Smell of oil from boiler

Lackagh1970

Hi, my boiler is in utility room and past two days there is a smell of oil. Now this happened couple months back, called the boiler man and he said definitely no leak. It did go after that but its back. Anyone any ideas? I got oil in tank in September and a fill yesterday.

jimf

did you run out of oil and have to bleed burner

what make boiler/burner do you have

Lackagh1970

No, had at least 100 litres of oil in tank, have a firebird boiler which was serviced this year

jimf

can you find out what burner is fitted if its firebird boiler most likely a riello burner
but what model burner

Lackagh1970

Had a look for ya, its riello. I checked around it, no wet patches on tissues

jimf

does your burner have a little brass hydraulic jack fitted on the right hand side
that opens/closes air damper when burner is switched on/off maybe not if its a utility boiler but possible check around this area for leaks

Lackagh1970

checked everything, no oil, doing my head in now it is

jimf

does it have the hydraulic jack or not ???

if so it may only leak when the burner is operational
it will only be a couple of drops if problem just starting and can disperse in air intake


tiny amount of kerosene can stink a confined area

Billy Bunting

Lackagh1970 wrote: »

checked everything, no oil, doing my head in now it is

If you topped up yesturday and now have nowt i suggest you ask your engineer to put a presure test on the oil line.

jimf

he has oil billy i think he was referring to oil around burner ???

Billy Bunting

jimf wrote: »

he has oil billy i think he was referring to oil around burner ???

Rushed in without reading the post times.

I'll go with you jmf, Hydraulic Ram.

Lackagh1970

Sometimes I wish I was a man and knew what ye were talking about lol, yeh brass thing on the right, no leaks either, will give it until tomorrow and then call back the boiler man

jimf

sorry poster i referred to you as he aha presumption the mother of all .... ups

Lackagh1970

Smell goes as soon as I turn off heat

jimf

then it may not be oil at all but fluegas emissions different type smell but not nice and not healthy maybe best to leave off for now and wait your service engineers visit couple of areas around boiler which can leak best checked out

boiler break downs

jimf wrote: »

then it may not be oil at all but fluegas emissions different type smell but not nice and not healthy maybe best to leave off for now and wait your service engineers visit couple of areas around boiler which can leak best checked out

check flexible oil line

shane0007

A long shot, but there is an estate local to me where all the oil tanks are sitting on the ground outside. The boilers are all in the utilities and all have tiger loop de-aerators fitted, but fitted internally! They are all of the external type. I get calls of kerosene smells when boiler is running and headaches and nausea follows. Many installers have gone previously and done CO room safety test and when it obviously passes the test, they leave saying all is ok but miss it was the tiger loop venting kerosene vapour into the room.

boiler break downs

shane0007 wrote: »

A long shot, but there is an estate local to me where all the oil tanks are sitting on the ground outside. The boilers are all in the utilities and all have tiger loop de-aerators fitted, but fitted internally! They are all of the external type. I get calls of kerosene smells when boiler is running and headaches and nausea follows. Many installers have gone previously and done CO room safety test and when it obviously passes the test, they leave saying all is ok but miss it was the tiger loop venting kerosene vapour into the room.

I've seen that with tiger loops a few times.i serviced a boiler locally a while back and could smell kerosene straight away but could find no leak.when the burner ran the pressure threw a tiny pin hole in an oil line caused the kerosene to squirt away in the corner of boiler house.so i had no oil at burner but had some else where.

Lackagh1970

Boiler man called tonight, no leaks but he did test of the oil delivered wednesday, it wasnt as dark as it should be, so here goes a big battle with oil company tomorrow....wish me luck

shane0007

Lackagh1970 wrote: »

Boiler man called tonight, no leaks but he did test of the oil delivered wednesday, it wasnt as dark as it should be, so here goes a big battle with oil company tomorrow....wish me luck

Sorry but that is nonsense! If the fuel was incorrect or dodgy, it would show up in the flue has analysis. There should be no smell around the boiler. You either have a kerosene smell or a flue gas smell. The two are fairly distinctive. Has he pressure tested the oil line at 1bar pressure for 15 minutes?

Lackagh1970

Its a kerosene smell

shane0007

If it is a kerosene smell then it is not dodgy fuel. It is a leak if the smell if internal.
Do you have one of these fitted inside close to the boiler?
https://www.google.ie/search?q=tiger+loop&hl=en&client=safari&tbo=d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=8w6LUPP6PMOR0AXG4ICYAQ&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=768&bih=928#biv=i|3;d|0QPchVSKLTl1NM:
If not, then I would pressure test the oil line from the oil tank to the burner.

Lackagh1970

What colour should kerosene be? There is definitely no leak, it was thoroughly checked

shane0007

Red if it is purchased in the Republic. If purchased in NI, then it is green, many border counties purchase from NI.
Burnt fuel will not produce a kerosene smell.
Again, did he PRESSURE TEST the oil line at 1bar pressure for 15 minutes or just do a visual check?

Lackagh1970

I will phone him tomorrow and ask him if he did an actual check, I know the colour of the sample was pink

jimf

do you still think the smell is only there when the burner is running if yes it probably is not an oil leak but fluegas emissions

kerosene will smell a confined area for quite sometime after burner
switch off this should be an easy fix for any service eng worth his salt

ask him does have a fluegas analyser if he says no get somebody else who does

Lackagh1970

All sorted, oil company called out, there was a spill of oil accidentially upon delivery

DGOBS

How would that only manifest when the burner is on????????????

jimf

as confused as you dgobs oil smell lingers should be there if boiler is running or not this boiler is in a utility room where did they spill the oil how far from house is your oil tank this does not add up

sheff the ref

Sorry for bringing up an old topic but it is relevant to a similar problem I have

My mothers oil tank ran out. It was a wet evening with exceptionally heavy rain when she got it filled and the heating wouldn't work afterwards so she got me to look at it. It needed to be bleeded. The handy way out was to open the stud on the boiler and let the kerosene squirt away for a few moments until the air was gone. That obviously meant that kerosene would be on the inside of the boiler casing but I didn't care as I felt it would dry out and besides the boiler is outside.

However since then there is a smell similar to aviation fuel burning in an airport. It seems to be getting in around the house from outside when the boiler is running, possibly through vents etc. The kerosene has long since dried away. This is going on over a week or more

What is the problem?

agusta

If it a flue gas or burning fuel smell,it means the burner is not running correctly.You will have to get it serviced.There will be a large amount of carbon monoxide coming out the flue,not good.

punisher5112

How much did you let spill..
Put down sand or cat litter to soak up.

Wearb

If there isn’t a leak then it’s most likely a combustion problem and will need a tech to sort it out. While carbon monoxide doesn’t have an odour (mores the pity) it can be very dangerous. It’s produced through poor combustion and those odours you are getting might be an indication of that.

punisher5112

Get a carbon monoxide alarm if you don't own already.