CyprusLiving

I wonder if anyone has opinions about this. Our house is heated by a Kerosene fired central heating boiler in a separate boiler house which has worked without any problems for the last 10 years. I remember reading on this forum a year or two ago that some peoples opinions were that with this type of boiler it is best to leave well alone if it is working satifactorily and there is no reason to have it serviced. If it isn't broken leave well alone I believe was the quote. Ours has never been serviced during the 10 years and is still working ok so would opinions still be the same? If servicing is considered necessary is anyone able to recommend a competent engineer to carry out the task - it is a Korean floor standing boiler made by a company called KyungDong Saturn model.

I would also be interested to hear responses to this.

I also have an oil fired boiler, which kind of works but many of the upper floor radiators are full of air and the system won't pressurise enough to be able to bleed them properly.

Austin
we have the same boiler and have had it serviced just once in
8 years.
We had a small problem early this year with a valve needing replacing,
( nothing to do with the boiler ) I asked the engineer regarding servicing
the boiler. He suggested that as we use kerosene, which is a very clean fuel,
there is no need for regular servicing, this from a guy that services boilers.
As previously suggested leave well alone

You alarm me about not servicing your boiler. When new and properly installed, it should have an efficiency of about 90%, meaning that 90% of the energy in the fuel is converted into useful heat that is used in your home as hot water and/or space heating. There are 101 reasons why this efficiency will drop in time: obstruction (e.g. soot) in the flue, burner nozzles partially or fully blocked (dirt in fuel), solenoid valves not opening/closing fully, poor quality fuel, dirty heat exchanger, restricted air supply, dirty blower blades, fuel and air filters not cleaned or replaced (all depending on the maker, model etc.).

As a general rule, most boilers require an annual maintenance to keep them up to scratch. My guess is you would, after 10 years without maintenance, be losing 10-20% of your efficiency, meaning your fuel consumption will be up for no real reason.

Devil, thank you for your response, I respect your comments as I have always done on your previous postings. The dilemma as I see it is how does one seek out a reliable contractor able to service this type of boiler who does not merely say he knows what he is doing but actually DOES know what he is doing.

I agree, In my and others experience especially with gas boilers, if they are serviced when running well, they mysteriously start to have problems.
The question would be does the amount of fuel wasted by an un-serviced boiler outway the potential cost of servicing.
Austin 7 Do you have any record of how many litres it used 10 years ago compered to recently?

Not really - it's a 1000 litre tank and only seems to need refilling at the same frequencies. The cost is variable of course depending on the price of kerosene which has reduced considerably from a few years ago.

To go back to the question asked by the OP, can anyone recommend an engineer who is capable and competent with oil fired boilers?

I generally service my oil fired boiler each year - which amounts to checking it over, cleaning the soot out of the burner chamber and fitting a new oil filter - if I had have found a problem, apart from something little - like once I changed the capacitor on the fuel pump, I would call an 'Expert'. You are right getting an engineer is difficult. I've had three engineers. The first was saying all sorts of nonsense about the boiler and installation - I think he was hoping to make a huge sale - I sent him packing before he reached for his tools. The second bunch turned up from a company on the Mesoyi road - they claimed to be factory trained engineers on my manufacturer and boiler model - They had a difficulty getting the cover off, and fitted the wrong replacement boiler jet - the companies manager had to come out to repair their service!! This year I spotted a deal on 'Daily Deals CY' where I paid €45 for the service from Nick's Maintenance Services Ltd. They arrived on time, did what looks like a good job and cleaned up.
Doc

I use Nick's maintenance annually. He seems to know what he's doing and has solved one or two minor issues over the phone.
Nick is offering a daily deal on his boiler servicing, gas or diesel.

What is the difference between an oil central heating using Heating Diesel and one that uses Kerosene? Just curious.

Not a huge amount. Kerosene is also known as light oil and diesel as heavy oil, but the way they work is pretty much the same, so long as you remember to use the right grade of oil!

LouiseCastricum wrote:What is the difference between an oil central heating using Heating Diesel and one that uses Kerosene? Just curious.

Not an expert, but kerosene, also known as paraffin is the fuel that Jet engines use, therefore its probably a cleaner more efficient fuel than Diesel.

Jet fuel is kerosene based and highly refined with all manner of additives to make it suitable for a critical environment like a jet engine, so is different to the stuff that goes in heaters, which comes down at the bottom of the refining scale, like heating diesel, albeit kerosene is cleaner than diesel but (AFAIK) has a lower BTU rate.

Louise

If I remember correctly Kerosene (Number I Fuel Oil) vapourises and the vapour burns were as in a diesel (Number 2 Fuel Oil) burner the fuel has to be injected to atomise it so that it ignites. Diesel Has a higher ignition point than Kerosene (Paraffin) and is also a dirtier burning fuel.

Thanks guys. Never too old to learn.

Got this from google
http://www.n-m-services.eu/homepage/

Thanks - I deleted my post because I found it out myself

Austin 7 wrote:I wonder if anyone has opinions about this. Our house is heated by a Kerosene fired central heating boiler in a separate boiler house which has worked without any problems for the last 10 years. I remember reading on this forum a year or two ago that some peoples opinions were that with this type of boiler it is best to leave well alone if it is working satifactorily and there is no reason to have it serviced. If it isn't broken leave well alone I believe was the quote. Ours has never been serviced during the 10 years and is still working ok so would opinions still be the same? If servicing is considered necessary is anyone able to recommend a competent engineer to carry out the task - it is a Korean floor standing boiler made by a company called KyungDong Saturn model.

As I started this posting I thought I would give an update for anyone who has a similar kerosene KyungDong Saturn boiler as it might be helpful. I called in a local plumber to replace a valve (nothing to do with the boiler itself) and asked him if he could service the boiler. He said he was not prepared to touch it as he is not qualified to service them and particularly as it is currently working perfectly well. He said if I really wanted it serviced I should find a qualified agent but not until after the winter season as so often after work is done on boilers they develop faults which were not there previously.

Next step was to find someone qualified so I dug out the instruction manual which is all in Greek and noticed on the back an email address for the agent in Athens. Sent them an email which they answered straight away directing me to their Cyprus agent who is a Mr Petrides at AGV Klimacontrol Ltd in Nicosia (22870300). I have not yet been in contact with them to find out if they also have people to do the work in Paphos. Hope this helps.