Ran out of oil - help with re-starting

[benregis]

Hello,
Hoping someone can help me with this one. I have a Grant Combi 90 oil-fired boiler. I came back from spending Christmas with relatives to discover that some charming person had nicked my heating oil! First I knew of it was when boiler started to make strange air-lock type noises, I knew that it sounded like that when it had run out of oil - but having checked before Xmas thought that couldn't be possible - checked tank anyway, and got a nasty shock.

Oil should be delivered in the next week, but I know from past experience that the boiler never re-starts easily when it's run really low on oil. I've had to have a plumber to get it going again, and have been charged a fortune for 5-10 minutes work. Does anyone know what needs to be done? It looked easy when the plumber was doing it, but....
Thanks in anticipation - and Happy New Year everyone!

 

[Burnerman]

There is a good chance that the burner will come to life again if you can bleed the heating oil from the tank to the burner.
An assistant could be handy!
Turn tank valve off
Undo flexible oil line that connects into the burner
Turn tank valve on, and with luck oil should flow from your end of the pipe which you have by now dipped into a container....keep it going until no air is seen coming through.
Couple this pipe back up to the burner, then try for start - you'll need to press the red lock out lamp if this is lit.
John

 

[studips]

just a thought as i don't do oil, but has it been serviced?

i only mention it as they do need an annual service to keep them running cleanly and maybe you could roll the restart and service into one?

 

[xr4x4]

or just undo the bleed/pressure port valve untill the oil comes out.

 

[benregis]

Thanks for all the advice. Service would be a good idea - but the whole point is I can't afford it at the moment not having budgeted having to spend £366 on oil out of the blue.

Thanks for the advice on bleeding Burnerman and xr4x4, roughly where should the tank valve be? I can see nothing in the manual labelled as a tank valve or bleed/pressure port valve.

I'm still currently cold as there's been no oil delivery yet - but will let you know how it goes once it arrives.

 

[xr4x4]

on the oil pump itself. depending on the pump, there should be an oil line going to it, a pressure adjuster and a blanking plug near the bottom.

the blanking plug is normally the bled/vacum port, you will need to drain a fair amount out of here to get rid of the air.

this may cover your model.

http://www.grantuk.com/userfiles/download_81.pdf

from here

http://www.grantuk.com/TechnicalManualDownloads.aspx

 

[benregis]

Thank you all for your helpful answers. Oil was delivered last night and much to my surprise (because it's never done it before) boiler was filled with the festive spirit, and started first time!

Many thanks again, I'll keep all your answers for the next emergency.