Oil boiler smells, no sign of leak

[Darthy_P]

Hi all,
Moved into a house with a Grant oil boiler a year ago. I swear I can smell smoke/burned oil throughout the house. Problem is, I’m the only one that can smell it, and neither myself or the heating engineer can find a leak.

To summarise:
- I’m an aircraft engineer, I’m certain I can clearly detect the smell of burned kerosene
- The wife, visitors and the heating engineer say they cannot
- No signs of drips or leakage anywhere in the boiler
- No signs of soot anywhere in the boiler
- CO alarm always reads zero
- Only thing I can think of is the flexible vent duct is secured to the exhaust by a wire wrapped round it. I’ve tried to improve the seal myself using heatproof tape, not sure if it helped.

Not really sure where to turn next. I swear the house smells like a 747 maintenance hangar, but I think the heating engineer has done all he can.
Replacing the boiler seems like a big gamble, I’m vaguely considering an ASHP as I’m a little worried about the long term effects of possible combustion gases in the house.

Can anyone suggest any other troubleshooting steps, anything I might have missed?

 

[Johntheo5]

Is it a balanced flue, maybe flue gas leaking into the air intake?, are the flue gas readings normal?

 

[Darthy_P]

Thanks for your reply.

I don’t believe it’s a balanced flue; the boiler is indoors and there’s no air intake outside the building.

 

[Johntheo5]

I would be surprised if the air intake is internal, can you post a photo of the actual air intake at the boiler, is the boiler in a container?

 

[Darthy_P]

Can’t take a picture right now but it’s of the Grant Vortex family, like this:

Grant Vortex Pro Internal oil-fired boilers

Grant Vortex Pro Internal oil boilers are an award winning range with excellent efficiencies, reliable operation and simple installation.

www.grantuk.com

 

[Exedon]

If its got the grey flexible air duct it's balanced flue.
The clamp has altered in last couple of years it's now just a large jubilee type clip.
Grant flues are totally stainless with high grade seals I've installed many yet to see a problem.
Some clear pictures of flue externally would be useful.
We tend to fit a plume kit with these boilers as a matter of course.

 

[Darthy_P]

Gotcha, ok thanks.

I’m away from home so can’t take a pic right now, but the exhaust is as you describe, standard stainless steel type.

The clamp is a thin wire type jubilee clip, I taped round one end of the clamp as it looked secured but not airtight.

The exhaust is down a side of the house that does get quite a lot of wind, I wonder if there might be backdraft into the intake or pushing fumes out where the flexible hose meets the back of the external exhaust cowl?

 

[roguetrader]

Check the flexible hose. If its still the braided stainless as supplied with the boiler these sometimes break down and weep, not always enough to make a puddle.
Did your guy pull the burner out and check all round it?
As you probably know, you need a tiny amount of oil to make a lot of smell.

 

[opps]

I’m an aircraft engineer, I’m certain I can clearly detect the smell of burned kerosene

As an aside, I live near an RAF airport in west London. My lungs don't like the smell of the burned kerosene from the jets. Fortunately, prevailing winds mean that I seldom have to smell them.

It is a very distinctive small though. I have however become more sensitive to the smell since I abused my lungs by using 2K paints without respiratorators.

With respect, is it possibly the case that you can detect something that smells a bit like something that smells like something else?

Edit- in no way am I being condescending or intentionally being dismissive.

 

[Johntheo5]

I have a 18 year old kerosene fuelled Firebird in a externally housed heatpac, a steel box, and from day 1 I always get a smell of Kero from the low level flue after the burner cuts out.

 

[Hairymelon]

Edit. My mistake. You said fumes.

 

[Darthy_P]

As an aside, I live near an RAF airport in west London. My lungs don't like the smell of the burned kerosene from the jets. Fortunately, prevailing winds mean that I seldom have to smell them.

It is a very distinctive small though. I have however become more sensitive to the smell since I abused my lungs by using 2K paints without respiratorators.

With respect, is it possibly the case that you can detect something that smells a bit like something that smells like something else?

Edit- in no way am I being condescending or intentionally being dismissive.

Yeah I’ve been racking my brains trying to think of secondary explanations like this. Am I overly sensitive to it? Am I mistaking it for a different smell? Totally imagined?

 

[fixitflav]

Yeah I’ve been racking my brains trying to think of secondary explanations like this. Am I overly sensitive to it? Am I mistaking it for a different smell? Totally imagined?

Don't want to worry you, but smelling things that aren't there can be a bad sign. George Gershwin could smell non-existing burning rubber, and he had a brain tumour. Highly unlikely that's the explanation in your case, but it does happen.

 

[opps]

Don't want to worry you, but smelling things that aren't there can be a bad sign. George Gershwin could smell non-existing burning rubber, and he had a brain tumour. Highly unlikely that's the explanation in your case, but it does happen.

Wow, why were you sacked as a lifestyle coach?

 

[Darthy_P]

Don't want to worry you, but smelling things that aren't there can be a bad sign. George Gershwin could smell non-existing burning rubber, and he had a brain tumour. Highly unlikely that's the explanation in your case, but it does happen.

…I can smell burning kerosene when I stand next to my kerosene-burning appliance…