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Oil fuel woes
I keep bees at a farm some distance away and was planning to visit check the hives this morning. Many years ago prior to retiring in a different life I had installed a Firebird boiler for the farm owner. Last night I received a distress call to say the boiler had locked out and resetting it simply led to a second lockout.
Question 1 have you got fuel in the tank - answer yes it was getting down so I ordered some and its been delivered this morning. I combined my bee husbandry visit with a boiler breakdown. First thought was filters. Nope - slight partial coating on tank primary but nothing to cause fuel starvation. Headed indoors and pulled the burner to check ignition electrodes, nozzle and photocell. All clean and in good order. Cracked oil joint to burner but nothing came out. Headed outside to firestop valve and checked it was open then cracked joint to valve in fuel line - nothing came out. The pipe from tank to firestop valve dips under the drive then runs horizontal(ish) for some distance so likely either sediment clog or an air lock. I had nothing with me to purge the pipe so resorted to borrowing a bicycle pump which had a tapered adapter the would jam into the end of the oil pipe. I held it in while the farm owner pumped like mad. This blew the oil back into the tank followed by bubbles. On releasing the adapter a few seconds later oil appeared and flowed freely. Restored all connections, refitted the burner and vented the oil pump. Reset the lockout and the boiler fired up sweet as a bird. Only thing I could suggest was the tank had run empty just before the refill arrived so the burner pulled the oil in the pipe through followed by air then locking out. Farm owner said he'd never had a boiler repair by bicycle pump before. Oh and the bees were flying in and out of the hives. |
Oil fuel woes
On 20/02/2021 13:35, John J wrote:
I keep bees at a farm some distance away and was planning to visit check the hives this morning. Many years ago prior to retiring in a different life I had installed a Firebird boiler for the farm owner. Last night I received a distress call to say the boiler had locked out and resetting it simply led to a second lockout. Question 1 have you got fuel in the tank - answer yes it was getting down so I ordered some and its been delivered this morning. I combined my bee husbandry visit with a boiler breakdown. First thought was filters. Nope - slight partial coating on tank primary but nothing to cause fuel starvation. Headed indoors and pulled the burner to check ignition electrodes, nozzle and photocell. All clean and in good order. Cracked oil joint to burner but nothing came out. Headed outside to firestop valve and checked it was open then cracked joint to valve in fuel line - nothing came out. The pipe from tank to firestop valve dips under the drive then runs horizontal(ish) for some distance so likely either sediment clog or an air lock. I had nothing with me to purge the pipe so resorted to borrowing a bicycle pump which had a tapered adapter the would jam into the end of the oil pipe. I held it in while the farm owner pumped like mad. This blew the oil back into the tank followed by bubbles. On releasing the adapter a few seconds later oil appeared and flowed freely. Restored all connections, refitted the burner and vented the oil pump. Reset the lockout and the boiler fired up sweet as a bird. Only thing I could suggest was the tank had run empty just before the refill arrived so the burner pulled the oil in the pipe through followed by air then locking out. Farm owner said he'd never had a boiler repair by bicycle pump before. Oh and the bees were flying in and out of the hives. I love it! Bill |
Oil fuel woes
On Saturday, February 20, 2021 at 2:07:05 PM UTC, wrote:
On 20/02/2021 13:35, John J wrote: I keep bees at a farm some distance away and was planning to visit check the hives this morning. Many years ago prior to retiring in a different life I had installed a Firebird boiler for the farm owner. Last night I received a distress call to say the boiler had locked out and resetting it simply led to a second lockout. Question 1 have you got fuel in the tank - answer yes it was getting down so I ordered some and its been delivered this morning. I combined my bee husbandry visit with a boiler breakdown. First thought was filters. Nope - slight partial coating on tank primary but nothing to cause fuel starvation. Headed indoors and pulled the burner to check ignition electrodes, nozzle and photocell. All clean and in good order. Cracked oil joint to burner but nothing came out. Headed outside to firestop valve and checked it was open then cracked joint to valve in fuel line - nothing came out. The pipe from tank to firestop valve dips under the drive then runs horizontal(ish) for some distance so likely either sediment clog or an air lock. I had nothing with me to purge the pipe so resorted to borrowing a bicycle pump which had a tapered adapter the would jam into the end of the oil pipe. I held it in while the farm owner pumped like mad. This blew the oil back into the tank followed by bubbles. On releasing the adapter a few seconds later oil appeared and flowed freely. Restored all connections, refitted the burner and vented the oil pump. Reset the lockout and the boiler fired up sweet as a bird. Only thing I could suggest was the tank had run empty just before the refill arrived so the burner pulled the oil in the pipe through followed by air then locking out. Farm owner said he'd never had a boiler repair by bicycle pump before. Oh and the bees were flying in and out of the hives. I love it! Bill We use a Pela, https://pelaproducts.eu/ to suck the fuel past the airlock. Beats getting a mouth full of diesel |
Oil fuel woes
On 20/02/2021 13:35, John J wrote:
Farm owner said he'd never had a boiler repair by bicycle pump before. Oh and the bees were flying in and out of the hives. But the crap that you blew back into the tank could cause another blockage. Biodiesel is causing a lot of grief to some farmers because it is blocking filters with ??algae. Is heating oil having anything added to it ?. Must be serious, even Scottish farmers are affected, and we know how cold it is up there https://www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk/...-fuel-filters/ |
Oil fuel woes
On 20/02/2021 15:33, Andrew wrote:
On 20/02/2021 13:35, John J wrote: Farm owner said he'd never had a boiler repair by bicycle pump before. Oh and the bees were flying in and out of the hives. But the crap that you blew back into the tank could cause another blockage. Biodiesel is causing a lot of grief to some farmers because it is blocking filters with ??algae. Is heating oil having anything added to it ?. Must be serious, even Scottish farmers are affected, and we know how cold it is up there https://www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk/...-fuel-filters/ There are a number of off-the-shelf products to reduce or eliminate diesel bug. It's particularly common in boats. |
Oil fuel woes
On Sat, 20 Feb 2021 06:51:31 -0800 (PST)
fred wrote: On Saturday, February 20, 2021 at 2:07:05 PM UTC, wrote: On 20/02/2021 13:35, John J wrote: snip Reset the lockout and the boiler fired up sweet as a bird. Only thing I could suggest was the tank had run empty just before the refill arrived so the burner pulled the oil in the pipe through followed by air then locking out. Farm owner said he'd never had a boiler repair by bicycle pump before. Oh and the bees were flying in and out of the hives. I love it! Bill We use a Pela, https://pelaproducts.eu/ to suck the fuel past the airlock. Beats getting a mouth full of diesel That site can't load GoogleMaps correctly, and can't find me a vendor. -- Davey. |
Oil fuel woes
On 20/02/2021 14:07, williamwright wrote:
On 20/02/2021 13:35, John J wrote: snip I love it! +1 -- Robin reply-to address is (intended to be) valid |
Oil fuel woes
On 20/02/2021 15:33, Andrew wrote:
On 20/02/2021 13:35, John J wrote: Farm owner said he'd never had a boiler repair by bicycle pump before. Oh and the bees were flying in and out of the hives. But the crap that you blew back into the tank could cause another blockage. Biodiesel is causing a lot of grief to some farmers because it is blocking filters with ??algae. Is heating oil having anything added to it ?. Must be serious, even Scottish farmers are affected, and we know how cold it is up there https://www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk/...-fuel-filters/ I think this could be a good call, especially if a tank of fuel lasts a long time. It's an issue for standby diesels on nuclear power stations which normally only run for half an hour a week, but which have to hold enough fuel for a week. Last I heard they were getting fresh supplies every six months and having to pay to have the old fuel taken away. |
Oil fuel woes
On Saturday, 20 February 2021 at 14:51:33 UTC, fred wrote:
