may grow with time from anything like an inch to nine inches in length is perfectly ok and wont cause lockout. As long as an amount of oil (even a small amount) is visible either side of this air gap it is ok. No oil at the non return valve or at the pump would point to a failed non return valve and a stream of bubbles/fizzy kerosene would be a leak on the line.

 

[NorfolkBoi1]

The boilers we see with this problem tend to have top exit oil lines from the oil tank, and we THINK (but we are not 110% sure) the problem lies in the oil pickup system letting air in. Our clients will not wear the cost of replacing these, particularly as they are almost new systems.

The problem with top outlet/sunken tanks is often the non return valve that is fitted with in the tank. When used in conjunction with the non return valve in the Wallstar it causes restriction between the two valves. The boiler will continue to run for some time as it stretches the fuel between the valves out, however it can only stretch so much until it kind of pings back on itself creating lots of bubbles leading to fuel starvation and subsequent lockout. The best remedy is to remove/deactivate the valve in the tank.