Oil burner tips

[elkimmeg]

the good news is my 30 year oil burner is still in good shape. I guess all the wood burning over the years put it to less use and strain.
reminder this is a cast iron Uitca Boiler I hit a new tims high in effeciency test 81%. I did the usual filter nozzel .but this year I learned that I cound clean the fire box and coils
with a wire brush and shop vac. I also learned to clean the oil screen in the oil pump. Another important part was leaning how to adjust the flame and air inlet.

The real trick was I gapped the electrode space .005 more the extra space makes the spark cross hotter. My previous best was 78%

MSG may boot this into which ever forum it should reside

Here is one other tip most trucker and heavy equipment opperators know this. There are products that enhance diesel fuel like HEET but also contain products that cleans your
fuel delivery system. If one was to add about 1/2 gallon to every tankfull. It works so well you may never need a tuneup, only an ocasional filter change.
The other advantage is burning clean and effecient all the time and a lot less carbon in your system and chimney. I know it is the time of year when your system should be cleaned and tuned

 

[recppd]

My American Standard boiler is from 1958 and burns at 82% (as of last testing on 7/06). I've contemplated replacing it time and time again, but everyone in the business keeps telling to me run it until it runs no more.

 

[Homefire]

and this is a wood burning topic?

 

[elkimmeg]

Mine is a tankless system and hot water was on short supply. Its age I started figuring for the worse coil replacement of a new boiler I kew it also could be the mixing valve so I after I drained down the coil I decided this was the last time I was going to replace the mixing valve I had a ball valve feed in on the cold side in and I soldered a balvalve on the line leaving the burner
At this point I am experimenting cracking the ball valves to achieve the desired hot water temps. So far so good I got it to 130 to the tap a bit hot but the tap can always add from the cool side to temper it..
Here another tip. The mixing valve has set stops. If one were to remove the handle and set the stops the next alignment up you would establish anothet range of settings

82% is imcrediable for a 1958 boiler

 

[velvetfoot]

How did you measure efficiency?
I am looking for a kit to do it myself.
Have not had that much luck finding a cheap used one.

 

[elkimmeg]

and this is a wood burning topic?

no but there are oil fired stoves for hearth applications. Some of the suggestions can be used to tune the oil fired stove

gas stoves are discussed here

 

[elkimmeg]

How did you measure efficiency?
I am looking for a kit to do it myself.
Have not had that much luck finding a cheap used one.

No borrowed one I had a very short window to use it and get it back I did have a draft gage but sent it to a former forum member so he could test
the draft of his coal stove. It got lost in the mail and never made it to him nor was it returned

 

[Gibbonboy]

Pump screens are often overlooked and can be really nasty if not changed often. When I did plumbing and heating, I was amazed at what some guys could pass off as an annual service, like 4 dollars worth of parts and 20 minutes of labor. All boilers got opened up and the fingers all brushed down, new tank filter, pump screen, nozzle, clean insulators, test transformer, gap and adjust electrodes, test flame sensor/safeties and check flue/power vent and test efficiency and draft. Most of the oil around here has some nasty black sludge in it, whether it comes like that or is in the bulk tank, I don't know. Some guys had a big conspiracy theory that that was how they are disposing of used oil, by mixing it in some percentage with "clean" #2. All I know is that it plugs a filter in less than a year, even gets through to the pump and nozzles.

You can buy 4 or 6 packs of HEET at Wallyworld cheap, I use it for fuel in my backpacking stoves, it's pure methanol (yellow bottle, red is isopropyl)

 

[velvetfoot]

When you think about it, for a winter's worth of fuel, what, a 1000 gallons, how many miles could you drive on that? On my VW diesel, I could go 50,000 miles. I haven't gone more than the 30k miles (I think ) on a fuel filter but 50k miles could be a stretch. Anyway, it might not be that outrageous. I use PowerService (the white bottle) in my car when there is a cold snap; it's supposed to condition too I think. Only gelled up once in a cold snap before using that stuff, and my faulty fuel pickup check valve might have been a contributor as well. There is some stuff that supposedly more aggressively cleans injectors. I've never used that stuff. I don't think biofouling is usually an issue, is it? What popped into my mind: "why the nozzle every year?" Again if I'm going 50k miles every year on that 1000 gallons, that's on 4 cylinders, so if only one nozzle, then equivalent of 200,000 miles, so again plausible, I guess. However, if one burns wood then usage would be lower. Maybe a tuneup only every other year?

They say biodiesel cleans things up (good solvent). Local heating place sells 15%. I haven't tried it in heater. Too conservative.

