# old firebird oil boiler



## suimhneach (8 Nov 2006)

hi there am new to posting but not reading this forum and am hoping that someone out there can elp. we have recently moved house and the one we are in at the moment has an old firebird oil burner in the shed. dont know if anyone is familiar with them it just looks aincient, anyways it was working fine when we got our first fill of oil a month ago but all of a sudden one day i turned it on and no heating came on, i was wondering if anyone has any idea on what might be wrong or how to fix it would love to be able to get the better of it myself it thats possible. maybe im not making any sense and should just get a plumber in ............


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## paddyp (8 Nov 2006)

Firstly is there *definitely* still sufficient oil in the tank? - if the boiler is in bad shape or badly adjusted you can piss through a tank of oil in no time or maybe the tank / pipe is leaking. If there's enough oil next question is what model number is the burner?


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## suimhneach (8 Nov 2006)

there is definately still half a tank of oil ill have to get back to you with the model number, i didnt come prepared today 
would be so delighted if i managed to sort this one out without calling in the heavies


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## xt40 (8 Nov 2006)

it may just need resetting or could be airlocked

to reset press the big red button on the burner
there may also be another hidden button on the thermostat beside the dial which trips if the burner overheated for whatever reason bad pump etc.
its got a hard round plastic cap about 1cm wide,high which you easily unscrew to access the reset button.

if it tries to fire for a minute or so and then stops, its probably
airlocked either in the feed pipe from the tank or at the burner itself
1 loosen the feed pipe at the burner and make sure some oil drips out

2 if oil is coming out there it may still be locked in the burner itself,
my firebird boiler has a riello burner which has a bleed valve on the side just above where the oil pipe comes in, it takes a small 4-5mm allen key which i leave in it permenently just in case.

if all that doesnt work, its probably a burner fault.


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## Meathman99 (8 Nov 2006)

Are you sure the burner takes oil?  It may be diesel


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## suimhneach (9 Nov 2006)

hi again, from what i can make out (from the writing on the front of it) its a super Q 50/90boiler if that sheds any light on it. thanks for all the comments ill try them all once i get home tonight and its definately home heating oil i asked the owner when i got home last night in case i was been a total dim wit.  really appreciate all the help cheers


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## jambo1979 (9 Nov 2006)

suimhneach,

I have the same Boiler as yourself , and In general the problem is usually an airlock when someone has changed the boiler to heat only the HW system , Im must then bleed the air from a water valve outside the boiler then the burner must be reset .

I have scanned up my boilers trouble shhoting guide I hope it legible enough for you to read .. if not I can rescan it later or else in the morning 

[broken link removed]

[img=http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/7701/firebird5090pg2nn9.th.jpg]
http://img226.imageshack.us/my.php?image=firebird5090pg2nn9.jpg


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## suimhneach (9 Nov 2006)

thanks a millionm for that, its really small though would you mind scanning doing it again? maybe im doing something wrong with that too.


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## jambo1979 (9 Nov 2006)

Here it is again , i dont know why its small all of a sudden I previewed the post and all way ok ..

[broken link removed]
[broken link removed]

If your viewing in IE you might have to hover the mouse over the pic and when the print button shows in the top Left corner there should be a box on the bottom right hand corner to resize it to it orig size.

Im just on my way to work and I have the scanner away .. so if its not ok this time drop me a PM with your email and I will scan it hi res and pass it on.


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## suimhneach (9 Nov 2006)

thanks a mill they came out perfect this time, will be like bob the builder when i get home


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## Leo (9 Nov 2006)

Well done Jambo, very kind!
Leo


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## paddyp (11 Nov 2006)

Did you have any joy with the boiler? Some of the super Q boilers are sealed, the red button can be accessed by opening the 2 10mm nuts on the plate in the middle of the burner cover. If you have any questions be sure to get back to us.


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## suimhneach (14 Nov 2006)

Hi guys, 
Was a success it took most of the day saturday but was an airlock and now have lovely warm house and warm feeling from doing it all by myself (with brilliant instruction) thanks loads


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## suimhneach (21 Nov 2006)

*Damn Boiler Again*

hi lads, say im in trouble this time, i did get it going last week and all was going well but now its stopped again, i got my brother to look at it and he bled it again "just in case" but its just not firing, any ideas???


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## owenm (21 Nov 2006)

Is it trying to fire and not igniting, i.e. if you reset it does it try to fire for ~20 secs? If so and it's definitley not airlocked it may be the fuel pump not working, if that's ok then it might be the electrodes not sparking, you should be able to hear this but I can't figure out how to describe this sound to you. Other possibility is a blocked sprayer. If it's either of these it's really beyond the scope of DIY, if you reassemble incorrectly it's a very serious fire hazard that might take weeks to start (the fire) from a  slow oil leak.

Best bet is to geta plumber to do a service, don't tell him "I think the oil pump is gone", just call a plumber, and make sure he/she is a plumber. There are plenty of people doing services who are not plumbers.
 They will clean the boiler out which will improve efficency and change the sprayer which may be the simple cause of your fault.

If you are in the Limerick area PM me and I will give my plumbers name and number.


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## Paddylast (21 Nov 2006)

Hope you get that boiler fixed. Weather getting very cold.

By the way can anyone recommend a service engineer to do a yearly service on a burner. My last contact appears to have too much on these days and I can't get him. I live in North Co. Dublin.


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## printer (23 Feb 2007)

hi there,i have a firebird(popular90)and it was working fine when it was heating the water but when i switched to heat the rads they were not heating up,i upped the thermostat and thought that was great. the burner cut out .it runs again for a few minutes then stops again.not sure if the burner needs to be bled but not sure where the bleed valve is.do you have any idea.
thanks


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## paulocon (19 Apr 2007)

Having a similar problem as the last poster...

Pump has been acting up recently - basically, the pipe as far as the pump would get very warm and the pipe after the pump not so warm - neighbour came over one day and gave it a couple of taps of the hammer and it seemed to work (could hear water flowing).. same technique worked a couple of times since but not today.

Just wondering how much to replace a pump (if that is what i should do). I assume they are reasonable inexpensive and it's not worth messing with the one that is there...


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## fairy_cake (15 Jan 2013)

*Thank you so much*



xt40 said:


> it may just need resetting or could be airlocked
> 
> to reset press the big red button on the burner
> there may also be another hidden button on the thermostat beside the dial which trips if the burner overheated for whatever reason bad pump etc.
> ...



Thanks so much for this post, we just moved into our new home on Friday evening and got oil straight away, in conserving the oil I turned off the water heating part a few days before hand. When we went to turn on the heating on Friday it wouldn't come on, the plumber we have coming to do other work said try the reset button - I tried it possibly 20 times  but it just kept failing. After 3 days of no heating and a very cranky other half, I had a Google and found your post. We finally put our hands on an allen key and within 5 minutes had the boiler going again. 
Ironically the plumber will be taking down most of our radiators for dry lining today but we had a very comfortable evening last night and I'm eternally grateful for your very clear and easy to follow post.


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## Shane007 (15 Jan 2013)

fairy_cake said:


> the plumber we have coming to do other work said try the reset button - I tried it possibly 20 times  but it just kept failing.



For people's information, repeated pressing of the red burner reset button can lead to burning out/damaging of the burner fuel pump. Your burner was air locked, and the oil is the lubricant for the pump. Running this many times without fuel will damage it.

Glad you got it back working though!


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