Hi,guys.Today I was very scared to see black smoke from my flue it was
terrible I switched my boiler off right away. The black fumes were
stinking I had to use storage heating all day.
It was puffing like a very hot coal fire the noise inside was
terrible.I knew it was no sort of steam : it was stinking it was black
And i held a cold glass on top of the flue it did not steam up.
Please help!
Do any of you know what might be causing this?
ps.The radiators were not hot.Lucky i got back up immersion heater for
hw.
THANKS. Your help is greatly appreciated.

"Boiler man" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,guys.Today I was very scared to see black smoke from my flue it was
terrible I switched my boiler off right away. The black fumes were
stinking I had to use storage heating all day.
It was puffing like a very hot coal fire the noise inside was
terrible.I knew it was no sort of steam : it was stinking it was black
And i held a cold glass on top of the flue it did not steam up.
Please help!
Do any of you know what might be causing this?
ps.The radiators were not hot.Lucky i got back up immersion heater for
hw.
THANKS. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Sounds too serious for DIY. call in Keston ASAP.

I will now I regret choosing keston i would be better off with a
vaillant ecomaxpro.

in 494905 20060130 143359 "Boiler man" wrote:
Hi,guys.Today I was very scared to see black smoke from my flue it was
terrible I switched my boiler off right away. The black fumes were
stinking I had to use storage heating all day.
It was puffing like a very hot coal fire the noise inside was
terrible.I knew it was no sort of steam : it was stinking it was black
And i held a cold glass on top of the flue it did not steam up.
Please help!
Do any of you know what might be causing this?
ps.The radiators were not hot.Lucky i got back up immersion heater for
hw.
THANKS. Your help is greatly appreciated.

See if there is any water in the boiler circuit.

i checked it is dry as a bone.

"Boiler man" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,guys.Today I was very scared to see black smoke from my flue it was
terrible I switched my boiler off right away. The black fumes were
stinking I had to use storage heating all day.
It was puffing like a very hot coal fire the noise inside was
terrible.I knew it was no sort of steam : it was stinking it was black
And i held a cold glass on top of the flue it did not steam up.
Please help!
Do any of you know what might be causing this?
ps.The radiators were not hot.Lucky i got back up immersion heater for
hw.
THANKS. Your help is greatly appreciated.

When was it last serviced? If it was a few years, the heat exchanger has
probably got sooted up. It's an avalanche process (the more it soots up the
faster it soots up) until you get the terminal situation you describe.
"Someone" will have to clear all the soot from the heat exchanger fins. I
would recommend not using the indoor vacuum cleaner to do this, as soot is
incredibly fine carbon powder. Mine did the same (depositing soot up my
bl**dy newly painted render, damn it). Fine after it had been cleaned
though. Mine has a spyhole to see if the pilot is alight, you can see the
flames as well. If they show a tendency to be yellow rather than blue, the
process has probably started or it's just maladjusted. Either way it needs a
service/clean.


--
Bob Mannix
(anti-spam is as easy as 1-2-3 - not)

the boiler was fitted 2 weeks ago

Boiler man wrote:
the boiler was fitted 2 weeks ago

By you?
If not, pick up the phone and start complaining.

no it was installed proffesionally by a corgi installer.
i am no plumber

no it was installed proffesionally by a corgi installer.
i am no plumber

no it was installed proffesionally by a corgi installer.
i am no plumber

Boiler man wrote:
no it was installed proffesionally by a corgi installer.
i am no plumber


Well, to paraphrase the Blondie song.
"Call Him".

In article om,
Boiler man wrote:
no it was installed proffesionally by a corgi installer.
i am no plumber

Why the moniker, then?

--
*When the going gets tough, the tough take a coffee break *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Boiler man wrote:
Hi,guys.Today I was very scared to see black smoke from my flue it was
terrible I switched my boiler off right away. The black fumes were
stinking I had to use storage heating all day.

Any description of what they smelt of? e.g. burning plastic?

