another Riello problem .

[verdigrey]

Help Please . I have just been to an Oil boiler breakdown and am not sure where the fault lies . A Firebird Olympic S 50-80 . Boiler with a Riello G5X burner , Type 441T1 . It was working O.K. then suddenly They noticed the rads were cold . The fan is going continuously , but it is not trying to ignite , The red fault light at the top near the stat is glowing .
I thought that maybe the hi temp button had cut out , but it is OK .
The room stat is turned right up . I thought that if there was a fault with ignition the fan would have stopped and the main rest button would be glowing , but it isnt .
C ould there be a fault in the control box ? I dont want to replace it and find it makes no difference .
Comments greatly appreciated . Cheers .

 

[dontknowitall]

This could be tricky to suggest an answer but at least we can try and help. First reaction tells me it might be an oil supply problem.

Presumably there's enough oil in the tank, the fire valve is open, isolation valves are open, no leaks in the oil line and oil is coming through to the pump? Presumably you've bled the pump to ensure oil is flowing satisfactorily?

Taking above as done, you have oil and you have electrics. Next is diagnosis.

To start, if it's a Riello control box then the motor keeps running in lock out mode so you need to listen for different noises. That is, lockout doesn't stop the motor turning.

You will need something to count seconds: a second hand on your watch, a stop watch or has your mobile got a stop watch facility?

You need to turn the boiler off, then turn it on and start timing from the moment the burner starts its firing sequence.

The first period of 12 seconds makes a noise, the next 5 seconds makes a different noise then you either go to lockout where, with Riello, it stays in ventilation mode (described above) or to burner running mode.

First period is pre-ignition sequence, then ignition then burner running or lockout/ventilation. Ignition is a sort of fast quiet clicking type noise.

I'm going to guess it's locking out in the pre-ignition section - ie it doesn't get to the ignition. The fan and pump are running or you'd be describing something different.

Rather than going into all the individual components and how to test them (have you a multimeter?) has above info taken you to the fault and have you fixed it?

I'm happy to continue to help you find problem but I'm not going to write out all my notes!

If you're still having a problem can you confirm the oil supply is good? Where exactly in the sequence is the burner is locking out?

 

[migoplumber]

if the fan is running constantly. the fault is the control box.
the control box sends the signals out in the right order for things to happen.
change box.

 

[safc]

Had the same thimg the other day where the fan ran constant, changed the photo cell and hey presto.

 

[verdigrey]

Thank you guys for your comments , especially , dontknowitall, for such a long reply , cheers mate .
This afternoon I went off and got a new control box and a photocell , put them both on and it worked fine . I guess it could have been just the photocell , I didnt check that , but the box was pretty old and the customer was happy to have heat again .
Thanks again .

 

[dontknowitall]

I reckon you're right that it was just the photocell. I was suspecting the solenoid or valve but it just shows that it's no use guessing. Thanks for the appreciation - it's what keeps us posting possible answers!

More importantly though, you're happy and your customer's happy. Well fixed!

 

[Renewable M]

surely if it was just the photocell, the control box (if working) would have gone to lockout. It wouldnt 'ignore' its inbuilt safety feature because of just the photocell methinks?

if solenoid: no oil, no flame, so lockout
dicky photocell: oil in, tries to ignite, photocell doesnt detect, lockout.