set-up specs for the Burnham V33 boiler for AFG oil burner

Steve_142

I've looked in the Beckett big red book and the specs for the Burnham V33 aren't in there. Can anyone help?

John@Reliable_14

Steve, thats a old boiler................

I looked in my oldest Beckett book from 1995 and nothing. Also tried looking on newest CD from Beckett nothing. About only way would be by using set-up book that came with burner, check basic requirements of combustion chamber size and start charting different nozzles with testing until you find the best firing nozzle for your setup. Hope this helps John@Reliable

Unknown

Steve

The V-3 was never configured with the AFG as far as I am aware. I do have some Sun-Ray specs which I have attached. Pardon the poor quality of this image as it is a scan of a Fax of a Fax and the quality was long lost through the phone lines somewhere. I would use the Flame Retention specs as a general guideline. Bear in mind though that these specs were probably for 100 psi pump pressure so if you are running 140 psi you will need to drop the nozzle size a bit. Also completely check the condition of the chamber and target wll as well as the cleanout plates. Happy Holidays!


Glenn Stanton

Manager of Training

Burnham Hydronics

U.S. Boiler Co., Inc.

Steamhead (in transit)

More V-3 info

Here are some scans of ABC-Sunray and Carlin burner data on these boilers. The file sizes are a bit big, I scanned them at 600 DPI. I think the V-3 boilers were also shipped with Wayne MS-R burners which are fixed-head designs like the F-head Becketts, but I don't have Wayne setup info with me.

I believe the V-3 series was basically an update of the American-Standard A-3 series- Glenn could tell us for sure. Both models were built like tanks, and will show reasonable efficiency with a modern burner that is properly set up.

The Beckett burner on your V-33 is probably a retrofit, so there may not be any Beckett setup info specific to that model. So you'd have to start from scratch. Start with a clean boiler (but you knew that) and a good chamber. In similar boilers, I've used Lynn chambers made of Kaowool to get a quick chamber heat-up- the Lynn part number for the V-3 series is #1065. In 3- or 4-section boilers like yours, you may need to use a semi-solid nozzle (Delavan "W" or similar) rather than the usual solid one, to avoid the long flame that would impinge on the back wall of the chamber. A hollow nozzle would work too but would give up a bit of efficiency. The firing rate with your Beckett would be 15% or so lower than that specified on the rating plate, since the newer burner makes a hotter fire.

Add a delay valve for cleaner light-off if the burner doesn't already have one. Remove the centrifugal damper if the burner is so equipped and replace with a standard coupling. Those dampers tend to stick and not open fully, resulting in a smoky fire. Fire up your analyzer, find the lowest amount of air input that will give you zero smoke, then add more air to bring the CO2 down by 1/2 to 1 percent to allow for air and oil supply variations.

With this setup, you should be able to get at least 80% combustion efficiency with zero smoke, and the unit will burn clean all winter.



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Leo

Steamhead

Hey Steamhead,

Given the info you have from Burnham I would use the same nozzle they specified for the other burners. A 1.00 80 B, or I would go .85 80 B at 140psi. If it isn't clean I would go with an A nozzle. Also the Beckett should have an F3 head at this firing rate. I have worked on them with A nozzles. I don't mind a slight decrease in efficiency if I have good and clean combustion.

Leo

Steamhead (in transit)

Whatever works well.....

I've found on some 3 or 4 section boilers of this general type that the depth (front to back) of the chamber is so shallow that a solid nozzle can produce a flame so long it strikes the back wall of the chamber, causing sooting. This doesn't seem to be an issue on more-recent models.

Of course, if the setup info is available as it would be on later models, we'd use it. But on a retrofit, a lot depends on the boiler and the burner you're installing. If you're doing a flame-retention burner upgrade and a solid nozzle of the maximum recommended spray angle for that burner impinges on the back of the chamber, a semi or hollow is the cure. There should be no impingement at all.

Note that in the V-33 info, on the ABC-Sunray and Carlin burners the spray angle changes according to boiler model. The deeper the combustion zone gets as sections are added, the narrower the spray angle. But with the Beckett it usually doesn't- the spray angle on the fixed-head units is usually 80 degrees, and with the L1 or V1 variable heads it's usually 60 degrees.

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