On Saturday, February 20, 2021 at 2:07:05 PM UTC, wrote: On 20/02/2021 13:35, John J wrote: I keep bees at a farm some distance away and was planning to visit check the hives this morning. Many years ago prior to retiring in a different life I had installed a Firebird boiler for the farm owner. Last night I received a distress call to say the boiler had locked out and resetting it simply led to a second lockout. Question 1 have you got fuel in the tank - answer yes it was getting down so I ordered some and its been delivered this morning. I combined my bee husbandry visit with a boiler breakdown. First thought was filters. Nope - slight partial coating on tank primary but nothing to cause fuel starvation. Headed indoors and pulled the burner to check ignition electrodes, nozzle and photocell. All clean and in good order. Cracked oil joint to burner but nothing came out. Headed outside to firestop valve and checked it was open then cracked joint to valve in fuel line - nothing came out. The pipe from tank to firestop valve dips under the drive then runs horizontal(ish) for some distance so likely either sediment clog or an air lock. I had nothing with me to purge the pipe so resorted to borrowing a bicycle pump which had a tapered adapter the would jam into the end of the oil pipe. I held it in while the farm owner pumped like mad. This blew the oil back into the tank followed by bubbles. On releasing the adapter a few seconds later oil appeared and flowed freely. Restored all connections, refitted the burner and vented the oil pump. Reset the lockout and the boiler fired up sweet as a bird. Only thing I could suggest was the tank had run empty just before the refill arrived so the burner pulled the oil in the pipe through followed by air then locking out. Farm owner said he'd never had a boiler repair by bicycle pump before.. Oh and the bees were flying in and out of the hives. I love it! Bill We use a Pela, https://pelaproducts.eu/ to suck the fuel past the airlock.. Beats getting a mouth full of diesel Problem was the only tools I had to hand were two adjustable spanners and a multi blade screwdriver. ️ Airlocks are funny old things |
Oil fuel woes
On Saturday, 20 February 2021 at 15:48:42 UTC, Fredxx wrote:
On 20/02/2021 15:33, Andrew wrote: On 20/02/2021 13:35, John J wrote: Farm owner said he'd never had a boiler repair by bicycle pump before. Oh and the bees were flying in and out of the hives. But the crap that you blew back into the tank could cause another blockage. Biodiesel is causing a lot of grief to some farmers because it is blocking filters with ??algae. Is heating oil having anything added to it ?. Must be serious, even Scottish farmers are affected, and we know how cold it is up there https://www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk/...-fuel-filters/ There are a number of off-the-shelf products to reduce or eliminate diesel bug. It's particularly common in boats. Did you miss there was a strainer at the tank and house boilers almost always run on 28 second kerosene in England? Once the airlock was clear the oil flowed full bore into a bottle so I could be sure there wasn't a train of bubbles coming through the pipe to cause hiccups to the flame. Needless to say by using a transparent bottle I could see the kerosene was clean and clear. I do have previous experience in the game😎 |
Oil fuel woes
On Sat, 20 Feb 2021 05:35:37 -0800 (PST), John J wrote:
I had nothing with me to purge the pipe so resorted to borrowing a bicycle pump which had a tapered adapter the would jam into the end of the oil pipe. I held it in while the farm owner pumped like mad. The mark of a true professional -- an amateur would have pumped themselves. Even better would have been to go "check on the bubbles" in the tank and have a third person get oil all over their hands:-) Thomas Prufer |
Oil fuel woes
On 21/02/2021 07:13, John J wrote:
On Saturday, 20 February 2021 at 15:48:42 UTC, Fredxx wrote: On 20/02/2021 15:33, Andrew wrote: On 20/02/2021 13:35, John J wrote: Farm owner said he'd never had a boiler repair by bicycle pump before. Oh and the bees were flying in and out of the hives. But the crap that you blew back into the tank could cause another blockage. Biodiesel is causing a lot of grief to some farmers because it is blocking filters with ??algae. Is heating oil having anything added to it ?. Must be serious, even Scottish farmers are affected, and we know how cold it is up there https://www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk/...-fuel-filters/ There are a number of off-the-shelf products to reduce or eliminate diesel bug. It's particularly common in boats. Did you miss there was a strainer at the tank and house boilers almost always run on 28 second kerosene in England? Once the airlock was clear the oil flowed full bore into a bottle so I could be sure there wasn't a train of bubbles coming through the pipe to cause hiccups to the flame. Needless to say by using a transparent bottle I could see the kerosene was clean and clear. I do have previous experience in the game😎 I was actually replying to Andrews post. I never doubted your abilities or experience. You gave an interesting account. |
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