Unit 309 Session 4c Oil fired appliances

​Oil-fired central heating appliances

Poll

Have you ever installed or worked on and oil heating system?

• Yes

• No

Open Ended

Research task

Use the internet to find what type of oil is used for heating in the UK.

Two types of oil are used for domestic heating:

• Kerosene heating oil Also known as 28-second or heating oil. It's the most common type used in UK homes and lighter and cleaner than gas heating oil.

• Gas heating oil Also known as 35-second oil or red diesel. It's usually used in older boilers, agriculture or commercially. 

​Oil-fired boilers use two different firing methods:

1. pressure jets or atomising burners
2. vapourising burners.

Pressure jet burners

Pressure jet burners use an oil burner that mixes air and fuel. An electric motor drives a fuel pump and an air fan.

The fuel pump forces the fuel through a fine nozzle, breaking the oil down into an oil mist.

This is then mixed with air from the fan and ignited by a spark electrode

​Vapourising burners

Vapourising burners work on gravity oil feed.
There is no pump. The oil flows to the burner, where a small oil heater warms the oil until vapour is given off and it is the vapour that is then ignited by a small electrode.

Open Ended

As the vapourising burner works on a gravity oil feed, what disadvantage do you think this would cause?

​As the vapourising burner is gravity fed, the main storage tank must always be higher than the burner, meaning less siting positions for the boiler itself.

​One of the issues with oil systems is purging air from the feed line.

Labelling

Follow the link below and search for the picture,

label the diagram showing the siting requirements of an oil storage tank.

https://www.tuffa.co.uk/buyer-guides/guide-to-fire-rated-oil-tanks/

Drag labels to their correct position on the image

At least 760mm

At least 1.8m

At least 600mm

At least 300mm

At least 50mm thick

​Test yourselves

Multiple Choice

What are the two firing methods used by oil-fired boilers?

• Pressure jets and atomising burners

• Vapourising burners and electric heaters

• Gas burners and electric igniters

• Solar panels and wind turbines

Multiple Choice

What drives the fuel pump in a pressure jet burner?

• A solar panel

• An electric motor

• A manual crank

• A wind turbine

Multiple Choice

What is the role of the spark electrode in a pressure jet burner?

• To cool the oil

• To ignite the oil mist

• To mix the air and fuel

• To pump the oil

Multiple Choice

How does a vapourising burner work?

• By using a fuel pump

• By gravity oil feed

• By electric ignition

• By solar heating

Multiple Choice

What happens to the oil in a vapourising burner before it is ignited?

• It is cooled

• It is vaporised

• It is mixed with water

• It is compressed