Intermittent firing on Trianco Eurostar Boiler

[sessi]

Hello

I wonder if anyone could throw any light on a very tiresome problem. We have the above oil fired boiler. The engineer has been out and seemingly tried everything. He has serviced it, replaced the injector leads, altered the power thingy lol to the burner, and goodness knows what else.

After altering the injector, it did fire up on it's own for a day, and now is back to having to manually press the reset button. I am sure he is as frustrated as we are, but now the cold weather is coming I really don't want to have to keep doing this.

Another thing, today, when I pressed the reset button it looked like a little flame came out of the box surrounding the button, which is worrying....

Any ideas???

Thank you for your time.

 

[kimbo]

It is always difficult to diagnose a fault without actually being there. We need to know exactly what happens when the boiler locks out, does it happen when you are there or does it happen overnight etc. The engineer has obviously checked certain things but things to check would be partially blocked oil filter, worn drive dog, faulty solenoid, faulty transformer whether the pump pressure is steady etc. A trained competent engineer should be able to at least recognise where the fault may lie. If it is an intermittent fault then that can be a different story.If the engineer cant sort it I doubt whether you will be able to, You will have to get the engineer to give you some idea of what he is going to do or you will have to change the engineer.
Trianco eurostars go through a lot of photocells and solenoids.

 

[sessi]

Thank you for your reply Kimbo, I was not considering tackling anything myself but rather trying to see if there was just something that could help a little. The Engineer is a very nice man just scratching his head now! I will mention the parts that you have mentioned and see if he has a lightbulb moment! In answer to your question of timing of this, it is not on the timer, I just leave the hot water on constant and use the thermostat to put the heating on as and when. When I come down in the mornings it is always out, and have to reset it, sometimes takes more than one go. Sometimes after showers baths etc it will fire up and sometimes it doesn't. So very random really.

Thank you very much.

 

[Best]

As Kimbo has said, it could be anything. Assuming everything obvious is ok, then I would add, - motor or motor capacitor. If it fails to start in morning it may have locked out previous night. If it is cold start problem, then flame not igniting as electrodes or combustion wrong. On first going to the boiler I would first - check basics like oil filters & mechanical parts like oil pump , motor and drives. If all ok then solenoid, control box, motor capacitor and photocell, perhaps in that order. Easy to change. Transformer is usually fine if good spark. Should be noted that solenoids if faulty, tend to not work at all or else only work in periods which can vary up to about 1 hr if boiler not cutting on & off too much, ie only heating hot water.

 

[dontknowitall]

What's the state of the fire valve? I've had one recently locking out after about 10 minutes of running, reset then lock out after 30 seconds. Left for quarter of an hour then boiler ran again for around 2 minutes.

Many fire valves suffered last winter and with recent rain, if water has got in it might explain why it was working during the (dry) summer but not now.

 

[kimbo]

Cold starts is sometimes indicative of the capacitor as there is more drag on the motor when cold. Also ther could also be air in the system and overnight it wont allow the boiler to start it might take a number of attempts to get rid of a small amount of air.. If the motor turns every time you reset the lockout button before it starts it does not sound like anything seized. Methodical approach is the best and check everything through thoroughly starting from the tank with the filters and joints etc

 

[Best]

I agree. Capacitors are often overlooked. If you turn boiler on several times, you sometimes find that motor will suddenly fail to turn, with only a hum noise. Then probably oil pump/ motor has stopped on a more tighter spot which shows the capacitor weak. If any motor has a split second hum every time it goes to start, same applies. Faulty, tight oil pumps & motors ruin capacitors, so pays to change them.

 

[gpm86]

hiya i dont tink there is anything wrong wit your boiler/burner,i think the problem is your boiler is not being called on when you want it from the motorised valves,it would be worth checking the motorised valves,they are probably in your hot press and it is very common for them to jam and need replacing.you should get a plumber he will figure it out quite quickly!!

 

[Best]

hiya i dont tink there is anything wrong wit your boiler/burner,i think the problem is your boiler is not being called on when you want it from the motorised valves,it would be worth checking the motorised valves,they are probably in your hot press and it is very common for them to jam and need replacing.you should get a plumber he will figure it out quite quickly!!

No, def has to be with the burner on the boiler not firing when it gets power, because owner stated it is going to lock out -( on control box which is at burner only)

 

[WHPES]

What happens before it goes to lockout? Does the motor turn OK? Does it ignite?

Do the electrodes arc correctly when they are supposed to?

If you say you got a flash from the control box it may be bust now. This is sometimes caused by a failing ignition transformer

 

[Best]

What happens before it goes to lockout? Does the motor turn OK? Does it ignite?

Do the electrodes arc correctly when they are supposed to?

If you say you got a flash from the control box it may be bust now. This is sometimes caused by a failing ignition transformer

I was assuming the " flash" they mentioned was the normal spark you see through the clear satronic control box that may be on the burner. Eurotraders had Sterling burners ( & other types) which often use Satronic boxes. That's the trouble, not enough info.

 

[WHPES]

I had a faulty transformer last year actually melted a control box.

 

[Best]

Yes, I have come across a few that both the control box & transformer were gone. I assume that control box went faulty first & kept ignition running, so then burned out the transformer. Mainly seen satronic boxes doing this.

 

[dontknowitall]

Useful tips here from various posters, thank you for those!

Slightly off topic, had a call out to a breakdown at 5pm, half hour away from home. Dreaded not being able to fix it. I've done more installations than breakdowns. Anyway, got there, been told boiler had been serviced a few weeks ago.

Checked oil supply - tiger loop and wall hung boiler. More panic as I've no idea how to start an empty tiger loop if needed. No oil isolation valve ... grrr. Struggled to remove burner.

Filthy nozzle. Service? Not in my book!

3/4 hour later I'd changed nozzle and thought I'd try boiler. It bloomin' worked!!! Ran as fast as I could!!

 

[Best]

Often u don't need to do much to start an empty tigerloop as use press reset button ( if oil tank refilled). One of the many advantages of t.loops!