Green Burn NI

Five reasons why you should have an oil fired boiler regularly serviced.

1. Efficiency

Over time, as part of the combustion process, oxidants and soot builds up on the surfaces of your boiler’s heat exchanger. This effectively insulates the heat exchanger and prevents the heat from your oil burner being efficiently transferred to the water in your boiler. The longer this is allowed to build up the more inefficient your boiler becomes. The cleaning of the heat exchanger surfaces and the proper balancing of the oil burner can increase the efficiency of your boiler by 10-12%. In most households this means the cost of the service is recovered in saved fuel within a matter of months.

2. Oil Nozzle

The oil nozzle at the front of your oil burner is critical to the efficient running of your boiler. As the nozzle starts to wear it becomes less effective at atomising the oil passing through it. Poorly atomised oil doesn’t burn efficiently. A worn nozzle uses substantially more oil to produce the same heat as a new one. In addition the poor combustion from a worn nozzle can increase the soot deposits on the inside of the boiler which again reduces the overall efficiency of the boiler. The oil nozzle should be replaced annually.

3. Modern Condensing Boilers

Modern condensing boilers, i.e. any boiler less than 10 years old, must be serviced annually. As part of the combustion process condensing boilers produce an acidic condensate inside the heat exchanger. This flows into a condensate trap and is safely removed from the boiler. The condensate traps are prone to blocking if they are not serviced regularly. Once the trap blocks the condensate can not escape the heat exchanger and builds up inside the boiler. This dramatically reduces the efficiency of the boiler and can very quickly do long term or fatal damage to the boiler casing and water jacket.

4. Manufacturer’s Warranty /Guarantee

All major manufacturers offer warranties on their boilers. This is normally 2 years on the Oil burner and 5 years on the boiler and water jacket. This guarantee must be validated when the boiler is commissioned by a suitably trained technician. In addition the boiler must be serviced annually by a suitably trained technician as a condition of the guarantee. Every time I service your condensing boiler I will fill out the boiler passport which is a record of the service history for the boiler. If there is a problem with your new boiler the first thing the manufacturer will want to see is a properly completed boiler passport.

5. Proper Servicing Helps Prevents Breakdowns.

Sounds simple and in fairness it isn’t rocket science. A good annual service prevents boiler breakdowns. I have lost count of the number of times I have been able to rectify a simple fault at a service that, if left unchecked, would have very quickly led to a breakdown. This ranges from poor combustion that would quickly cause a boiler to soot up and breakdown to a partially blocked oil filter that would eventually cause the oil pump to fail. Boiler breakdowns are both expensive and inconvenient. A regular service will not prevent all breakdowns but in my opinion it will help to prevent obvious and unnecessary problems.