Viewing 32 posts - 1 through 32 (of 32 total)
  • Heating oil question!!!!
  • Wheelie-good
    Free Member

    Can you buy home heating oil in small amounts anywhere? We unfortunately ran out of oil the other day so got 500 litres and had a plumber come out to restart the boiler only for him to tell us there is not quite enough oil in the tank to push through to the burner!!! We really can’t afford another 500 litres!!

    bristolbiker
    Free Member

    Can you buy home heating oil in small amounts anywhere?

    FTFY

    geoffj
    Full Member

    You can get is in 25l containers in some places near us.

    But TBH, it sounds as if your plumber doesn’t know what he is doing. He should have a little vacuum pump to suck the oil through if there isn’t enough drop from the tank to the boiler.

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
    Latest Singletrack Videos
    Wheelie-good
    Free Member

    What does FTFY mean?

    Wheelie-good
    Free Member

    geoffi, are those places anywhere near bristol? And thanks for reassuring me that i found a good plumber! 🙁

    geoffj
    Full Member

    FTFY – Fixed That For You

    geoffj
    Full Member

    geoffi, are those places anywhere near bristol?

    Dunno, I live in Scotland, but I’d expect some of the delivery companies to hold stocks.

    eemy
    Free Member

    I think 500l is the least most do – we’re about to run out again, after getting 500l just before Christmas.

    Is the boiler not gravity fed from the oil tank? I would have thought 500l would be enough to push it through. Or is there any way to pressurise the oil tank slightly to push it though?

    Wheelie-good
    Free Member

    Oh ok, well thank you anyway!

    richmars
    Full Member

    Is the tank below the boiler? Should be enough head pressure unless it’s a long pipe or the tank is below the boiler. The pipe could be blocked, worth checking.

    geoffj
    Full Member

    Emo oil are nation wide and usually stock 25l barrels

    http://www.emooil.co.uk/at-home/heating-oil/index.htm

    Wheelie-good
    Free Member

    Yay just found my local depot has some cans!! 🙂

    geoffj
    Full Member

    Yay just found my local depot has some cans!!

    I really, don’t mean to be a party pooper, but I wouldn’t be buying any more oil until you’ve got the boiler running. Chances are that it’s pulled some crap through the and / or their is air in the pipe. Just splashing an extra 100l of oil on top of the tanks isn’t going to fix it.
    At least try a brick under the non-drain end of the tank first.

    Wheelie-good
    Free Member

    The oil tank is on the opposite side of our drive to our house so a fairly long pipe I guess, the plumber said that the oil is getting to the house and then up to about floor level but there is not enough pressure from the tank to push the oil up the last foot of pipe into the top of the burner. Did this bloke just not know what he was doing? If not I’m annoyed that I wasted good coffee on him!

    Wheelie-good
    Free Member

    I’m not sure I can lift 500L of oil! I will try though!

    earbyphil
    Free Member

    Don’t lift the tank by hand. Use a lever and a wedge, or use a car jack.

    bristolbiker
    Free Member

    Might be able to get a number for a guy to give you a second opinion – boss recently had an oil fired boiler commissioned, so could get a number off him…. but he’s out of the office this afternoon. 😕

    geoffj
    Full Member

    Did this bloke just not know what he was doing?

    Its not clear, but, when I was in a similar situation a couple of years ago, the plumber disconnected the feed pipe from the boiler and attached a shorter section which he immersed into a 1 pint pot full of oil. That was enough to the pump primed and running. He then used a vacuum pump to suck the oil through until it was flowing freely and then reconnected the pipe back into the boiler.

    Your plumber may well be right, it just doesn’t sound it.

    richmars
    Full Member

    The level in the pipe should be the same at both ends, so if the boiler is above the tank it may not get to the burner, if this is the case you may need a pump (I think) or you could lift up the tank.

    ballsofcottonwool
    Free Member

    He’s talking rubbish, our tank is below our boiler.

    sharkbait
    Free Member

    Sounds pretty dodgy to me. From my limited experience of our boiler running out all I had to do was manually fire the boiler with a bleed nut open. Oil eventually came out, tightened the bleed nut and away it went.
    If 500l is not enough then how the hell did it run with 50l in the tank??

    We also have a Tiger Loop fitted to our oil feed line – no idea how it works or what it really does but apparantly they help.

