Oil boiler goes to lock-out at minus temps.

[perry57]

Hiya guys,
all advice welcome on this one. I have a potterton statesman oil boiler which is fed by oil from an outdoor oil tank. Since the very low temperatures we,ve experienced in the uk the boiler won,t work. Our engineer says the potterton is in perfect working order. The kerosene doesn,t freeze- apparently but we,ve heard it can turn to a sludge. This breakdown occurred last winter for the first time since 1965. Am i destined to rip the whole system out and transfer to a gas boiler? Can it be that this particular setup just can,t cope with extremely low temperatures? We have exposed pipes from the oiltank to the boiler which are lagged by armaflex. I don,t believe we could totally bury all the pipes underground as some piping from the tank would always be exposed. What are my options as the misery of living in a cold house in is too much to bear. Just to add more info, when the temperature warmed up slightly the system worked just fine but went to lock-out during a really cold night. Any advice desperately needed please. Thnx!

 

[djboyd]

Perry

There are a number of threads about freezing oil on this forum, mostly from the last few weeks! I have had an oil boiler fed from an external tank for near 20 years and never had a lock out due to the temperature. I live in a cold place, winter temp often down to what we have had recently in the uk. As said on a previous post, oil starts to 'wax' at about -9 but should not block your system. Perhaps the filter is to blame, or there is a bit of water in the tank which is freezing in the pipework. I have an underground pipe (not deep) with perhaps 0.5m exposed as it comes into the garage. Wouldn't recommend switching to gas - find the problem with this first. Check the filter is not gunged up, check the oil does not contain water. I have done this before with my old landrover - decant some into a jar and you should see if it contains globules of water (it separates from the oil)

 

[dontknowitall]

Hot, wet towels to "unfreeze" the oil line. Worked for me with a customer's boiler and no problems since.

 

[garrywhite]

What 2 "breakdowns" due to low temperature since 1965 and you want to rip out your unreliable oil boiler infavour of a gas one?