Submerged oil fired furnace

[orangecrushcj7]

Well, I am sure all are aware of the sh!t we've been dealing with in Northern Central MA/Southern NH. I just got my electrical service back on after 5 days from "Operation Big Ice" as the National Guard called it. I have a high water table on my property, and thus require a sump pump pretty much year round to keep my cellar dry. When the power went out, over the next few days I wound up with 3' of water in my cellar. I have since gotten everything working, the well pump, Electric water heater, etc with one exception. I have not tried it yet, for fear of messing something up royally. My old 1960s Burnham Fiesta oil burning furnace was among the swimming. I have popped open the igniter housing, and there is still water in the squirrel cage thing, and am certain there must be some in the fire chamber as well. Fortunately, this furnace is my back up to my pellet stove, which has been heating the house just dandy. My question is this:

Tomorrow I plan to take as many things apart as I can on the furnace, and try to dry as much out as I can. What parts do I need to focus on, and what should tolerate the 3 days of water?

I am hoping since this burner is so old, it will also be very rugged and able to handle the abuse. The honeywell control panel was about 3/4" above the water line, so that stayed dry. The electrical feeds coming off of it were under water though. I am in a real pinch right now dealing with all the other financial burdens associated with the economy, and now the storm damage, so I can only spend money on essentials, and the back up furnace is not essential right now, so calling in a service tech is a no-go

 

[CowboyAndy]

When we first bought our house the basement was flooded about 6', no idea for how long. The burn chamber on the old wood oil combo furnace had actually rusted so bad that this past summer they guy who removed it for us said that he was aple to put his hammer through it.

 

[Gooserider]

You might also try asking this question over in the "Boiler Room" - there are a lot of HVAC pros that hang out there pretty regularly, they may be able to help with additional advice, or tell you where else to ask...

I don't have relevant oil side experience, but the advice you've gotten so far sounds pretty reasonable just in terms of standard process for dealing with electrical / electronics type stuff...

Only thing I might add is depending on just how cruddy the water in the "swimming pool" was, you might want to rinse things with clean water before drying, particularly electrical components - I know this can make all the difference for electronic stuff, as you can get really odd failures if you have conductive residues left when you dry things off - a fresh water rinse helps ensure that you'll have minimal deposits left after drying...

Make sure any electricals are given a really good chance to dry out before putting the power to them.

Gooserider

 

[Hogwildz]

Had 5' of water in the basement here 1 week after buying house. Had to buy new water heater, replace well pump relay etc.
I called a HVAC shop to come in, check the furnace (FHA oil burner) and he vacuumed everything out, had to replace the burner circuit board, and got her fired up.
Was much cheaper than buying a new furnace. And the furnace was only 2 yrs old at the time.

 

[orangecrushcj7]

I thought I had asked this in the boiler room, and assumed it got moved. Maybe I just thought I did... anyways, I was working on it today, till the power company decided to shut me down again for 3 hours and resoak my basement while they ran a new service to a new construction (that is not even ready to be lived in yet) across the street from me. Don't get me started on that. Still thousands (including my parents - on day 8)in the region without power and National Grid has 5 boom trucks on hand to run a routine new service line, small town politics for ya. But I digress.... The blower motor was filled with water. I have it drying out in front of the pellet stove right now. There was no standing water in the fire chamber, but there was a bunch of wet crud in there I pulled out. I can't run my dehumidifier down cellar, because it is to cold for it to work, so I have a fan blowing at it and in towards the fire chamber. While I was at it, I temporarily wired up my circulating pump to an old lamp plug and plugged it into an outlet so I can keep my pipes from freezing in this 12 degree snow storm.

 

[Hogwildz]

I thought I had asked this in the boiler room, and assumed it got moved. Maybe I just thought I did... anyways, I was working on it today, till the power company decided to shut me down again for 3 hours and resoak my basement while they ran a new service to a new construction (that is not even ready to be lived in yet) across the street from me. Don't get me started on that. Still thousands (including my parents - on day 8)in the region without power and National Grid has 5 boom trucks on hand to run a routine new service line, small town politics for ya. But I digress.... The blower motor was filled with water. I have it drying out in front of the pellet stove right now. There was no standing water in the fire chamber, but there was a bunch of wet crud in there I pulled out. I can't run my dehumidifier down cellar, because it is to cold for it to work, so I have a fan blowing at it and in towards the fire chamber. While I was at it, I temporarily wired up my circulating pump to an old lamp plug and plugged it into an outlet so I can keep my pipes from freezing in this 12 degree snow storm.

Hand spin the shaft on the blower motor once in a while while its drying, so the armature doesn't surface rust and stick to the bushes.
Don't forget to pull & toss the cold air intake filter.

 

[Gooserider]

I thought I had asked this in the boiler room, and assumed it got moved. Maybe I just thought I did... anyways, I was working on it today, till the power company decided to shut me down again for 3 hours and resoak my basement while they ran a new service to a new construction (that is not even ready to be lived in yet) across the street from me. Don't get me started on that. Still thousands (including my parents - on day 8)in the region without power and National Grid has 5 boom trucks on hand to run a routine new service line, small town politics for ya. But I digress.... The blower motor was filled with water. I have it drying out in front of the pellet stove right now. There was no standing water in the fire chamber, but there was a bunch of wet crud in there I pulled out. I can't run my dehumidifier down cellar, because it is to cold for it to work, so I have a fan blowing at it and in towards the fire chamber. While I was at it, I temporarily wired up my circulating pump to an old lamp plug and plugged it into an outlet so I can keep my pipes from freezing in this 12 degree snow storm.

Well, I did just go ahead and move it over there for you, no indication that it had been moved previously, so you may have accidentally made the original post in the DIY area - no problem either way...

