oil furnace sooting extensively

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paulmars

Member
Feb 10, 2017
66
fl
In December 2023 I noticed lottsa smoke coming from my furnace. I live in florida, so dont use it too much. I did a smoke test and draft check january 2023 and all was good.

It was still heating house fine.

Many years ago I started doing my own maintenance/tune ups because I could not find anyone in florida to do it right. Even the guy who installed it didnt set it up properly. So, I check smoke and draft at least once a year. I change filter at every take fill. Strainer, nozzle and electrodes (yes I adj them too) every year or two. There are a few other parts that Ive changed as called for in the maintenance manual, that I cant remember right now. I also got the proper specs from the manufactures. One service guy actually came with a later revised spec for a later model and some specs were different. I confirmed with the manufacturer that those specs were wrong for my model year. He also didnt check draft. I can post that letter.

Anyway Im having doubts about my tuning ability, so I again looked for someone qualified. I contacted over 70 HVAC service companies in my and neighboring counties in the past two weeks. I found no one. Many said they could, but when asked how they adj co or stack temp, then didnt know.

Last week I scrubbed out then chamber, heat exchangers, sight tubes, flue, and chimney. Whatta mess! Then I changed the nozzle which was less then 2 years old (it was dripping oil and Ive never seen that before) and even though it looked fine, I changed the pump strainer too.

Im going to order a pressure gauge to hook up permanently to the pump, to check and monitor the pressure which Ive never checked. Suggestions for a good accurate brand?

Any ideas why it was smoking so much?

tks,
paul
 
Sounds like you have a grasp of the basics...look up seller "BoilerGeeks" on Ebay, when I downsized the burner nozzle on my Beckett burner a few years back I bought a service kit from him and he was a bottomless pit of oil burner info!
Here, this is him...Charlie I think...
 
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Sounds like the air ratio was off...
You can tune the ratio using a draft gauge in the flue
 
I don't claim to be a residential boiler pro but its a pretty simple setup. You need proper air fuel ratio. Usually on those burners the oil flow can get screwed up by a dirty internal filter on the oil pump. This filter getting plugged seems to be happening more often with the slow transition to biodiesel blends that your dealer may or may not be telling you about.

The nozzle is an orifice and as long as the pressure delivered to it is adequate it should flow pretty reliably. That leaves the air side. My burner does not have a cover and long ago a few months after a couple of days session of ripping and milling strips for boat building, the service tech had found that the sawdust had gotten up inside the squirrel cage air blower and was limiting air flow. He had to take everything apart and clean it before he could get it to run right. He suggested an outdoor air kit or a homemade box made out of air filter elements that would sit down over the burner. I expect the same issue could happen in place with pets.
 
My burner does not have a cover and long ago a few months after a couple of days session of ripping and milling strips for boat building, the service tech had found that the sawdust had gotten up inside the squirrel cage air blower and was limiting air flow. He had to take everything apart and clean it before he could get it to run right.
Just had that happen on a big burner at work!
 
Because of clearance issues ill need a 4' tube between the pressure guage and pump. How do i get the air out of that?
 
Because of clearance issues ill need a 4' tube between the pressure guage and pump. How do i get the air out of that?
Put a valve on the end of the tube...crack the valve to bleed it, install gauge.
 
Juck checked pressure and shut off.

Running pressure was proper at 100 lbs

Pump papers say "after shutdown it should be 80% or higher. NOTE: A and B model pumps could theoretically have a cut-off

pressure of less than 80%. The important operation is that it drops to some value and stops."

im type A pump (a2va-7116)

how long should it stop?

Mine dropped immediately to 63, then after 5 minutes on a timer it was 43, then after another 5 minutes it was at 40. Then i removed gauge.