trianco eurostar 100/125 condensing oil fired boiler

[coldgirl]

Hi,

Can anyone help me to make sense of the problems with my boiler PLEASE.

The boiler was installed about two years ago. since then it has had a problem every few months. It locks out and to start with can be restarted, the time between lockouts decreases over a couple of days until it will fire up and lock out a minute later or not fire up at all. Our plumber has showed us how to clean the photo cell. It all happened again over new year and an oil engineer serviced it and checked it all. Only one week later it happened again, the same engineer came out, cleaned the photo cell again (said there was a slight film on it) and removed the snorkel incase it was the flu. It is now a week later and we are again not able to get the boiler started.

The plumber says no point in him coming out because he doesn't know much about oil boilers!

The oil engineer says he has done everything he can and can't find anything to cause the problems and to contact Trianco.

Trianco say to contact the oil company because it is the Sulphur level in the oil and we should have an additive put in the oil.

The oil company say that the oil meets British Standards, that as it is only a week since it was all cleaned can't be the oil, and that as we have an aga (not in use because it stopped running last year after being fixed once already!)we should not put an additive in.

Can any one tell me how to sort this out. Is this a common problem with this boiler. I am recovering from chemotherapy and find it hard to keep warm even when the heating is working! Please help.

Thanks

 

[Agile]

You have not mentioned the salient fact which I would like to know!

Was the boiler working fine on the same oil supply as you have now?

Or did the problem start after a new oil delivery?

You have problems with both an Aga and a boiler. My immediate reaction is to question the competence of your engineer.

Anyone who just says they dont know whats wrong is suspect to me !

Some of the oil experts on here may have their own views.

Tony

 

[coldgirl]

Hi Tony,

We had oil delivered in early nov but there was a small amount of oil left in the tank.

 

[Burnerman]

I've been burning oil for years, and I've never heard of kerosene having an inappropriate sulphur content - and I've never used an additive either - in fact Ididn't know there was one.
Your boiler man is obviously clueless...this is what he should have done.
Cleaned all filters in the oil supply line.
Vacuumed all soot and grot out of the boiler itself, and checked the flue was clear.
After cleaning and setting up the electrodes on the burner, and maybe replacing the nozzle for good measure he should check the oil pump pressure with the unit burning.
he should have also done a smoke test on the waste gases, and then a complete flue gas analysis to see how well the thing was burning.
I wonder how much of this he actually did?
You need someone else in...can friends etc recommend anyone?
John

 

[coldgirl]

Hi Burnerman

Yes he did everything on your list including replacing the nozzle and adjusting the CO2 to 12%.

 

[Burnerman]

OK I'm going to see if I have any info on the boiler, back in a bit!
John

 

[Burnerman]

The info I have doesn't say a great deal, unfortunately - do you know the make of the burner?.....However it seems like the pump pressure is 100 psi, using a 1.0 x 80 EH nozzle.
This unit does need attention by someone else though - there should be some sort of activity even if the oil is below standard.
The fault could be electrode position, incorrectly fitted blast tube, low pump pressure or whatever - it could even be the solenoid coil that lives on the side of the oil pump. Photocells do give problems, thats for sure, but are easily replaced.
Again, call for someone else, I think.
John

 

[oilhead]

These must be the most unreliable condensing boilers built. Firstly, the sulphur content of oil is a red herring on pressure jets. ( your oil pump may not last as long as it would have done, but it will not affect combustion day to day) It may have an effect on your Aga, that Agile refers to, but that is another story.
My experience on these boilers is very much like yours, but I think I may have 'cracked' it now, I'm waiting for another to show up so that I can prove or disprove it.
I noticed that after putiing in the first baffle, with the uneven legs on the sloping waterway, the book tells you to place the second one with the cutouts to the front. When I did this, I noticed, when taking them out on a recall after three weeks, that the cutouts lay above the bottom of the access aperture, and the insulation on the cover obscures the passage of gases. This makes the combustion head dirty up from the gases that will not escape, and obscures the photocell. My solution was to put the second baffle in with the cutouts to the rear. I know that it short circuits the passage of flue gases and reduces the efficiency of the boiler to some extent, but it was easier than attacking the baffle with an angle grinder, and nett efficiency was only 0.5% less. After reversing this baffle, alternate the ones above to retain the cross passage.

 

[Tibbot]

Agree that Oilhead is on the right lines. I've found condensing problems to be connected with resistance through chamber and or too low return temperatures into recuperator altering combustion.

With some brands, I believe there has to be a degree of bad design involved.

 

[nothot]

hi

my dad had this same boiler fitted 6 months ago and he needs to clear the photo cells every 2 days. trianco are useless and saying its the oil. do you have any suggestions?

 

[djsarge1973]

Am in east Sussex Cold Girl, so if you want an honest opinion would be more than willing to help out

 

[roadtonowhere]

I'm also convinced that the problems lie with the baffles.

Had one installed 3 years ago and had no problems for 2 years, had to clean the photocell once every six months but that was it. Then got to the stage where I was doing it every day. I then took it apart, gave it a good clean and a service. I noticed that a 2cm X 2cm section from the bottom of the insulation which is attached to the back of the access plate (held on by four wing nuts) had broken off, I placed it in position and put the plate back and it was fine for three weeks then the lockout problems started again. When I took it apart again I could see that one of the lower baffles had slid foreward so this time I removed this broken section of insulation, broke off a couple of pieces about an inch long and placed them to the sides so that when the access plate was placed back in position they would hold the baffles in place, but would allow the gases to pass unhindered between. It has been fine for the last 4 months except for one lockout, again when I removed the access plate one of the baffles had managed to slip forward past my insulation 'wedges'. I pushed it back, put the wedges back in place, and it has been fine since. When I get around to it I will make a metal strip which I will fit vertically in the opening of the access plate to stop the baffles sliding foreward permenantly then I can remove the insulation wedges/replace the insulation on the back of the access plate with a new complete piece.

I'm not a heating engineer, so suggest that anyone who may want to explore resolving the problem using the info I've posted gets advice from someone who knows what they are doing and can check the safety of any workaround that is put in place.

 

[oilhead]

Do what Trianco did before they went bust!!! With an angle grinder, open up the castellations on each baffle to about 3 or 4 times the original size. This will enable the burner to clear the oil injected by the nozzle with sufficient air to make a clean burn. Combustion analysis will still show a nett efficiency of approx 96%.

 

[homeathome]

Thanks to everyone who has posted here. We have had the same problems with our Trianco condensing boiler since installation. One time it refused to fire and we replaced every single component except the pump and are still not sure what the problem was, as all the original components were ok. It was perhaps smoke injestion or electrode arching. We also have to clean the flame sensor too often even after having set up the CO2 correctly. Now after burning well, its started to produce soot in quantities. Testing outside of the boiler can produce an impressive flame thrower though.

Seems like the solution is to get the grinder out to fix this design problem. This posting has saved us chasing red herrings such as S-content in the oil. All hydrocarbons have a high level of S-separation these days. There is too much of this responsibility shirking and buck passing in the UK by blaming someone else - it wastes time and doesnt provide an answer.

 

[DeltaT2]

Agree that Oilhead is on the right lines. I've found condensing problems to be connected with resistance through chamber and or too low return temperatures into recuperator altering combustion.

With some brands, I believe there has to be a degree of bad design involved.

You need to fit a good quality ABV mate & ensure your F&R ΔT is as near 20C as possible. If you don't you'll get a big problem with condensation in the CC.

Thanks to everyone for a very interesting & informative read.