Old Firebird Oil Burning Boiler

[Ropi Jo]

Hello.

I'm sure you get a lot of people join here to ask 1 question then they're never seen again.

Well, I've got a few questions to ask, about a real mish-mash hot water and central heating system.

My son has just today moved into a house that has been empty for 4 yrs.

It's rural so no gas.

There is a propane fire in the living room, that used to have a back boiler. The back boiler has long since had the gas parts removed (in 2005, I believe), but the heat exchanger is still present. Not sure if it is still plumbed into the system in any way but the pipework is all attached and goes through the wall into the cylinder cupboard.

In the cylinder cupboard is a nightmare of piping. There's so much of it. The cylinder is dated 2005 and is plumbed into a Simplee Solar system that has 3 tubular water panels on the roof. The cylinder also has Simplee Solar on it. One of the panels on the roof is pouring out water. I've turned OFF the water supply to the panels, which was fully ON supplying full mains water pressure to them. I'm sure this is not correct and they should only be filled to a certain pressure, and this is why one has blown. There is a pump on this system that I believe is purely to circulate through the coil in the cylinder, under control of the Simplee Solar controller. Weather permitting we'll get the panels down in the next few days and see what we can do.

Also in the equasion is a very old oil boiler (1995) that as far as I can tell is a Firebird 60/90. Sorry, this pic is terrible.

The 1200l oil tank has only a few inch of oil in the bottom, and is no higher than the boiler. When I disconnect the green flexible pipe from the boiler no oil comes out. I can suck it and draw oil from it very easily, but there's no gravitational feed. I've ordered an oil delivery but that won't be here for another week. Wrong time of year I think.

I was able to get the boiler to fire and run for about 1 minute, but after that it only goes to lockout. The fan runs, and I can hear something that I think should be ingnition after about 10 seconds, but back to lockout every time. There is no pressure guage in the oil line.

So, some questions about this boiler...

1. Is it a Firebird 60/90? If not, what is it?

2. Can anybody supply me a user / tech manual?

3. Should this boiler draw oil? Or does it rely on gravity feed?

4. How audible should the ignition be?

My elimited experience of burner control sequences says, basically.... first the fan runs, then there may be an airflow sensor, then there's ignition, then the capilliary tube keeps the fuel on if the flame is there.

I remember hearing the ignition quite loudly on other boilers in the past.


There's loads more I want to ask about how the boiler does or does not integrate with the Solar system, but that can wait till the solar panels are back in action.

Thanks in advance for any info you can send my way.

Roy

 

[Johntheo5]

The attached should help, the boiler manual is for my 2015 Firebird.
Do not attempt to refire the boiler until you get a "fill" of oil.
When you do, ensure boiler switched off and remove the blank plug (3) marked gauge connection, let oil flow out into a can for a minute or two, reinstall and tighten the blank plug, boiler should then fire up.
DO NOT under any circumstances touch the pressures regulator plug (4).

 

[Exedon]

I would add to above as its been stood for 4 years make sure flue is clear & take out boiler baffles and clean & make sure all seals are sound.
You can't make any meaningful changes to a oil burner without a minimum of oil pressure gauge and combustion analysis equipment.

 

[Ropi Jo]

Thank you. Most helpful.

Will check the flue before running. No delivery yet. And I've no intention of making any type of adjustment.

On a good note we did manage to repair the leaking solar panel today. Soldered a piece of copper pipe over a 1/2" split in the manifold pipe. Suspect it was from freezing. I think I need to add antifreeze when it's re-instated tomorrow.

Also went throught ehpipe work pipe by pipe and ID'd everything. The solar system goes through a second coil in the cylinder so is isolated from the boiler circuits.

Another question.... there is no cylinder stat or room stat. The prog has DHW only or Heating And DHW. There is a valve that blocks the heating circuit and directs the boiler to the cylinder only, or opens and shares. Sure there's no probs adding a room stat to the heat output from the prog, but is the principle that the stat on the boiler is used to regulate the cylinder temp?

 

[Stuart981]

Early heating systems often used to run on the boiler stat only with no room or HW tank stat. Sometimes they would have what was called a cytrol valve on the supply to the hot tank to regulate the HW temp but they didnt work that well.

 

[Ropi Jo]

Put the solar panel back into service today, but just as light was fading and it was starting to rain. Filled it with antifreeze. No idea if that's right or wrong. Used a stand pipe into the top of the system on the roof and let gravity do it's thing. If there's any sun tomorrow we'll find out if it works!

There's no extra valves anywhere that I can see so it's as basic as it gets. If all is goot I won't worry about a room stat, but that's for my son to decide in the future. For now just need something working.

Forgot to mention we got the living room propane powered gas fire working as well. Every jet in the sustem was totally blocked so no gas was getting to anything, not even the small flame for the cap tube.... nothing. That little bit of heat is a god-send..... and free while the 2 gas cylinders last.

 

[Stuart981]

Nothing wrong with basic. Less to go wrong and if properly designed and installed will likely work just as well as any modern system thats rammed full of gizmos.

 

[Ropi Jo]

Oil delivery tomorrow so willknow more about the state of the boiler after that.

The solar thermal system seems to be working... if the sun ever puts in an appearance.

Yesterday we had only a few minutes of sunshine. Today almost an hour!

But during that hour the collector got to an almost impressive 33' and I could feel the water going into the cylinder was pleasantly lukewarm!

 

[Stuart981]

Well good luck with the boiler. Truth is that those old oil furnaces last for ever. Old or modern they cost much the same to run despite what people trying to flog you a replacement might tell you and spares are cheap and available.