Firebird Heatpac 70-90 oil boiler - pump pressure adjustment

baguio

Earlier in the week I was trying to clear an airlock (ran out of oil) when I inadvertently 'adjusted' the pump pressure adjuster screw. By all accounts, if this is not set correctly, the boiler is liable to run very inefficiently.

Does anyone know how I can determine the correct setting for it?

(ps - i know a service would sort this out but funds are low! Besides, its only been used for six months so it shouldnt otherwise need servicing)

Avns1s

So long as there's no visible smoke from your boiler and it starts ok each time including from cold, I wouldn't worry unduly about it between here and your next service.

baguio

Avns1s wrote:

So long as there's no visible smoke from your boiler and it starts ok each time including from cold, I wouldn't worry unduly about it between here and your next service.

How often do ye all get boiler serviced - once a year or longer?
How much does it cost roughly?

Hootie

It can be serviced every year best time is the summer when its not really needed. I got a lad to service my boiler and the thing never worked right after. I decided from then to service it myself as I now know from the time he was there he did not do everything. Its not that difficult and you can buy service packs which includes gaskets and injector nozzle for about 25euro versus 100 euro for service. However that said I left my boiler for a couple of years without service and ran perfect. You need to look out for discolouration/smoke out of the stack. If you see smoke or black on the wall around the boiler is not running properly and the oil and air mix is off, if not seen than boiler is running fine. Other things to change is the filter on the outlet pipe of tank and ensure the photocell is clean in the burner, also there are doors on the front of the boiler that can be open to expose the inside and the baffles, remove the baffles and clean(ensure to put back in the right way) and clean out the inside of boiler, can have ash/soot in it. Put all back together and boiler should run more effecient.

hobie

I have mine serviced every two years at 100.00 Euro's ...... I remove baffles and clean inside of boiler every 'non service' year, myself (during the summer shutdown) ....

I've used the same guy for the past ten years and because he has the service work I know I can call him out any time if I ever did hit big problems ....

JamesM

baguio wrote:

Earlier in the week I was trying to clear an airlock (ran out of oil) when I inadvertently 'adjusted' the pump pressure adjuster screw. By all accounts, if this is not set correctly, the boiler is liable to run very inefficiently.

Does anyone know how I can determine the correct setting for it?

(ps - i know a service would sort this out but funds are low! Besides, its only been used for six months so it shouldnt otherwise need servicing)

If it's a Riello burner, the screw head is narrow. It widens out in a cone shape and the inner part is wide. (I presume that you are using kerosene.) If you screw it so that the wide part is just disappering into the opening, then screw it in 2 more half turns, so the cone is just inside the opening, that should be about right. Of course it should really be set with an oil pressure gauge.
Jim

paulocon

Hi,

Anyone know someone who will service a boiler in the North-East and also replace a pump...

plumber r us

baguio wrote: »

Earlier in the week I was trying to clear an airlock (ran out of oil) when I inadvertently 'adjusted' the pump pressure adjuster screw. By all accounts, if this is not set correctly, the boiler is liable to run very inefficiently.

Does anyone know how I can determine the correct setting for it?

(ps - i know a service would sort this out but funds are low! Besides, its only been used for six months so it shouldnt otherwise need servicing)

Hi, there is no need to touch the pump pressure when bleeding as it makes no difference, the advise given that you can adjust it till you see no smoke is not right, it needs to be set with a gauge and then an analyser as the fuel air ratio is important for fuel saving efficiency, a boiler set up properly will easily save you this over a year, what people forget is a badly serviced boiler can not only save you money but prelong the life of the boiler.

plumber r us

there is no other way of servicing a boiler other than with the right equipment an analyser costs around €1000 and any good plumber will have one, you also need a calabrated gauge to set the oil pressure, people are saying that as long as there is no smoke its fine and this is rubbish, the exhaust temperature is important, i went to one boiler the other day and it was running at 420 degrees a conventional oil boiler should be around 180 to 225, over heating the boiler does a number of things it can warp the baffels and WILL over time burn out the boiler, and on top of all this all you are doing is sending hot gases up the chimney which justs costs money, you might as well set fire to money, boilers are desigened to convert oil to water heat the boiler casing can only heat water at a cirtain rate if you blast it with too much heat it cannot absob the heat any quicker due to the size of the casing, i have saved customers hundereds of euros on fuel just by doing it correctly.

Joey the lips

Phone firbird tell then you accidently knocked it off but you know enough to fix the problem. They are very helpful and wont charge you for a service

JIMMYBOND007

if you go on to oftec site you will find a qualified heat engineer in your area ,that specialises in oil boilers,they do everything the correct way not by guessing,you'l also get a print out of your boilers effiencey,co-co2 ,etc

JamesM

JIMMYBOND007 wrote: »

if you go on to oftec site you will find a qualified heat engineer in your area ,that specialises in oil boilers,they do everything the correct way not by guessing,you'l also get a print out of your boilers effiencey,co-co2 ,etc

Maybe it would be a good idea to post a link to the site where all these "qualified heat engineers" are listed.
Jim.

JIMMYBOND007

sure james, goggle it www.oftec.org you find lads in the shortcuts on front page,no post code required just county,and search

JamesM

JIMMYBOND007 wrote: »

sure james, goggle it www.oftec.org you find lads in the shortcuts on front page,no post code required just county,and search

No, Sorry, Not the Northern Irish lads, they would charge too much to come all the way down here. (And the ferry would cost too much for the UK lads).
I mean the lads here in the Republic that you mentioned in you other post.

if you go on to oftec site you will find a qualified heat engineer in your area ,that specialises in oil boilers,they do everything the correct way not by guessing,you'l also get a print out of your boilers effiencey,co-co2 ,etc

And not the guy who has commandeered the oftec.ie domain name to promote his own busuness (probably illegal). I see that he is also using the Grant name for the same purpose.
Jim.

JIMMYBOND007

:eek:i am not promoting my own bussiness in here ,i have never mentioned my bussiness name or advertised it in here james,all i was doing is advising to people to use proper qualified lads beause people are complaining of jobs not beening done right by some lads!and there is notting wrong about that. if you look at that site PROPER and add in an IRISH COUNTY you will find that Irish lads are on it!!!!!! :(good bye james

JamesM

Firstly, I never said that you were promoting your business. I did say that some service guy has registered the domain oftec.ie so that anyone looking for oftec in Ireland will go straight to his website. I never said that it was you.

Secondly, I apologise for indicating that southern Irish guys were not on the list, I could only get northern guys earlier - now the southern lads are popping up all over the place - although only 7 to cover all of Dublin.
Jim.

JIMMYBOND007

thats alright jim,people make mistakes all the time ,we wouldnt be normal if we didnt ,are you a member james? you said"although only 7 to cover all of dublin" that just means theres more work for you if your on it,if your not on it ,i well recommand it

00jes

Hi,

I have a firebird 70/90 at home and it dosent seem to be working right.
When i come home most evenings and switch on the heat all i hear is a gush of bubbles in the cerculating pump and the boiler wont come on. To get it to run i have to press this little button on the underside of the boiler to get the burner to engage. is it something im doing wrong. its becoming a nightmare as i cant set the timer in case it dosent come on and the pump does leaving me with no hot water in the cylinder as the heat will be cerculated out of the tank to the rads.