It was puffing like a very hot coal fire the noise inside was
terrible.I knew it was no sort of steam : it was stinking it was black
And i held a cold glass on top of the flue it did not steam up.
Please help!
Do any of you know what might be causing this?

I can only imagine either soot from poor combustion (lack of
air flow through heat exchanger), or some part inside caught
light which isn't supposed to, such as the flue pipe perhaps?
Was the mixture tested during commissioning?
I think it uses the air pressure drop due to air flow to modulate
the gas valve, so unless the gas valve got stuck open or the
mixture was very badly out, it's difficult to think how you
would get a gross excess of gas at the burner.
Have you looked inside the casing to see if it's all one
large melted blob at the bottom?

Anyway, sounds like a callout to your installer or Keston is
required.

--
Andrew Gabriel

On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 06:33:59 -0800, Boiler man wrote:

Hi,guys.Today I was very scared to see black smoke from my flue it was
terrible I switched my boiler off right away. The black fumes were
stinking I had to use storage heating all day.
It was puffing like a very hot coal fire the noise inside was
terrible.I knew it was no sort of steam : it was stinking it was black
And i held a cold glass on top of the flue it did not steam up.
Please help!
Do any of you know what might be causing this?
ps.The radiators were not hot.Lucky i got back up immersion heater for
hw.
THANKS. Your help is greatly appreciated.

I hope my own does not develop this fault.
There is a flue over-heat cut out which I suppose should have stopped the
boiler but I guess the exchanger was still managing to cool the soot
stream.

My suspicion would be the gas valve. These seems to be the weak link on
this unit. About 50% of the ones I've installed have had some sort of
trouble - My own has developed a thunderous roll on ignition that lasts
up to 10 seconds. When tested with the combustion analyser it's fine but
my guess is the GV is not doing the business for the first few seconds.

This boiler is going to take some work. Assuming its the gas valve then
you will need a new one, maybe a new burner and a thorough "decoke" of
the exchanger and the flue.


--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html

In article .uk,
Ed Sirett writes:

I hope my own does not develop this fault.
There is a flue over-heat cut out which I suppose should have stopped the
boiler but I guess the exchanger was still managing to cool the soot
stream.

If it really was burning that sooty, it probably wasn't generating
anywhere near as much heat as it's designed to anyway. However, I
could also imagine the combustion wasn't all on the burner guaze,
and sooty flames could have been going through the heat exchanger,
and possibly as far as the plastic consetina flue pipe.

My suspicion would be the gas valve. These seems to be the weak link on
this unit. About 50% of the ones I've installed have had some sort of
trouble - My own has developed a thunderous roll on ignition that lasts

Oh dear. The only issue I've had with my gas valve so far
was the supposedly factory adjusted mixture was miles out.

up to 10 seconds. When tested with the combustion analyser it's fine but
my guess is the GV is not doing the business for the first few seconds.

This boiler is going to take some work. Assuming its the gas valve then
you will need a new one, maybe a new burner and a thorough "decoke" of
the exchanger and the flue.

Other than the top of the top row of pipes which you can get
to if you take the burner off, the rest of the heat exchanger
is pretty much completely inaccessible as far as I can see.

--
Andrew Gabriel

On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 22:24:23 +0000, Andrew Gabriel wrote:

In article .uk,
Ed Sirett writes:

I hope my own does not develop this fault.
There is a flue over-heat cut out which I suppose should have stopped the
boiler but I guess the exchanger was still managing to cool the soot
stream.

If it really was burning that sooty, it probably wasn't generating
anywhere near as much heat as it's designed to anyway. However, I
could also imagine the combustion wasn't all on the burner guaze,
and sooty flames could have been going through the heat exchanger,
and possibly as far as the plastic consetina flue pipe.

My suspicion would be the gas valve. These seems to be the weak link on
this unit. About 50% of the ones I've installed have had some sort of
trouble - My own has developed a thunderous roll on ignition that lasts

Oh dear. The only issue I've had with my gas valve so far
was the supposedly factory adjusted mixture was miles out.

up to 10 seconds. When tested with the combustion analyser it's fine but
my guess is the GV is not doing the business for the first few seconds.

