Hi
Thermecon 190/240 with Ecoflam Minor 12 burner. Been running well for 7 years - but a few days after oil delivery went to lock-out at start-up. Oil delivery was very delayed due to weather in East Anglia so was running on fumes - below bottom of sight tube for about 8 days. Thought maybe sludge problem. Have phoned all local CH engineers - no-one can come until New Year.
Can't wait that long (-6 outside as I am typing) - any heat left in the house and pipes has long gone. Have bled the oil - no air, dirt or water and good flow. Tried burner off the boiler on the floor (no viewing window - so moved electrodes away from nozzle in case it fired) - good oil spray and spark. Cleaned all baffles, heat exchanger, burner etc - very little soot. Obvious problems are cracked insulator on one side of electrode monoblock and the fire cement at flue / boiler flue adaptor join is completely loose and falling out - it's a conventional flue to a chimney.
The crack in the electrode is right under the metal clamp - so I am hoping that that is just shorting when the burner is in the boiler. Have got a new nozzle, electrode and cement arriving tommorow.
I really need to get the heat back on soon - so could desperately do with a second opinion on my hastily acquired boiler knowledge. If I am getting a good spark (albeit with the electrode loose and not clamped) and a good spray pattern - does this mean that all the "bits" are working i.e. oil pump,solenoid, capacitor, controller etc. If it doesn't fire with the new electrode - are there any other areas I should look at?
Also a last bit of advice please - when I was checking the settings I noticed that the "Firing Head Adjustment" was way out compared to the Thermecon and Ecoflam manuals. It is supposed to by 10mm "in", but is only 0 to 1mm "in". Probably the installer wasn't helped by the fact that the two manuals measure in different ways (one "in" and one"out"). The boiler has obviously run for years like this. Am I right in assuming that this just moves the firing head down the blast tube to give a good flame pattern depending on the nozzle geometry, pump pressure etc - can't find anything on google? I won't change this until I get the burner running, but am I then OK to set it to correct value - does it change the other boiler settings? In any case I will get a CH engineer to to do a flue gas test and oil pressure test once they have got rid of their emergency repair backlog in the New Year.
Thanks for any advice you can offer from a very cold Norfolk!!
Andy
Thermecon 190/240 with Ecoflam Minor 12 burner. Been running well for 7 years - but a few days after oil delivery went to lock-out at start-up. Oil delivery was very delayed due to weather in East Anglia so was running on fumes - below bottom of sight tube for about 8 days. Thought maybe sludge problem. Have phoned all local CH engineers - no-one can come until New Year.
Can't wait that long (-6 outside as I am typing) - any heat left in the house and pipes has long gone. Have bled the oil - no air, dirt or water and good flow. Tried burner off the boiler on the floor (no viewing window - so moved electrodes away from nozzle in case it fired) - good oil spray and spark. Cleaned all baffles, heat exchanger, burner etc - very little soot. Obvious problems are cracked insulator on one side of electrode monoblock and the fire cement at flue / boiler flue adaptor join is completely loose and falling out - it's a conventional flue to a chimney.
The crack in the electrode is right under the metal clamp - so I am hoping that that is just shorting when the burner is in the boiler. Have got a new nozzle, electrode and cement arriving tommorow.
I really need to get the heat back on soon - so could desperately do with a second opinion on my hastily acquired boiler knowledge. If I am getting a good spark (albeit with the electrode loose and not clamped) and a good spray pattern - does this mean that all the "bits" are working i.e. oil pump,solenoid, capacitor, controller etc. If it doesn't fire with the new electrode - are there any other areas I should look at?
Also a last bit of advice please - when I was checking the settings I noticed that the "Firing Head Adjustment" was way out compared to the Thermecon and Ecoflam manuals. It is supposed to by 10mm "in", but is only 0 to 1mm "in". Probably the installer wasn't helped by the fact that the two manuals measure in different ways (one "in" and one"out"). The boiler has obviously run for years like this. Am I right in assuming that this just moves the firing head down the blast tube to give a good flame pattern depending on the nozzle geometry, pump pressure etc - can't find anything on google? I won't change this until I get the burner running, but am I then OK to set it to correct value - does it change the other boiler settings? In any case I will get a CH engineer to to do a flue gas test and oil pressure test once they have got rid of their emergency repair backlog in the New Year.
Thanks for any advice you can offer from a very cold Norfolk!!
Andy
