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oil fired heating boiler


clarkey1952
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Is there any one who can help?

I have a Viessman oil fired boiler (13011-40) German built in 1975. I have no room stat or controller but have thermostatic radiatior valves on all large radiators. The problem is the boiler uses a lot of oil even with half of the radiators off. There is a black residue caked on the back of the boiler (like treacle toffee) which I assume is unburnt oil. I'm ignorant on oil fired boilers, so has anyone any idea why fuel consumption is so great or where I could acquire a manual (or copy). The house is very cold and poorly insulated. ( a future job).

Thanks. Sue.

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Hi Sue, don't want to sound negative but I would have thought that a boiler built in the 70s deserved to be pensioned off by now. Over the years, technology has improved the  efficiency of boilers as well as most other things in our lives. It may be time to 'bite the bullet' and replace it. Don't know what output you need but the  35KW boiler I bought cost less than 500€. If yours is inefficient, you could easily recoup the costs in a couple of years if you live here permanently and use heat all winter.

www.leschenauds.com

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Just a ps. to my last post. Not a good idea to have thermostatic radiator valves on EVERY radiator. The main living room should have a wall thermostat without TRV. This could be contributing to your high consumption.

I put in my own CH system with guidance from a forum contributor ( Opel Fruit)  who has produces a central heating FAQ in the forum. he's the guy who can REALLY answer your question.

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Oh dear Chenauds, do that mean real heating engs cannot answer questions .Input.35kw /121,000btu/hr  output 32kw/109,000btu/hrboiler is rather large for the normal french house ,did you calculate for the total Heating Load Qcond=U(A)(To-t,. Ventilation Qvent=I.08(CFM)(To-t  before you bought your boiler.Maybe yours is burning to much fuel?.Answering Sue. Get your boiler serviced, at the same time ask the Eng to balance the system,a timer /prog and/or room stat would help.If it is a pressurised system and there is no bypass fitted its good practise to leave one rad with no thermostatic valve on it normally the bathroom one,if its a open vented system thermos can be fitted to all rads.Any boiler over 15 years is on borrowed time thats not only my saying but normal manufactures jargan.[Mind you im open to be contradicted by Opel.]Happy days Michael.
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I don't have trv's on bathroom and hallway rads, and the boiler was serviced last year. Despite keeping the rads on the frost setting since last November (apart from one week at the beginning of March, when we spent the week in France) we've still managed to get through just over 1200 litres of oil, which makes it expensive on top of paying for heating here in England. We're planning on draining the system next winter to keep costs down until we move to France permenantly, which should be within the next 2 years.

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I was very frugal with the oil heating in the house, but was amazed to find how little we had actually used.  We do not have radiator thermostats or time clock or wall thermostat, and have to manually turn on and off, which of course sometimes gets forgotten.

When we are not there we leave the heating off, having had "anti-gel" added to the system by the plumber.  Although this means that when we arrive the house is not warm, it does take away the worry of leaving the boiler on, let alone the cost of the oil.

I am not sure whether anti=-gel is useable in all systems, but so far no problem for the last 3 years.  I also used to worry that if the electrics went off, then of course the boiler would not come on anyway.

I used to have oil heating in a house in the UK and if left on permanently would use a tank of oil in 6-8 weeks so the lower useage in France has come as a good surprise.

Still, think of all the months when we do not use the heating, hopefully.  Have a good summer.


Wendy G

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Not sure what a "normal" french house is but my 35Kw output does a good job of backing up my main woodburner for my 4 bed farmhouse without drinking  mazout like a fish. No I didn't do any particularly sophisticated calculations, my house has thick but porous, to wind at least walls so the heat loss varies according to wind direction however, your technical explanation seems almodt to repeat what I said even though I'm an amateur.

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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.

 

 

 

 

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