Firebird oil boiler hit water problem... Maybe

[Calum Muir]

Hello all,

First Post so I will get right to it.

Got a 3.5 year old firebird oil boiler and within the last few days (I think) it has been locking out when running for hw, once it has locked out for hw the ch heating locks out until it gets a rebot then runs fine of the thermostat..... Until hw is demanded again.

I took the hw diverter valve off and pressed the microswitch myself and opened the valve and the hw ran no problem (lever was turned to manual but for some reason the cam won't strike the switch). Tried on auto again and the cam presses the swith but locks out the boiler with 10 seconds of firing. Worth noting that once I frigged the hw the radiators also got warm.

I am stumped, I thought it was the diverter valve for the hw but I am not sure now.

What am I missing? Any help or quick checks would be greatly welcomed.

Thanks

 

[rbranco]

What does the boiler say its tripping out on, can you check flow/return temps?

 

[Calum Muir]

Hi,

I have no way of telling(?), just get the red pilot light.

Thanks

 

[rbranco]

If you are getting a lockout then it will be either a fault or overheat condition, ie the pump not taking heat away quick enough then the boiler overheats.
As you have little diagnostics on the boiler then you will need to do more digging.
S plan or Y plan? Is it a 3 port valve or 2 ports.

 

[Calum Muir]

It is s plan with two 2 port valves.

Central heating is running sweetly but I have a suspicioun that the CH is topping up the HW but have no way of proving this.

 

[rbranco]

Maybe your HW valve is broken. It would only be heating the HW when CH is on if the zone valve does not close properly (or wired wrong). Also if it does not open properly then it could have restricted flow

 

[Calum Muir]

Yeh, seems logical as this would give CH when HW is demanded and might be the reason it is looking out on HW as it will not be seeing adequate flow.

I have had the actuator (honeywell) and valve apart and can't get it running on manual of I hold the microswitch down

 

[rbranco]

My honeywell valves do not trigger the microswitch on manual unless you push it quickly over then it clicks for a couple of seconds. I think manual is only for filling the system.

 

[Calum Muir]

So it seems the pressure relief on the expansion tank is passing, constantly dripping but the boiler locks out even if there is pressure in the system. Also pressure drops rapidly when not running but holds when boiler runs.....strange.

Plumber has been called but I would like to understand this a bit before he manages out.

 

[oilhead]

If it is the overheat thermostat that is tripping, then that is easily understood. When HW only is requested, there is a relatively small circuit to absorb the heat, and with a failed or inneffective expansion vessel (as shown with a leaking pressure valve), there is insufficient pressure to maintain a 'head' to the pump, so it stops circulating causing the overheat trip.

 

[Terrywookfit]

An overheat does not cause the burner to lock out. The burner and water safety controls work independently of each other !!

 

[Pam Thompson]

Hello all,

First Post so I will get right to it.

Got a 3.5 year old firebird oil boiler and within the last few days (I think) it has been locking out when running for hw, once it has locked out for hw the ch heating locks out until it gets a rebot then runs fine of the thermostat..... Until hw is demanded again.

I took the hw diverter valve off and pressed the microswitch myself and opened the valve and the hw ran no problem (lever was turned to manual but for some reason the cam won't strike the switch). Tried on auto again and the cam presses the swith but locks out the boiler with 10 seconds of firing. Worth noting that once I frigged the hw the radiators also got warm.

I am stumped, I thought it was the diverter valve for the hw but I am not sure now.

What am I missing? Any help or quick checks would be greatly welcomed.

Thanks

Chuck it out and buy a decent boiler. Mine is just over 3 years old and has packed up. When it was installed I had to have an engineer out several times to fix and replace parts to get it to work and that was a brad new boiler. It was a taste of things to come. It's not worth faffing about paying hundreds of £ for callout fees and replacement parts. B the time you've finished, you might as well have gone and bought another boiler. A decent one. I firmly believe that reviewers are getting paid to write glowing reviews or the staff and their family members write them because I have discovered that several others I've spoken to have had big problems with their Firebird boilers which go badly wrong just after the warranty is out, yet curiously, al the reviews are glowing ones, not one warning anywhere. I'm still paying off the bank loan I took out to buy my just over 3 y ear old boiler. I'm on a pension and somehow have to now find the money to buy a new boiler. Never again Firebird.

 

[ianmcd]

have to say I rented a brand new install in a town house and never had a moments problems, a bit noisy but worked perfectly well

 

[oilhead]

Chuck it out and buy a decent boiler. Mine is just over 3 years old and has packed up. When it was installed I had to have an engineer out several times to fix and replace parts to get it to work and that was a brad new boiler. It was a taste of things to come. It's not worth faffing about paying hundreds of £ for callout fees and replacement parts. B the time you've finished, you might as well have gone and bought another boiler. A decent one. I firmly believe that reviewers are getting paid to write glowing reviews or the staff and their family members write them because I have discovered that several others I've spoken to have had big problems with their Firebird boilers which go badly wrong just after the warranty is out, yet curiously, al the reviews are glowing ones, not one warning anywhere. I'm still paying off the bank loan I took out to buy my just over 3 y ear old boiler. I'm on a pension and somehow have to now find the money to buy a new boiler. Never again Firebird.

At only 3 years old, I would have thought that a competent engineer would soon sort it out. Firebird are a mid priced unit, and some parts are cheap, but not unreliable. There were problems with the Riello burner, but they have been sorted out, and Firebird were not the only manufacturer who suffered. Grant now fit a different burner. If a combi, then there are other potential pitfalls, but easily sorted out. How often did you have it serviced? Did you have all the installation repairs done by or through Firebird. Did you get the book stamped?
Oil boilers, particularly condensing combis need good regular servicing. They can be a lot less forgiving than a gas boiler.

 

[Pam Thompson]

Firebird organised getting the boiler repaired with various replacement parts. Bear in mind when this all happened, it had only been installed a week! I've only had it in for 3 1/2 years and it was serviced every summer. Living rural I don't have the option of gas. I have always lived rural and always had oil combi boilers wherever I have lived and *never* had one needing to be repaired at a week old. I only had the central heating put in because I am now retired and with poor health, and figured that splitting logs will perhaps be something I don't need to do in order to stay warm. Luckily I kept the range just in case and frankly, it's more reliable than the oil central heating and certainly a lot cheaper to run lol.