This boiler is going to take some work. Assuming its the gas valve then
you will need a new one, maybe a new burner and a thorough "decoke" of
the exchanger and the flue.

Other than the top of the top row of pipes which you can get
to if you take the burner off, the rest of the heat exchanger
is pretty much completely inaccessible as far as I can see.

It seems that the OP has a unit that is under warranty - it's going to
cost Keston some to put this right.

Do you know of anything that dissolves soot. I mean detergent and a
scrubbing brush will have some effect but is there a solvent for graphite?
can it be bough? what else might it dissolve?!



--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html

In article .uk
Ed Sirett wrote:
snip

Do you know of anything that dissolves soot. I mean detergent and a
scrubbing brush will have some effect but is there a solvent for graphite?
can it be bough? what else might it dissolve?!

Soot isn't graphite (nor is it diamond).
I'd be inclined to try oxy-acetylene, but stop quickly if it gets hot
enough for the steel to burn. :-)

On Wed, 01 Feb 2006 07:41:05 +0000, Rob Morley wrote:

In article .uk
Ed Sirett wrote:
snip

Do you know of anything that dissolves soot. I mean detergent and a
scrubbing brush will have some effect but is there a solvent for graphite?
can it be bough? what else might it dissolve?!

Soot isn't graphite (nor is it diamond).
I'd be inclined to try oxy-acetylene, but stop quickly if it gets hot
enough for the steel to burn. :-)

AIUI there are three allotropic forms of Carbon: Diamond, Graphite and
Fullerine. AFAIK Anthracite, Coke, Soot, Graphite are various form of
graphite although the large scale (relative to the atomic scale)
structures and trace contaminants vary.

The oxy-acetylene would make a mess of the plastic flue components.

--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html

On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 23:11:46 +0000, Ed Sirett
wrote:

Do you know of anything that dissolves soot. I mean detergent and a
scrubbing brush will have some effect but is there a solvent for graphite?
can it be bough? what else might it dissolve?!

Caustic soda is often used for bike exhausts, needs care as it will
damage alloys and enamel, I'd have thought it OK with some plastics
(worth testing first)

http://groups.google.com/groups?ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&q=decoke+exhaust+caustic&qt_s=Search

If making a strong solution it can get quite hot and give off caustic
fumes, not good in a confined space! (BTDTGTTS) Still, the solution
works best if hot...

cheers,
Pete.

On Thu, 02 Feb 2006 22:44:18 +0000, Pete C
wrote:

On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 23:11:46 +0000, Ed Sirett
wrote:

Do you know of anything that dissolves soot. I mean detergent and a
scrubbing brush will have some effect but is there a solvent for graphite?
can it be bough? what else might it dissolve?!

Caustic soda is often used for bike exhausts, needs care as it will
damage alloys and enamel, I'd have thought it OK with some plastics
(worth testing first)

http://groups.google.com/groups?ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&q=decoke+exhaust+caustic&qt_s=Search

If making a strong solution it can get quite hot and give off caustic
fumes, not good in a confined space! (BTDTGTTS) Still, the solution
works best if hot...

OTOH caustic oven cleaner might be better if doing it in situ as it
foams up and won't run off.

cheers,
Pete.

On Thu, 02 Feb 2006 22:44:18 +0000, Pete C wrote:

On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 23:11:46 +0000, Ed Sirett
wrote:

Do you know of anything that dissolves soot. I mean detergent and a
scrubbing brush will have some effect but is there a solvent for graphite?
can it be bough? what else might it dissolve?!

Caustic soda is often used for bike exhausts, needs care as it will
damage alloys and enamel, I'd have thought it OK with some plastics
(worth testing first)

http://groups.google.com/groups?ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&q=decoke+exhaust+caustic&qt_s=Search

If making a strong solution it can get quite hot and give off caustic
fumes, not good in a confined space! (BTDTGTTS) Still, the solution
works best if hot...

cheers,
Pete.

So strong NaOH - i.e. DrainO. Should be OK on Stainless and MUPVC.


--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html