Taylors heater fuel starvation

[harvey]

I fitted a fairly old Taylors heater last year. It all works well and I'm pleased with the results except that if I have it belting out loads of therms, after a while the burner flame reduces and soon goes out. I've discovered that it is as a result of the paraffin supply pipe overheating (and presumably the paraffin is vapourising) and I can improve things by wrapping ali foil around the pipe to act as a heat sink. Does everyone with a Taylors heater have a ball of ali foil on their supply pipes or am I the only lucky one?
John

 

[Madeo]

Hi!

I've got one of those, and when the flame dies down it just needs a couple of pumps on the fuel tank pump and away it goes again...

HTH,
Brian.

 

[harvey]

Thanks but no. There's plenty of pressure and I'm sure it's a heat related problem in that the flame dies down when the supply pipe gets f hot but it's fine up 'til then.
John

 

[Seagreen]

Are you losing pressure at the connections below the burner?

More likely, you may be getting a carbon build up, so occasional tapping of the pipe just below the burner with (in my case) a steel knife handle usually sorts it.

I have exactly the same problem with my 068 heater - losing pressure. I've not yet pursued the problem (that's next month) but I've been advised to check for leaks with soapy water over all th unions from the tank, then I'll slightly tigten all the nuts up, especially at the burner. If that fails, its just a case of keeping the pressure up.

BTW, I'm actually considering going for a small coal stove for boat heating as the Taylors may not put out enough heat anyway (takes a long time to warm a small cabin, and has to be constantly attended. This'll be a shame as I run the heater and an 030 stove off the same tank, but I don't think the old 068 I've got can cope with really cold weather.

 

[harvey]

No, there's loads of pressure. It isn't that the pipework is losing pressure, it just gets hot.
John

 

[pyrojames]

I had a similar problem, which I suspected was heat build up, although things need to be getting pretty hot for the parafin to be vapourising at pressure in the pipes. It is more likely that some vapourisation is occuring in the base of the burner just upstream of the balancing jet in the very bottom of the burner. If you pull this out the problem should go away, but you may end up with surge instead. Careful control of the main shutoff can help. Just crack it open to let enough fuel out to supply the system, without having it fully open and allowing for pressure pulsations in the system.

 

[harvey]

Thank you....I'll check that. I'm surprised though that it doesn't seem to affect many heaters. I wonder what's different with mine?!
John

 

[Dayspring]

I have exactly the same problem with my diesel version. No-one has yet come up with a cure!