 

[berlin]

to keep your furnace in top shape and to eliminate algae in your tank as well as lubricate the pump in nozzle and virtually prevent wear use "powerservice diesel kleen" found at your local wally world among many other places, one gallon treats 300 gallons of diesel (no. 2 fuel oil, same thing)

"biodiesel cleans things up"

yes, it does, however, it also gells at much higher temps than diesel, don't use it in an outdoor tank unless you plan on only using your woodstove all winter. the stuff i mentioned acually lowers the gel point of the fuel.

btw, this is not just some crack product out there making wild claims it was used in industry long before you could ever purchase it in one gallon jugs at wall-mart. it is currently being used to treat 50,000 gallon tanks of fuel oil for our diesel gen sets and duel fuel turbin gen sets totaling over 280 megawatts at one facility. we have been buying it in 55 gallon drums for years, when i bought my first diesel truck, i used it since day one. there are other brands out there, but "power service" is the only one i've used and the only one i've had experience with.

btw, that "black sludge" is algae and is indicative of poor maintinece, excess moisture in the fuel, lack of filtration, and most importantly lack of biocide additive to the fuel, this is a problem with the bulk fuel storage, truck/delivery tanks, homeowner tanks or all of the above, diesel will grow algae at the water/oil boundry if not properly treated and produce a thick black sludge. were someone to add used oil to the fuel, you would likely not even be able to tell.

 

[elkimmeg]

Like most topics here I learning everytime I post. There is a simple way to run an oil burner cleaner and more effeciennt
by pouring in aditives. Berlin is correct if the oil runs cleaner then replacing nozzels ect are not needed as frequently but filter changes need to be addressed
Thanks for the info concerning the black sludge. It makes sense , Again new info added for future use

 

[velvetfoot]

My opinion is that the fuel filter will just clog and you won't get flow. I don't think there'd be a bunch of bad stuff getting by it, like say a relief valve in a motor oil filter assembly. I also think the white bottle from PowerService is better at anti-gel than the DieselKleen product, which is not marketed for its anti-gel properties, more like the name says in cleaning the fuel system.

 

[Eric Johnson]

This is a very imformative thread. Thanks elk for bringing it up and everyone else for contributing.

In my limited experience working on oil burners, I learned that you're way ahead, when in doubt, to just replace the nozzle rather than trying to clean or otherwise service it. They're pretty cheap and the difference between a fresh nozzle and one that's been compromised is like night and day. Or, perhaps more accurately, like heat and no heat.

 

[elkimmeg]

eric the aditives we are talking about keeps the nozzel clean plus if the nozel is dirty suspect the oil pump screen then the oil filter

Got tip this morning the deisel conditioner is $11.50 per gallon treats about 300 galons But I will read the instructions and report that date here I will be picking up a couple of gallons which covers my yearly usage My hot water is tankless by my oil burner explains 50% of my usage. That and my wife playing with the T stat

 

[elkimmeg]

I bought Power Service Diesel suppplement. Looks like one 96 oz container for 300 gal low sulfur fuel or 150 probably for common #2 fuel oil.

Power Service is more for cleaner burning than antifreeze supplements

 

[velvetfoot]

I'm pretty sure that fuel oil is low sulfur. It's not ultra low sulfur (or whatever they're calling it) which is just coming out and allows new type of catalytic converter to meet NOx requirements. I'm holding out for a VW TDI Beetle in the fall of 2007, which will have a new engine. Hopefully the ultra low sulfur diesel will be in place by then!

http://powerservice.com/

I personally think additives are a waste of money for a vehicle unless for the anti-gel properties when you are getting an unseasonal cold snap and the diesel hasn't been cut with the kero at the pump yet, you're driving from the south to the north, etc.

 

[drizler]

While on the subject of oil burners( and all I use mine for anymore is as an overblown hot water heater) has anyone ever converted theirs to a spin on filter? I positively loathe dealing with that ancient filter. They make a nice filter rig for boats as gas filters for a whopping $18 or so bucks. So how would a rather large standard automotive oil filter clean oil as opposed to that nasty felt stack rig. I learned a long time ago to use the longest biggest filter that would fit the mount as many of the modern auto filters are simply way too small and after all they are all the same price so go for the bigger surface area. All this reminds me that its about time to clean the peerless one of these days if and when I get around to it. I sure wish I had one of the newer ones with the hinged front plate.

 

[berlin]

"He said that I could mix 1/3 farm diesel to my fuel oil and still be safe. But here’s the point that he made to me. There are two main differences between fuel oil and diesel. One, fuel oil is refined more and cleaner. Two, diesel is less refined and detergents are added to the diesel to compensate. What I am driving at here is that fuel oil doesn’t contain detergents. Even though it is cleaner, over time, a varnish builds up inside your tank. If you add diesel, or any additive that has detergent, you’ll break that sludgy varnish up and plug your filters up and so on. We had that problem years ago here in Iowa when we started pushing Ethanol. The alcohol cleaned better than even the detergents and people were plugging their fuel filters up. "

that's not true anymore. diesel IS no. 2 distilate = no. 2 fuel oil = no. 2 diesel same stuff, there was some basis for that 25-30 years ago, but not at all anymore.

 

[DonCT]

This topic looks like a good Wiki candidate

 

[elkimmeg]

According to this area guru in oil burner repair, this is what he does. He claims that he has not replaced a nozel in 10 years.
He also claims to use aditives in this 3 tanks. I know what it does for my heavy equipment and I have used it for years .
I just never thought of using Power Service in my oil tanks. but it makes sense