A waste of bleeding time
Well, that’s another little job done that had been on my list for a while.
Today is one of those grey wintry days where even looking out a window will send a chill through the bones. It tried to snow earlier and looks like it will make another feeble attempt at any time.
So anyway, there I was trying not to look out the windows but I still felt the cold. Time for that irritating little task that I knew had to be done.
I gave the central heating a bit of a going over.
First task was to switch the heating off altogether. Then, working from memory [as I had done this a couple of years ago] I stripped part of the boiler to clean out the light sensor with a cotton bud. I haven’t a fucking clue what this little magic eye does. I just know that it has to be cleaned occasionally.
So I reassembled the boiler, switched on and reset all the fucking programming. At least the boiler fired up promptly.
The next part of the job was to purge the air out of the system. That’s easy, except that I had to hunt for the pump manual which never seems to be where I expect it to be. I found it in the end and set the pump to purge. I assume this forces all the air to the highest points so I can bleed it out of the radiators.
So then it was bleeding time. The problem here is that air only bleeds out if there is sufficient pressure in the system. So I have to toddle off to the cupboard in the bathroom to pump up the pressure. Back then to the radiator to bleed some more air out, which reduces the pressure so that has to be pumped up again. So that means several trips back and forth between the pressure tap and the radiator.
Anyhows the system is all running now and the radiators are too hot to touch.
So why am I still cold?
Dead? And not yet noticed?
It's a flame failure detection device. If the flame goes out (for whatever reason) the control board needs to know about it in order to shut of the flow of oil to the burner. Otherwise you'll have an oily floor…
I'm sure you'll like this (if you haven't seen it in the past):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVWjAeAa52o
True, but in earlier days your flame-failure device was a simple thermocouple which cost about a fiver and lasted 20 years, now you get a bucket-load of dodgy electronics which, when it goes wrong as it inevitably will just out of warranty, costs you a few hundred quid to fix and needs an honours degree in difficult sums just to diagnose. Progress eh?
Ah thanks! Yes, that makes sense.
Thanks for the clip. The good old Doctor series of films…
Cos you are old.But why do the heatinging in winter.
Because it's cold?
Although there are times when I long for central heating, like in the wee hours of the morning when the fire in the stove has long turned to cold ashes, I don't miss the old rituals of oil fired, hot water heat and the
dust trapsradiators that went with it. At least with a wood burning stove I don't have to bleed it–just feed it.