Oil fired water heater tune up

Alan R. Mercurio_3

Rookie, You’ll find the procedure could/would be very much like that described for a boiler/furnace in the other thread however it generally will not take as long in most cases. I would like to add this is also a great time to inspect the condition of the anode rod/s. Water Heater manufactures usually will mention that in the installation and maintenance section of their product manual.

By the way that breech reading sounds pretty high!

Your friend in the industry,<BR>Alan R. Mercurio<BR><BR><a href="http://oiltechtalk.com/discuss/index.php?sid=63c67a82829fdbdda388591b32998104">www.oiltechtalk.com</a><BR><BR>

Rookie_3

Oil fired water heater tune up

We have a pretty detailed thread on tune-ups from Massrookie. How about one on oil fired water heaters. Seems like everyone I ask says "nothing to clean just change the filter, nozzle, and set the electrodes" True or False?
What gets brushed down or vacuumed? I saw one that was tagged -.02 OF with -.10 at the breech. Sound right?

Thanks.................ROOKIE

Firedragon_4

Center

flues are pretty easy, brush straight down the flueway.

Rear flues are a little harder. I don't think anybody can do them totally when you see how they are put together.

I have a picture of one half-built that I use in classes, but not sure how to post it, sorry!

Rookie_3

Pretty cut and dry then but lets go a little deeper. I just got a quick look at it and haven't touched it yet. It's with the "Furnace clean out" post that Firedragon is already on. The water heater is Tee'd into the same smoke pipe as an oil fired furnace is. I will be testing for draft with both units running together. Correct? Also just short of baffling the breech on the water heater with a
-.02 OF there is not too much I can do about the -.10 at the breech if that is an actual reading........ROOKIE

Firedragon_4

You should never have

a water heater and another appliance 'teed'. The way it's supposed to be done is in a wye. Each unit has it's own regulator and one in the chimney if draft can still not be controlled. If that still doesn't work, a Neutral Pressure Point Adjuster is needed, FACT!

This is a great resource for that:regulators

Rookie_3

Thanks for the Regulator site Firedragon. What was there was a 6" smoke pipe coming straight out from the chimney 8'-10' with the water heater coming into the side of it about 18" from the chimney and then one of the furnaces coming into the same side of it at the end of the pipe. One barometric damper was at the end of the pipe where the furnace came in and the other was at the water heater. Looked like a manifold type set up. The second furnace was set up on it's own with a power vent.......ROOKIE

Firedragon_4

You may want to look at

the install manual for the water heater. Just about all of the drawings I have ever seen should put you in the right place, FACT!

Rookie_3

Good advise. I also plan on running both appliances together and alone to get some readings to see if they match what is on the tag or if they even can be brought into spec., if not I'll be packing up and on my way.

Thanks..............ROOKIE

Firedragon_4

Yes, you must run all

of the appliances at the same time to see what's happening. But, don't forget to test the water heater by itself if it is the smaller fire. The larger unit will always produce more thermal draft just due to it's firing rate, but stack temperatures are an issue too, so check carefully!

A fellow tech,
George

massrookie

Ilike that link to the Field site, Firedragon. How often to you see a chimney that is LESS than 15' high? Another thing to keep in mind if you are having mystery lockouts, plugged end cones, noisy fires, etc. If the home is on top of Windy Hill you may have excess draft issues. These won't show up when you're doing the annual service in the dead of summer.
Also remember that the water heater and the furnace will probably rarely run at the same time, so I would put more emphasis on setting the units draft when running individually.

Pat

Firedragon_4

And that's a FACT!

But, you won't know unless you try it both ways.

Rookie_3

Thanks for the advise gentlemen and I plan on checking both ways. There is a fan in a can interlocked with the systems due to the room being enclosed. The second furnace is on a power vent. The rest of the basement is finished. The chance of a back to back shower or the washing machine and dishwasher running together on a cold winter day with the furnace running is more than likely to be an issue. I am in Northeastern MA and this paticular job is right over the border in New Hampshire.

Thanks Again........Dan/ROOKIE