Domestic servicing for oil boilers
Why service your boiler? Here are the top 5 reasons:
- Regular servicing ensures your boiler is running at its most cost-efficient
- Stay Safe – regular checks reduce possibility of harmful emissions to you and your loved ones.
- Reduced damaging emissions for the environment
- An Annual service will improve the longevity of your boiler.
- Un-serviced boilers are often found to be running at 55-65% efficiently – regularly serviced boilers can run at +95% efficiency
Oil boilers are pretty robust bits of kit, especially when compared to their light weight gas equivalents, which tend to be serviced on a more regular basis by comparison. However, just as your car will still bimble along at 50mph with your tyre pressures at half of what they should be, so your boiler will still heat your house and give you lashings of hot water despite its pressures and combustion levels being drastically wrong. What does this mean? Just like your car, considerably higher fuel bills, excessive, costly & unnecessary replacement of worn out parts and of course a hugely increased chance of ending up on the side of the road in a big plume of smoke on a cold and wet winters night.
Regular servicing ensures your boiler is running at its best. Your boiler running at its best will result in considerably reduced fuel bills, less damaging emissions to the environment, reduced chance of harmful emissions, in the form of Carbon Monoxide, to you, your family and pets and greatly improving the chance of your boiler lasting for many, many more years than an un-serviced one.
But is it worth it??
It’s a difficult one isn’t it? We have attempted to provide a transparent costs list.
Please do read below as to why you should service your boiler regularly.
Question: Why do GasSafe engineers have such soft hands compared to an OFTEC engineer?
Answer: Because OFTEC engineers have to work for a living
Oil boilers need cleaning!! And it’s a big mucky old job
They need totally taking apart, thoroughly cleaned internally and then inspected. Just 1mm of soot on the heating surfaces (typically after a few years even if the boiler is burning cleanly) will increase fuel consumption by 5%, 3mm will be getting close to 10%.
You’ve all heard “your nozzle needs changing”?, Well it does! It’s actually a moving part and it wears out. Yes it will keep spraying oil into the combustion chamber but it will be too much and in a very poor pattern. Your faithful old boiler will still deliver lots of hot water and warm radiators, but at a substantial increase in financial cost and increasingly poorer emissions into the environment.
Un-serviced boilers are often found to be running at very poor efficiency, a well maintained condensing boiler should be up around at least +90%. What does poor efficiency mean….yup.. quite literally, “Money going up in Smoke!”
And finally, poor maintenance is by far and away the highest cause of boiler failure.
Repairing a broken boiler is always going to be a considerably more expensive outlay than regular professional servicing.
Servicing costs – fully inclusive
| Pressure Jet Boiler service | £90 |
Parts that will be required
| Filter, Hose and Nozzle pack | £31.50 |
| Filter, Nozzle pack | £19.50 |
Other possible essential parts requiring replacement could include seals or pump filters which may increase the parts total by around £8 to £15.
Any other parts recommended for replacement will be discussed with the customer and only fitted with their approval.
What does a GFG oil boiler service involve?
We start at the tank and report on its condition and comment on its safe sitting with regards to Current Regulations…BS5410 if you want to have a look!
- Check tank for water contamination
- Check fill point, venting and alarms (if fitted)
- Check oil supply system ……that’s the oil pipe
- Clean filter bowl and replace element
- Thermally test and reset any external and internal fire valves
- Replace redundant, wheel type fire valves with remote acting type
- Ensure fabric of building housing boiler has suitable levels of combustion air supply and ventilation air supply
- Inspect all elements of chimney and flue.
- Advise on any improvements required
- Visually inspect all electrical connections and that earth bonding is present
- Ensure correct fuse ratings are in use
At the boiler…..
- Remove, clean and inspect all heat exchangers, flueways and scrape clean and wire brush baffles
- Clean and inspect secondary heat exchanger and condensate disposal system
- Reseal access plates
- Inspect combustion chamber for flame impingement
- Clean surfaces
- Repair or replace refractory lining if fitted
At the burner…..
- Remove the burner and fan housing clean and lubricate if required
- Replace nozzle
- Inspect flexible oil line and replace according to type and date stamp
- Check oil pump filter and replace if necessary
- Check oil pump operational pressure
- Check all burner controls and fail safe operation.
- Check for degradation of motor capacitor
- Carry out smoke test and adjust combustion to obtain correct smoke number
- Carry out combustion analysis test and produce a print out of results
- Carry out heating controls check if required.
- Check blended water temperatures and flow rates
- Produce a signed CD/11 Service & Commissioning report
Estimated time for full Service 2 hours