If your pressure jet boiler or range cooker has gone to lockout – failed to light and went to safety shut down or your vaporising burner range cooker has gone out……
It is important to go and check if you have any oil in the tank.
A large proportion of boiler and range cooker breakdowns result from tanks running out of oil, or constantly running low and dragging in quantities of water and sludge from the internal floor of the oil tank, which contaminates pipes, valves, and burner components, leading to expensive breakdowns.
The photo below shows fungus contamination in the bottom of an oil tank. It does not take long for this to get into the oil supply line and then into the burner.
The photo below shows the consequences of sludge being pulled into the oil pump on a pressure jet burner. This pump had to be replaced with a new one.
Checking for oil in the tank:
It is recommended that customers check their oil tank levels once a month.
This is important for a number of reasons namely;
a). To keep an eye on levels and prevent the tank running out of Kerosine.
b). To note any changes that may affect the safety of the tank or the environment.
If you are at all concerned about the condition or location of your oil tank, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will be happy to attend and inspect the tank for you.
Watchman Alarm System:
A very convenient way to do this is to use the Watchman Sonic Alarm system. Most bunded (twin skin) plastic oil tanks are fitted with these devices. Plastic single skin tanks occasionally utilise an older version of this device) as shown below.
Modern Watchman Sonic Alarm oil tank level monitoring:
This system allows the customer to monitor the level of oil in the tank from the comfort of their home.
The sender unit fitted into oil tank shown below
The receiver unit plugged into a socket in the property. You can see the bars displayed on the small screen. This relates to the quantity of oil in the tank.
If you cannot see any readings or other information being displayed in the small screen on the receiver unit in the house and the socket is switched on and power is available, then you have either completely run out of oil or you will require a service visit to inspect the sender unit at the oil tank.
Oil Tank Sight Gauge:
This is by far the most popular means of measuring the level of oil in a steel or single skin plastic tank.
The sight gauge (when visible) holds a column of oil in the sight tube, and corresponds to the level of oil in the tank. Sight gauge and valve are shown below fitted to a steel tank.
Please note:
The oil in the sight tube will only loose a few mm a month from evaporation and will not automatically adjust to the use of oil from the tank.
We recommend you pull out the plunger once a month to allow the sight tube to settle to the correct tank level.
We have attended numerous breakdown calls where the sight tube is telling the customer there is adequate oil in the tank. When the plunger is pulled out on the side of the valve, the oil level in the tube promptly disappears – no oil available in the tank.
The gauge and plunger are shown below.
The plunger is shown (Red arrow) and to open the sight tube valve, gently pull out the plunger (about half an inch) in the direction of the Yellow arrow.
The sight tube contents should settle out to match the actual oil level in the tank. If the contents in the tube do not move at all, the inlet valve could be blocked with dead bugs.
It will be necessary for us to attend and clear this out for you.
You may find that as the plunger is pulled out and held in position to allow tube oil level to settle, you may see the oil level disappear down into the bottom of the tube. This will mean you have run out of oil.
There are other types of tank gauge and if you are unsure which you have, please do not hesitate to send us a photo and we shall endeavour to help you out.
Manually Dipping the Tank:
As a last resort the tank can be manually dipped through the filling cap, using a long pole and then measuring the level of oil on the pole against the height of the tank. This will tell you how much oil is in the tank.
We do not recommend that you attempt to climb onto or against your tank and should enlist the help of a competent person to undertake this for you.
If you have run out of oil, it will be necessary for us to attend and purge the oil line through and re-fire the appliance.
Plenty of oil in the tank, but boiler or range cooker is in lockout.
If you have checked the level of oil in your tank and there appears to be an adequate amount available, or you have just had the tank refilled recently then you can try the following procedure.
a). Look for any glowing lights on your boiler casing telling you there has been a lockout of the burner as shown below.
You may have to lift off the front case of your boiler to find the burner and see if there is a glowing orange or red light visible as shown below.
If you have a pressure jet range cooker, there may be glowing red lights at the bottom of the cooker at floor level as shown below.
What can be tried is to gently push the glowing button inwards with your finger and then release it. This process takes about 2- seconds.
What should then happen is the burner should attempt to restart, the motor will start and you will hear this. The burner should then attempt to relight. If this happens all may be well and your boiler/range cooker may continue to run.
b). If the burner goes to lockout once again (orange or red light comes back on again, wait 5 minutes and push the glowing button in once more.
If the burner starts, fires up and runs without further problems, then all may be fine and your burner will run.
c). If the burner locks out again either straight away or in an hour or so, turn appliance off and you will need to contact us to book a visit.
There are other issues affecting the burner and other appliance safety devices that can cause lockout, but these can only be diagnosed and rectified by an engineer.
If you do not feel confident to carry out any of the above-mentioned checks, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will be happy to attend and look at the problem for you.
If you have a vaporising oil burner that has gone out, if you are not sure how to relight it and what processes to follow;
Please contact us to book a visit.
Never attempt to relight a hot vaporising burner range cooker or
oil fired stove.
This is very dangerous and could cause an explosion!
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