Re-routing oil pipe

[Penners]

I have to re-route the oil line from the tank to our boiler. I'm happy that I can do the plumbing bit, but there's one aspect that I'm unsure about.

When I undo the pipe to add in a new length, I will inevitably allow air into the line. Before I fire up the boiler again, do I have to bleed the air out of the pipe? If so, where do I do this? I'm imagining loosening a union somewhere and allowing the air to bubble out - is that the technique?

Any and all advice/experiences would be much appreciated.

 

[Schoolmarm]

I have to undo/loosen a large nut down at the bottom of the boiler near the front. If I mess with the wrong one, it alters the way the boiler runs.


Then I let the oil run out into a shallow dish and wait until the spluttering stops. Your spluttering might not occur straight away if the air is quite far away.

 

[d49xc]

There will be a bleed nipple somewhere on the boiler - most likely in the vicinity of the oil inlet
Exactly where of course is another matter.
I don;t use oil but have done it for someone else when their oil ran out and hence air got into the pipework.
Once I had located the bleed nipple I unscrewed it just a couple of turns - (don't take it out!) and the air started bubbling out.
(much like bleeding a radiator in fact - except the bleeed nipple was mouted vertically in the case of the boiler)
Once I had done this then the boiler would fire up.
Actually I had to do it a couple of times as the boiler only fired for a short time then cut out again - obviously there was still some residual air in the pipework.
Don't know how the above is affected if you have a tigerloop in the feed - cos' the one I fixed didn't and not using oil myself (I use gas) I don't know about them enough to comment.

 

[Penners]

Thanks to you both for your advice.

'Marm - I imagine that, if I loosen the nut/nipple and oil flows out, then I can be pretty confident that I have the correct one, even if air doesn't appear immediately (the air is likely to enter the pipe about 10 - 12 ft for the boiler). Does that sound right?

d49xc - am I looking for something that looks like the bleed nipple on a car's braking system?

 

[worms]

Have you tried Googling for a service manual that might describe the procedure (with diagrams) for your make and model of boiler?

 

[d49xc]

Thanks to you both for your advice.

d49xc - am I looking for something that looks like the bleed nipple on a car's braking system?

Yes- as I recall it was similar on the one I did.
The nipple was on the top of one of the casings inside the boiler compartment- as I guess air will rise to the top of any chamber that's why they put it there. This did mean that the oil/air mixture bubbled out onto the casing and had to be cleaned up with a paper towel rather than dripping off some side mounted bleed valve.......

 

[Penners]

Have you tried Googling for a service manual that might describe the procedure (with diagrams) for your make and model of boiler?

Good idea, worms! Many thanks!

 

[Penners]

The nipple was on the top of one of the casings inside the boiler compartment- as I guess air will rise to the top of any chamber that's why they put it there.

Thanks again, d49xc. I'll have a look for it.

 

[AMc]

FWIW and it aint worth much - when we ran out of oil a couple of times we just tried to ignite the boiler. It failed a few times - presumably pumping out air - then lit. I can't see that would be a problem - our pipe was about 20m long so I assume the boiler drew a fair amount of air into the pipe before it ran out of power.
I'd be tempted to try that first - but then I'm quite lazy.

 

[worms]

Yes, I must confess to having done the same with both heating and vehicles!

 

[Penners]

FWIW and it aint worth much - when we ran out of oil a couple of times we just tried to ignite the boiler. It failed a few times - presumably pumping out air - then lit. I can't see that would be a problem - our pipe was about 20m long so I assume the boiler drew a fair amount of air into the pipe before it ran out of power.
I'd be tempted to try that first - but then I'm quite lazy.

Anything that smacks of laziness goes straight to the top of my list, AMc! Many thanks!

 

[Moo]

***Yawn***

Oops! I'm SO sorry! I AM paying attention, I promise.

xxx M

 

[Penners]

Touché!

(Although I'm not sure whether it's in the rules for a quote to jump the thread barrier!)

 

[Fred Drift]

Talking of historic hotels, the NT have some very nice ones. Middlethorpe Hall looks lovely.

http://www.historichousehotels.com/

 

[Penners]

I find the modern man-made bristles even better than the traditional type.

 

[Penners]

Right - job done!

When I opened up the boiler casing, I found to my delight that the installer had left the manuals for the boiler and the burner inside.

The manual clearly indicated the nut to be loosened in order to prime the pump, so I felt sufficiently confident to go ahead and modify the oil-line. Once this was done, I loosened said nut until oil appeared, after which the boiler fired up first time. Whoopee!

Many thanks to everyone for your guidance on this job. I very much appreciate it.

 

[Schoolmarm]

 

[Penners]

That's a little portrait of me, 'Marm! :wink:

 

[Schoolmarm]

It does remind me of you actually!

 

[Penners]

Ah - no hair! I see what you mean!