Smelly boiler

[DaffEe]

Hi,

I have a Worcestor Heatslave Combi oil bolier in the house, and it
smells. The smell is more of a combustion smell rather than an oil
smell.
The smell is in the kitchen (where the boiler is situated), and
in the bathroom above the kitchen.

It had a small oil leak previously, and that has been fixed.
The boiler has been (stupidly) situated in the corner of the kitchen
under a fixed work surface, so when it was serviced, the engineer
said he could get the top off to "clean the baffle".

Could this be the cause of the smell?

Also, is it possible to move this sort of boiler outside?

Thanks,

Daf

 

[oilman]

If it has a flue pipe going up from the boiler, then the flue could be blocked, and since the guy could not get the top off, how did he measure the flue gases? If this wasn't done, the boiler might be making soot, which will mean you will HAVE to remove the top. The boiler could be put outside, but it would need weather protection of some sort.

 

[DaffEe]

Thanks for the reply Oilman.
There is a flue that goes to the outside. I guess I could have a look
at that. The engineer did say he checked the gases, but he did that
outside.

What would you suggest for weather protection if I put it outside?
A small shed?

Cheers

Daf

 

[oilman]

You probably have a leak where the flue attaches to the top of the boiler. Need to get the worktop off to see.

 

[COG]

You have to get access to the top of the boiler to clean out the baffles and to maintain any of the electrics ,flow switch,plate heat ex,prv auto air vent etc. The smell is prob down to poor combustion if your eng was spot on he should have walked away from it if he could not get access to the top. Do you now if its the balanced flue or the low level discharge flue,the balanced flue will have a steel box covering the burner assembly at the base of the boiler.

 

[DaffEe]

Thanks COG,

Interesting that you say a good eng should have walked away. I
had two guys come 'round. One first replaced the nozzle, but the
thing stopped working the day after, and a second guy came 'round
to replace the faulty nozzle that the first guy had installed.
Mebe I should try a different company...

The smell does seem like a poor combustion smell.

What do you mean about the balanced vs low level discharge flue?
That either one or the other can be used? I'll check tonight.

Cheers,

Daf

 

[Agile]

I would not blame the firm too much.

Its quite clear that your boiler is not in very good condition and changing the nozzle may have disturbed a bit of dirty deposit which then blocked the new nozzle.

The boiler should never have been fitted under the work surface or the surface should never have been fitted over the boiler.

Its usually not that difficult to cut out an opening part and have a cover strip to fill in the new joint.

Tony