Worcester Heatslave 20/25 lockout

[BrokenBoiler1976]

Hi all,

I ran out of oil and the boiler locked out.

Since then I have bled the oil pump and now it no longer fizzes oil and air but just runs oil so I assume all is ok there. I have also unscrewed the bolt (point 2 in the image) and oil squirts from there when I click the unlock button so I also assume that oil is making it into the burner.

I have also checked the photo cell (4 in the image) and that is perfectly clean.

The odd (seems it to me anyway) thing is that when it tries to fire up I can see a bright spark at point 1 in the image (as a black tube enters the silver block) and smoke is emitted (not much and it smells electric rather than oil based). The boiler tries to fire up but a few seconds after I hear a click noise (the ignition?) it locks out again.

I am at a loss at to why the boiler isn't firing up - the motor whirs like it used to but the 'whoosh' of the oil firing up no longer occurs.

Any ideas? Any help appreciated!!!

PS - in the second image below you can see that the copper pipe leading into my oil tank is a bit loose - in so much as it can be lifted up a few inches - is that an issue???

Thanks,
Matt.

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• BrokenBoiler1976
• 31 Dec 2012
• 1

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• BrokenBoiler1976
• 31 Dec 2012
• 1

 

[dcawkwell]

Sounds like there is no oil coming through the nozzle.
The flame you see is the spark ignition trying to light the non existent
oil.

 

[Mike2007]

when it goes through the "motions" of starting, use a small screwdriver over the top of the solenoid (top of pump) to detect if there is a magnetic field inside the solenoid?
If there isn't, the solenoid isn't opening to let pressurised oil out to spray.
Your pump may also have seized due to lack of oil inside the pump. You will need to remove pump completely and see if the shaft that turns the pump still rotated?? If its stiff its knackered, new pump.

 

[Boilerman2]

The odd (seems it to me anyway) thing is that when it tries to fire up I can see a bright spark at point 1 in the image (as a black tube enters the silver block) and smoke is emitted (not much and it smells electric rather than oil based)

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• BrokenBoiler1976
• 31 Dec 2012
• 1

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• BrokenBoiler1976
• 31 Dec 2012
• 1

And that my friend is your problem one of the HT ignition leads has burnt out causing a short to earth this is why you can see a bright spark in the wrong place and a smell of electrical burning - oh and just to add to your woes - every time you try to start the burner you are injecting a quantitiy of oil into the combustion chamber - so if you have tried more than 6 times things could be very interesting when you get it to fire up!!

Thats why you should not reset from Lockout more than twice without rectifying the fault!! errr Good luck!

 

[BrokenBoiler1976]

The odd (seems it to me anyway) thing is that when it tries to fire up I can see a bright spark at point 1 in the image (as a black tube enters the silver block) and smoke is emitted (not much and it smells electric rather than oil based)

Untitled

• BrokenBoiler1976
• 31 Dec 2012
• 1

Untitled

• BrokenBoiler1976
• 31 Dec 2012
• 1

And that my friend is your problem one of the HT ignition leads has burnt out causing a short to earth this is why you can see a bright spark in the wrong place and a smell of electrical burning - oh and just to add to your woes - every time you try to start the burner you are injecting a quantitiy of oil into the combustion chamber - so if you have tried more than 6 times things could be very interesting when you get it to fire up!!

Thats why you should not reset from Lockout more than twice without rectifying the fault!! errr Good luck!

Thank you all for your replies. I will call an engineer and tell him what you have said so he's pre-warned! An expensive start to the new year

Thanks again - very helpful of you all and have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

[Mike2007]

The odd (seems it to me anyway) thing is that when it tries to fire up I can see a bright spark at point 1 in the image (as a black tube enters the silver block) and smoke is emitted (not much and it smells electric rather than oil based)

Untitled

• BrokenBoiler1976
• 31 Dec 2012
• 1

Untitled

• BrokenBoiler1976
• 31 Dec 2012
• 1

And that my friend is your problem one of the HT ignition leads has burnt out causing a short to earth this is why you can see a bright spark in the wrong place and a smell of electrical burning - oh and just to add to your woes - every time you try to start the burner you are injecting a quantitiy of oil into the combustion chamber - so if you have tried more than 6 times things could be very interesting when you get it to fire up!!

Thats why you should not reset from Lockout more than twice without rectifying the fault!! errr Good luck!

Yeah missed that point! There is occasions where someone has refitted the burner casings badly only to nip the HT leads and power to electrodes arc out! New Heatslave HT leads about a tenner!
Good luck with the fix.