    BTW…. why do these things only happen on a Friday?

    mollyiom
    Free Member

    unless you boiler is a vaporising burner you plumber is talking shite, ANY pressure jet burner will LIFT oil 10foot at least, you either have muck in the oil line or your plumber just doesnt know what he is doing. i suspect the latter. 🙂

    Bear
    Free Member

    Mollyiom – wrong – Riello burners will not lift oil, most burners fitted with a Danfoss oil pump will however.

    That aside, 500l should be plenty to run a boiler, bleed oil line, reconnect and off you go, in theory. But make sure to get a steady stream of oil before reconnecting. Also make sure it is oil and not water as if you have run a steel tank very low you could have dragged some water and muck through.

    flatfish
    Free Member

    A guy called Neil does our boiler for us and he lives in almondsbury so close to bristol.
    We ran out this time last year and he came round, sorted the oil to the boiler and serviced the boiler at the same time all for about £60 iirc.
    worth asking a second opinion, he may not answer so leave a message and he’s pretty good at getting back to you.

    07704314040

    Wheelie-good
    Free Member

    Thank you all for the help/advice. It’s a worcester 12/14 boiler but I have no idea what kind that is, or what a tiger loop is.

    The level outside on the tank is reading higher than where the pipe enters the house it does seem that it should be fairly simple to sort! I did see the plumber removing a small screw on the front of the filter would this be a bleeding point? He didn’t seem to use anything other than an allen key and a subway napkin, so I think you are all probably right, he was shit!

    Something else that has just come to mind is that if when you run out of oil the system needs bleeding, why these boilers are not fitted with something for simple folk like me to just press or pump to do this! oh well. 😐

    mollyiom
    Free Member

    Mollyiom – wrong – Riello burners will not lift oil, most burners fitted with a Danfoss oil pump will however.

    That aside, 500l should be plenty to run a boiler, bleed oil line, reconnect and off you go, in theory. But make sure to get a steady stream of oil before reconnecting. Also make sure it is oil and not water as if you have run a steel tank very low you could have dragged some water and muck through.

    bear, you are wrong, it may not be recommended but it will lift oil, but im not wanting a who can piss the highest comp here, if you know about oil burners, like ‘know’ you know it will lift the oil.

    Know what i mean? 🙂

    Oh and wheely good the answer to your question as to why they dont make something to bleed these things, they do, its called a tigerloop

    Bear
    Free Member

    Mollyiom – I’m not getting into a willy waving contest, I’m interested in your experience as from my own i’ve found them useless in the field for lifting oil after someone has run out.

    It may be something to do with priming them then they will lift, but if you have a electro oil burner for instance you can cheat the photo cell and get the pump to pull the oil through. With riellos different ignition process and the way the solonoid operates, plus not being able to get at the photo cell I’ve always found them very difficult.

    my experience that is all.

    mollyiom
    Free Member

    you can cheat a Riello burner also to continuously run by removing the 20v white wire that comes from the motor, later RDB Riello burners you cheat the same as they have a removable photo-cell.

    note 🙂

    Bear
    Free Member

    Ah, that is good to know. Yup knew about the later ones (just worked on one today).

    I am not as familiar with Riello as the other makes as always used to use Trianco (pre water jacket nightmare) then Worcester, and both used nice simple burners!

    Can’t get away from Riello now though as Worcester started to use them.

    Yup I knew what you meant, I assume you are a oil boiler maintenance specialist?

    Wheelie-good
    Free Member

    WE NOW HAVE HEATING AND HOT WATER AGAIN!!!!!!!

    Thanks everyone and extra thanks to flatfish, gave Neil a call this morning and he was here at 1, took him about 5 mins to fix it and cost me £40 well worth the money!

    Apparently all it was, was that the reset switch would only run the pump for about 30 seconds, which was not long enough for the oil to reach the pump, all he did was attach his own reset switch that would run for longer! Easy when you know how hey!

    So for anyone in the Bristol area if you have any oil boiler problems give Neil a call.

    BTW Flatfish I think you know my husband Nick, hes a biking friend of Larry’s.

    flatfish
    Free Member

    Yes, i know which Nick you mean.
    Glad Neil could sort you out.

    Milkie
    Free Member

Viewing 32 posts - 1 through 32 (of 32 total)

The topic ‘Heating oil question!!!!’ is closed to new replies.