Identify my old oil burner!

Help needed. Can anyone identify the make of the oil burner in my soon to be French home ? We only have one photo, taken by the agent and the name and logo aren’t quite clear enough to read, but maybe someone recognises it? I’d like to research it before we get out there.

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De Dietrich I reckon

From the 80s possibly

Yup, that colour looks like a de Dietrich model.

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Brilliant! Thanks guys, yes, according to the compromis, it was fitted between 1970-1975!

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Have you been following the thread on oil boilers ?? Be careful what you spend now… might pay you to wait and see what the government has in mind… yours would definitely be old enough for a subsidy (once you are permanently here)…

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The boiler looks like De Dietrich 70s/80s model to me too, but the burner maybe another mark adapted for the boiler. The wooden box up to the left will be the electrical panel & the cylindrical containers sitting on it are burner jets which have been replaced in the past. The blue piping is the inflow & outflow (I’d get that lagged straight away, the heat loss must be considerable, unless used to heat the room in which they are situated). The pump look like a Grundfos. The conduit piping is a mechanical protection for the wiring , make sure the conduit is earthed.
It looks as there has been another type of boiler installed in the past seeing the 2 round holes 1 by the boiler & the other just above the pump.
Information posted for all interested.

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It’s not - as Barry says - a great photo but if you blow the name up it certainly looks like De Dietrich.

Plus the logo looks about right.

Hi Wozza, thanks for the reply. It will be decommissioned as soon as we get our new heating / water system installed, however we may have to rely on it briefly just for showers** in the meantime. I have absolutely no idea where to start with ‘turning it on’ though, and I’ve searched the internet to no gain as it’s obviously so old.
**Am I right in thinking that this would only be for the heating system and that hot water would come from the chauffe-eau which is upstairs in the Grenier?

Barry… we inherited an old boiler plus electric HW cylinder… neither worked… so OH put in a shower cubicle and instant electric shower… to help us remain fairly human/decent in the first few months/years. We had a couple of electric fan radiators too…

All that is all long gone now, but was worth its weight in gold at the time…

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Hi Barry,
It may be linked to the hot water tank, (doubtful) but if it is you should have a electric heating element in the hot water tank for use when the boiler is not in use, late spring, summer etc etc.
To turn on the boiler, make sure the supply valve for the oil tank to the boiler is open, on the burner, you should have a push button or switch that you may have to push /switch on, if it’s not automatic when you turn on the electrical supply to the burner / boiler.
If you need any advice concerning your house project, put up a post on this forum & I’m sure you’ll get, “in the main”, good advice.
Wozza.

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I have one just like that. Well maybe the larger model.

I’m away from my house till March otherwise I’d send you all the manufacturers documentation.

I have it serviced every couple of years and I know my French boiler man would tell me if it needs replacing any time soon. I plan to keep it till it’s unserviceable on the basis of ‘if it works don’t fix it.’

When it does become unserviceable I’ll fall back to my woodburner until I get a replacement boiler.

Keep in mind also the current debate in the future of oil based boilers …

Oh, it’s similar to ours! Our case is red though and possibly dated mid 60’s. Ours is marked ‘Chauffage Français, Unifonte’

The main controller died on ours 3 years ago but we sourced a replacement from Italy for around €30 and it is back in action again! If it works, I’m not going to replace it!

Hello Gill and welcome to the forum

Please will you amend your Registration to show your Full Name…

If you are not sure how to do this… simply put your full name on this thread and I will amend it for you…

cheers

Hello Stella, I am Gill Moore. Been a member previously so probably still registered.

Thanks for changing the Registration to show your full name.

Cheers

@Gillm, do you recall where you sourced the replacement? My brother-in-law lives nearby and has a De Dietrich GTM125 chaudiere with oil burner. It is a very basic installation, with no controller options. In this state the pump runs permanently, the burner controlled by the room thermostat. The previous owner had interrupted the pump live feed, connecting that to the room thermostat instead. The boiler has to be set to manual, which keeps the internal temperature constant. When the pump is on the circulating water cools the boiler which then fires.
It is not very efficient. I have amended it to use a timeswitch for the boiler so the pump only runs during the period that the boiler should be on; and, connected the room thermostat to the correct terminals, controlling the burner.
There was an option to include a regulator circuit board, which would switch the pump on with the boiler, provide power to any valves and provide a pump overrun after the burner stopped.
I can’t a definitive part number for that board, which I think the boiler originally had. There is nothing there now, the 2 connectors are loose under the top cover. My guess is that it failed some time, hence the jury rigging of the pump to the thermostat!

I assume that there is a thermostatic switch on the return leg of the heating circulation which does that?

Does the boiler serve hot water as well?

Are there any motorized valves?

There’s a manual here - do you have that?

I’m so sorry I don’t remember and didn’t keep the paperwork either. I sourced it by just doing a search on the net. I always do this and often find pieces in Latvia, Italy or Germany cheaper than france - even the hard to find ones! Good luck.