Firebird Heatpac 70 Issue

JustJoe7240

Have an issue with the above boiler the last few days, some times it will fire and more than often I won't. It has fuel,But when I open the bleed screw and press the rest you see some tiny bubbles until it clicks and then kero sprays out as you would expect it to. it cuts out until you reset again then.
Thanks for any help, Not the best time for it to pack up.

jimf

how much fuel is in tank

JustJoe7240

jimf wrote: »

how much fuel is in tank

Maybe 100l

jimf

tank far from boiler and how high is tank above burner

John.G

On my Tank, (~ 950 lire Carbery Compact R), by measurement, the outlet will be uncovered with 120 to 130 litres remaining in the tank, there is no way that it would feed oil to the boiler at 100 litres so suggest filling up ASAP.

JustJoe7240

Thanks for replies lads. tank is about 20ft from burner and outlet is about 6 inches about inlet to burner.

I had thought of this, but normally I'd only get 200l at a time and tank is tilted towards outlet by means of a block under the far side.

jimf

sounds like you have no gravity flow to the boiler

air bubbles when you open the bleed screw is the giveaway

oil when the burner is trying to ignite is the fuel pump pulling whatever oil it can to the burner

oil tank tilted is a def no no tank is not supported as it should be and has a very good chance of splitting and dumping whatever oil it contains in your property and maybe that of your neighbours

theres also a chance your fuel filter is clogged with **** from the bottom of the tank

all observations of course i could be way off the mark

John.G

I installed that compact R tank a few years ago after my ~ 28 year old one split on the top just after filling to the brim, my oil supplier pumped it all out, I was amazed when I looked into the bottom of the empty tank and saw that it was spotless, no sign of slime or water droplets or anything, I reckon my Riello burner is able to burn oil and water as the tank when (improperly) installed was actually very slightly inclined towards the oil outlet, I installed the new one completely level, I suppose it would take a fair drop of water to reach the oil outlet at > 100 litres from the bottom.

jimf

indeed john but tanks that are constantly kept at a very low oil level have the ability
to create a lot of condensate above the oil level

JustJoe7240

jimf wrote: »

indeed john but tanks that are constantly kept at a very low oil level have the ability
to create a lot of condensate above the oil level

Almost may be worth mentioning the house was vacant for a number of years. Boiler was serviced when I moved in and worked away but issues have started in the last week or so

John.G

Can you just look into the tank and see if oil level is covering the oil outlet??

jimf

John.G wrote: »

I installed that compact R tank a few years ago after my ~ 28 year old one split on the top just after filling to the brim, my oil supplier pumped it all out, I was amazed when I looked into the bottom of the empty tank and saw that it was spotless, no sign of slime or water droplets or anything, I reckon my Riello burner is able to burn oil and water as the tank when (improperly) installed was actually very slightly inclined towards the oil outlet, I installed the new one completely level, I suppose it would take a fair drop of water to reach the oil outlet at > 100 litres from the bottom.

at routine servicing john we dip tanks for water

its not unusual to take 20/40 litres of water from a tank without it causing any problems

i suppose you could call it preventative maintenance

JustJoe7240

Thanks for the help gents, Turned out to be a flow issue but not due to lack of fuel. There was 6 inches of fuel in the bottom of the tank. Pipe from tank to burner was partially blocked with crap. Blew it out with a flexible hose and it flowed away once i reconnected. Fired first time.

jimf

glad you got sorted and have heat for now

but you have only sorted the issue not the cause

thanks for coming back and letting us know the fix

John.G

jimf wrote: »

at routine servicing john we dip tanks for water

its not unusual to take 20/40 litres of water from a tank without it causing any problems

i suppose you could call it preventative maintenance

Theres a thought Jim, if I kept say 110 litres of water in my tank then I could use up almost every last drop of Kero before a refill?.

Seriously though even though I do fill my tank about "2.5" times/year from say a level of 150 litres, there is pobably only around 300 litres in it from April/May to say the end of sept, one might expect some evidence of condensation after 28 years, maybe some oil companies with poor housekeeping practices are supplying this water.