Opel Fruit<P><BR>Opel Fruit, Dept. 53<P>

The Boiler/Burner HAS to be set to work by a competent Chauffagiste. For your sake, your wallet's sake and for your Assurance' sake. It also has to have written evidence of an annual service by the same. There is usually a "Mise en Service" card left near the boiler, and also a Facture for the work as evidence. I gave some rough outlines of what this involved in my tome. But this is for "getting it going" or "WTF is wrong with it?". Oil burners are a bit temperamental, and the weather and oil grade and viscosity have a lot to do with reliable and stable firing, particularly if the burner is set up marginally, and of course safety and low emissions. You can plumb your own oil supply, again using recognised French-sourced material. By all means have a Chauffagiste check it - he should do anyway as part of the commissioning since he should be measuring pump depression to ensure the supply is airtight and flowing correctly. 

Jeez... I work away for 6 months and the place goes to pot! Simple rules - if the fitting is the same in the UK - use it if you must. That means radiators (miles cheaper in France), 22/28mm pipe and fittings (slightly cheaper in France) and that's about it. Oil boilers are OK from anywhere in Europe, it's the burner that isn't - you CANNOT gaurantee that a jet change will suffice - the whole pump, air supply and gun are USUALLY set up for the fuel used in the country of sale..... Anyway, oil boilers and burners are 2/3 price of the UK in France. So why bother??? Somebody with a pressure gauge needs to set the burner to work, and adjust the air supply for CO2 and temperature at the flue. Or else.  TRVs sold in France are 16mm not 15mm. Guess what size pipe they're for?????? Use 18/16mm pipe for rad piping (yes 16mm at the rad end). Most of Screwfix's stuff is very Grade B.... unless branded. Lots of "Made in PRC" sh**e. Sorry, but if it ain't a make it's tat. Suck it and see. Everything else is in my thread. I think..! Next!

Not sure why "Michael" refers to 'real' heating engineers.....in that manner - odd! Anyhow, oil boilers, as mentioned in my tome, should be serviced annually. It sounds like the injector is well worn, the pressure and air flow are "off" and that the whole thing needs a decoke. At least. I would seek the advice of a "real" chauffagiste, and at least get the thing looked at as a whole. The latest oil boilers are more fuel efficient, naturally, but unless you wish to change the whole thing, a good boiler clean and perhaps a new burner will give you what you want and relatively cheaply (burners are 200€ trade, so cheaper to renew than overhaul.) Oil boilers and burners are heat ranged - 34kw boilers and a matching burner (for about 700€ or so the pair) can be set to between around 18kW and 34kw.... again, all mentioned in the piece.        

Yes, flow rather than pressure is the problem. The only real cure is to use the recommended 18mm supply pipe form the mains inlet and reduce as required nearer the points of use.

It might be worth asking for premium fuel next delivery. It is slightly more expensive, but has an anti-waxing agent in it. And if your diesel was delivered in summer, it is likely to be standard. Rather strangely, most burners are specified to operate only down to 0C - bizarre.

The red button is the burner lockout - the burner has failed to ignite the fuel. I suspect there is a fuel supply issue, probably a partially blocked filter. The viscosity of the oil will exagerate this problem. Or the electrodes are dirty or poorly set. I can give you the settings for these if you wish. It is not difficult to remove the burner and clean the electrodes and the gun assembly - I would clean the swirl plate too. It is also possible that the oil pressure has been set marginally. I would suggest a chauffagiste measures both the pump aspiration and the delivery pressure to ascertain the problem. When the boiler does run, does it cough/hunt?

(Sorry the devis extract format is a bit wonky - I translated the items and everything went a little tits) 16mm isn't compatible with 15mm, but you can buy various converters. If you have a peep at the sticky "Oil Heating blah.." there are a couple of examples. You can buy 15mm copper connectors here too. At a pinch, it is sometimes possible to use a 16mm 1/2" BSP compression fitting or rad valve with a 15mm BRASS olive. I wouldn't recommend this course of action since it is dependant on the machining of the fitting somewhat.... 10mm is for the oil supply. 22mm is for distribution and 16mm is for the rad connections. The 10mm and 22mm are the same as the UK, and as you say, are O/D. 28mm is the same too, for reference. Have a squint through the Comap site - they sell 15mm stuff. http://www.cedeo.fr/cat_cedeo/chauffage_solaire_3.htm  

Asbestos removal can be expensive - and difficult to find approved contractors - it can stop a job dead.

