Oil-Fired Central Heating Boilers

[Khandro]

Do you have one? How often do you have it serviced & at what intervals is the filter changed please.
Mine runs for approx. 6 months of the year & is completely off for the rest.

[Zacs-Master]

We do, Khandro. We've been in our current house for almost 3 years and only just had it serviced (well, about 2 months ago). Prior to that we had one in the house we lived in for 20 years. We'd try to get it serviced every year but mostly left it a couple.

[Khandro]

Thanks Zacs, but do the engineers always replace the filter with the service?
We paid nearly a thousand euros for a service when it was switched off last May, it then stood idle until late October when I switched it on, & immediately kept getting a warning of a fault - thought it worked OK, I just had to keep pressing the 'reset' button
This was traced to a dirty filter, which obviously hadn't been change last May.

The engineer said it was because of muck in the oil tank, but I think he was just trying to get out of not having replaced the filter when it was serviced. He went further & said the whole tank which contains 2,000 litres should be drained, cleaned & the oil put back - a massive & expensive undertaking.

I think that there will always be a certain amount of muck in a tank (as in a car) but that's what the filter is there for surely?

[Meaghan27]

We have an oil-fired combi boiler. It gets serviced every year in May. I don't know what the plumber does, but it only costs up £125 for a full service, he's here about an hour. If anything, other than routine things need replacing, we pay extra, a bit like a car service. I think 1000 euros for a service is incredible! was it a typo surely?

[Zacs-Master]

I must admit, our experience with Oil boiler engineers has been.....mixed. The 'engineer' (I use the term loosely) who did the service on our boiler got to the point where he couldn't get it to fire up, leaving me to scout round and find someone else to come and finish the job (a simple solenoid needed replacing), which I did and who is the best I've found in 22 years.
A thousand euros seems a ridiculous cost but I think replacing the filter is an essential part of servicing an oil boiler as it's a major component in it running efficiently and clean.

I'd get a second and third opinion.

[Zacs-Master]

Meant to say, the enginner who didn't finish the job didn't charge us anything so I'm not sure of up to date costs but I think we used to pay around the £100 mark at our last house, so Meaghan's cost would seem right.

[Khandro]

It was just under a thousand, but there were quite a few parts replaced.

I'm just thinking that a filter replacement should have been standard practice with a service. I have now received another bill today for 320 euro's for replacing the filter !!

[Zacs-Master]

Cheaper to fly someone over and have it done!

[The Builder]

Annually Khandro............. whether it needs it or not. The trouble is you would never know if it's needed. It's just a precaution.
Oil boiler service is a little more involved than for gas.

Also, annually for the fuel filter. Arrange for the boiler guy to change the filter at the same time as the service. They won't necessarily do it if not instructed.

[Khandro]

builder; Thanks, I will in future make sure a filter is fitted annually.