Good luck on getting things dried out, and it does sound to me like if you are that "mission critical" on keeping a sump pump running, it would be worth while to invest in at least a small generator or some other sort of backup system.

Gooserider

 

[lugoismad]

I thought I had asked this in the boiler room, and assumed it got moved. Maybe I just thought I did... anyways, I was working on it today, till the power company decided to shut me down again for 3 hours and resoak my basement while they ran a new service to a new construction (that is not even ready to be lived in yet) across the street from me. Don't get me started on that. Still thousands (including my parents - on day 8)in the region without power and National Grid has 5 boom trucks on hand to run a routine new service line, small town politics for ya. But I digress.... The blower motor was filled with water. I have it drying out in front of the pellet stove right now. There was no standing water in the fire chamber, but there was a bunch of wet crud in there I pulled out. I can't run my dehumidifier down cellar, because it is to cold for it to work, so I have a fan blowing at it and in towards the fire chamber. While I was at it, I temporarily wired up my circulating pump to an old lamp plug and plugged it into an outlet so I can keep my pipes from freezing in this 12 degree snow storm.

Well, I did just go ahead and move it over there for you, no indication that it had been moved previously, so you may have accidentally made the original post in the DIY area - no problem either way...

Good luck on getting things dried out, and it does sound to me like if you are that "mission critical" on keeping a sump pump running, it would be worth while to invest in at least a small generator or some other sort of backup system.

Gooserider

Exactly.

My electric went out for 5 hours and my house dipped into the 40*'s (old crappy farmhouse).

I plan on buying a 600 watt inverter for my truck, so I can run the blower on my wood furnace.

 

[orangecrushcj7]

it is all apart and drying out right now. I plan to put it back to gether in a few weeks and give it a test run. Lugoismad... becarefull that you get an inverter powerful enough. I killed a brand new inverter trying to run my sump pump last week.

 

[heaterman]

At the very least:

Replace the Honeywell oil burner control relay on the burner itself. That should never ever be used if it has been flooded/submerged. I feel your pain on the $$.$$ thing but the $100 or so is not worth your house or your own safety. A flooded basement is one thing to deal with but a house fire is entirely another. The operating relay should be fine if it hasn't touched water. Also, you should take great care in drying out the refractory lining in the combustion chamber. If it's wet when you fire up, the moisture absorbed can flash to steam and basically disintegrate the chamber lining right in the boiler.

The blurb about the oil burner relay is only true of course if your boiler does in fact have one. Some of the old buggers had stack relays and some of the operating aquastat controls had that part of the machinery integrated all in one unit. Those were/are expensive and for the most part obsolete now.

 

[orangecrushcj7]

heaterman, the control box (about 4" x5"x3" - has several relays in it) was about 1" above the high water mark, so that should be good to go. I don't know if i have the "oil burner relay" that you speak of. The honeywell control box has a line of bx cable going down to the burner ingnitor box. Flip open the ignitor box, and there are a bunch of wire nutted connections, some go to the AO Smith blower motor, the TACO circulating pump, and the ignitor itself. I can't find any other relays. does this sound typical of older 1960's (or older) systems? If I am remembering correctly it is a Beckett burner.

 

[101prf]

The primary control Heaterman is refering is a grey box with a red reset botton on it. Its normally mounted above the motor next to the ignition transformer. If this got wet it needs to be replaced. If you have a temp the old type you will have a "sensor" in the flue.

 

[MrEd]

I have no advice - BUT WOW - 3 feet of water in the cellar? (and you other poor folks that had 5 and 6 feet of water). I've gotten water in my cellar twice and considered it a *royal pain*. One time it was 3 inches, and the other time just 1 inch. I do have a sump, and it is always my biggest concern when the power goes out (we hand bail when it does into a bucket and dump down the toiler).

Having 3 inches of water to me was a real pain in the *ss - I cannot imagine having to deal with the aftermath of 3-4-5-6 feet of water.

If you don't have a backup generator, you should get one - and soon.

 

[Duetech]

Hi Orange Crush CJ-7,

Just read your post. Generators really help in this situation but there is another approach for emergency back up sump pumping. A deep cell marine battery and a boat bilge pump with auto switching. Some of those little bilge pumps can move a surprising amount of water in just a minute and can be "quick fashion connected" to just a garden hose and run out a window. Have friends that have been in the same situation. This is just an emergency back up but it will work.

 

[Redox]

Hi Orange Crush CJ-7,

Just read your post. Generators really help in this situation but there is another approach for emergency back up sump pumping. A deep cell marine battery and a boat bilge pump with auto switching. Some of those little bilge pumps can move a surprising amount of water in just a minute and can be "quick fashion connected" to just a garden hose and run out a window. Have friends that have been in the same situation. This is just an emergency back up but it will work.

I tried that, but found that most of them peter out above 6-8 feet of head pressure or so. Get the monster 2000 GPH model if you do this.

On a related note, I found a sump pump at Grainger that has a more energy efficient PSC motor. It will run for several hours continuous on a 400 watt inverter and a 50 AH gel cell.

Chris

 

[orangecrushcj7]

Mr Ed: thats what happens when you build a house with a full basement in an area with a naturally high water table. My house was built in the 40's originally as a 2 car garage that had no basement. But then the war happened, and the family who built it had to convert the garage to a house, and excavate a cellar under the existing structure. Many years and several additions later, I have a Cape that without electricity, would have 3' of water in the basement at all times.

The grey box with the reset button was the box that never was submerged (luckily) I have a back up generator now. I must say, either I have been really lucky in the past 5 years I have owned the home, or my utility company is really good, because I lose power only a few times per year, and when I do , it is for minutes at a time. Hopefully we'll never have a catastrophic event like this again. But if we do, i'll be ready.