Ah.... the original poster wanted to know where and what to buy to self-install. I think €3500 is slightly more than €750. A competent DIYer can fit an entire central heating system for that and still buy a round of Gallettes. We fit Franco-Belge (without DHW) and the like for rather less, dependant on exact model and existing installation state... of course. We sell the old boiler... good market amongst the pikeys round here. For those who want to know what things cost, here is a devis extract. Prices are trade, but can be found by careful "shopping" Article Marque/Fab HT TTC 17-33kW Boiler and Burner Deville 620.40 € 742.00 €     Alternative Gicleur Danfoss 5.84 € 6.99 €     12 Rads (4 x 2.2kW, 4 x 1.8 kW, 4 x 1.2 kW) Belge  444.85 € 532.04 €     Oil Tank (Plastic 1000L bunded) SotraLentz 479.47 € 573.45 €     Oil Filter assy Watts 15.99 € 19.12 €     Tank fittings Combifuel 45.15 € 54.00 €     10 TRVs Danfoss 92.06 € 110.10 €     12 Lockshield valves Watts 40.13 € 48.00 €     2 Wheelhead valves Watts 6.69 € 8.00 €     Alpha Pro/+ 25/60 6m pump Grundfos 91.97 € 110.00 €     Pump gate valves Hammel 9.20 € 11.00 €     12L Expansion vessel Hammel 12.39 € 14.82 €     Relief valve and gauge Watts 5.10 € 6.10 €     Boiler iron connectors Hammel 18.39 € 22.00 €     Boiler flexis x 2 Hammel 23.41 € 28.00 €     Auto Air Vent Caleffi 4.35 € 5.20 €     Programmer Danfoss 43.48 € 52.00 €     Room stat Honeywell 9.20 € 11.00 €     Frost stat Honeywell 8.36 € 10.00 €     22m Cu pipe x 40m Comap 102.17 € 122.20 €     16mm Cu pipe x 50m Comap 72.74 € 87.00 €     10mm Cu pipe x 16m Comap 16.59 € 19.84 €     10mm fittings Comap 8.36 € 10.00 €     16mm fittings Comap 33.44 € 40.00 €     22mm fittings Comap 45.99 € 55.00 €     Iron/flexi fittings Hammel 20.90 € 25.00 €     125mm Flue tee Inox Poujoulat 20.82 € 24.90 €     125mm Flue 1m x 5 Poujoulat 29.68 € 35.50 €     125mm 1m x 1 Poujoulat 15.80 € 18.90 €     125mm Chappeau Poujoulat 10.79 € 12.90 €     Shutoff valves 33/42 x 2 10.03 € 12.00 €     Pipe clips (various)  20.07 € 24.00 €     Pipe insulation  22mm x 40m 10.03 € 12.00 €     Pipe insulation 16mm x 35m 7.53 € 9.00 €     Anti-Gel x 20L GEB 75.17 € 89.90 €     Inhibitor x 2L GEB 9.87 € 11.80 €     Material Total 2,476.56 € 2,961.96 €

Received a call from a friend asking for some immediate assistance due to his mains water pipes freezing last night.... the situation looks worse for tonight! Another bleedin' wellies job. La Meteo predicts the following temps: Lorraine -9C, Pays de la Loire and Centre -7C, Basse Normandie -6C, Limousin -9C and most other regions are around -2C to -4C. If you have a contingency plan, review it now....!  

I am in the trade, and for the DIY market boilers, the trade suppliers cannot compete with the large national Bricos on price. I note that you haven't mentioned what you paid, taking the TVA reduction into account. How much change did you get from 2000 Euros? 

Private individuals will find that the likes of Leroy Merlin, Mr Brico etc sell good quality budget boilers (simple is good!) with and without burners and with and without integral hot tanks. Expect to pay around 750 Euros for a boiler and burner, and double that for one with a hot water tank within. All the boilers sold here are CE marked, and makes such as DeVille (French) and Lamborghini (Italian) are common. High end boilers like DeDietrich, Buderus and Geminox are usually only obtainable from dealers, and are quite sophisticated, and premium prices.

The calorific value of oil is higher than that of GPL, but I doubt you will save any money switching. Your problem is not the fuel - it is the way you are using it, I suspect. You only need to add heat if you are losing it!!!!!!! Some of the new homes here are so well insulated and draughtproofed that no additional heat is required in the living room if there are 6 adults in it! In terms of "renewable" oil, the French gov have begun to look into the utilisation of Rapeseed oil and the like to supplement mineral oil in heating and vehicular diesel. Given that the current land utilisation (and there is a lot of arable land in France!!) is given over to other forms of alimentation, there is a serious opportunity here. I am not sure what kind of fuel Pangur is thinking of switching to.... Gas? Not much of that left... Electricity? Unaffordable and chronically inefficient... Wood? Hmmm.. really convenient and dirty... Geothermal? - You will be dead by the time it pays back. Solar? Great for Hot Water south of the Loire, bad for anything else. I will be intrigued to know!  I doubt my grandchildren will be burning the same kind of fuel in anything as we do today... 

Not sure which size (power) your boiler is within the range, but you should have the smallest (23kW) unless high hot water flow is a particular issue for you. The boiler is quite efficient, but heating only 5 rads is a bit hammer/walnut. It is not convertible, and even if it was, the boiler probably isn't the problem. One assumes that the boiler has been correctly set up for GPL??? And adjusted? It is important to set the gas pressure with a manometer. I would look at your usage patterns carefully, but in particular the rad sizing and house insulation. If you are having to run the boiler 24/7, or have difficulty getting the rooms warm, or having to run the boiler above 60C flow, you need to increase the size of the rads considerably or add more. You are looking to dissipate the heat in the rads and not the lossy pipes. 

Yes, they are fairly simple to fit. It's just screwed in - you need to be careful with the electrode wires and settings and the secondary air setting. These are detailed in the burner manual. Before you do change the injector, find someone to set the pressure afterwards, and adjust the air for you.