Puzzled by Becket burner

clammy

I know it's stupid but i have had one that would come in as a recall once every 5 or 6 weeks every thing would check out fine replaced some small parts the burner was negeleced for years and was about 15 years old ,what it end up being was a dead spot on the burner motor after i replaced the motor and drive coupling that was the end of the story .About how old is the burner in question ?peace and good luck clammy

Jamie Hall

Puzzled by Beckett burner

slightly off the general, but both I (building super who knows steam, but very dang little about oil burners) and my oil burner tech (who's always been pretty good) are gently puzzled by an oil burner problem.

Specifically. Now and then (perhaps once a month) the burner will fail to light off. The reset button will (so far, at least) always get it to go again. Checked pretty much everything we can think of, no obvious problems.

Burner in question is a Beckett, running 3.25 gph with a 30 degree nozzle. I can get more info on it if needed.

Any suggestions as to what we might look at next?

Big Ed

Safety Problem

Check combustion

Check the End cone

check for cracks on the electrodes

check for cracks on the transformer

check and test the oil supply , oil flow ,strainer filters

test the transformer

test the pump

test the motor

check the timer in the delayed oil valve

check the cad cell eye.

check for blockage in the nozzle adpter

If you find nothing change the relay...

A pro will look for signs first to shorten the list...

Weezbo

this particular event ,wouldn't happen to coincide with your...

Fuel Oil delivery,by any chance...?

Eh?*~/:)

Jamie Hall

oh Weezbo...

I'm a knuckle dragging building super, but not that bad! I think I've narrowed it down, though, to only a few possibilities: the burner is sometimes a little slow to light off, and I suspect that that is the problem. Whether the delay relay is a little short -- I'm not an oil burner guy -- or the slight delay (I'm talking a second or so between blower/pump on and light off) is a sign of some other problem... haven't got there yet. Wish I could find a real local pro... sigh. The guy I have is good, and a pro, but...

realolman

If the cad cell was bad or it went off on safety, wouldn't you have a bunch of oil in the chamber.

If you don't have a bunch of oil, it either isn't getting oil, or it's not trying to light.

brucewo1b

Maybe maybe not

Two ways a cad cell can go bad it thinks it sees light and does not try to fire but goes out on saftey, or it fires but does not see the light and goes off on saftey and in those two cases no oil in chamber.

Darrell

With that big of a nozzle you'd better have a 15 second lockout relay. If you also have a delayed opening oil solenoid valve that is, say, a ten second opener, you don't have much margin for error...by design. 3.25 can give a pretty big sneeze if it lights slow! If the solenoid is a bit slow, or the relay is a bit fast, it'll lock out without filling the box with oil.

Check the cad cell first.

Norm Harvey

Is your ignition provided by a "Transformer" or an "Ingnitor" ?

If it is a transformer, Id replace it.
if it is an Ignitor, I would have yout oil tech test the ohms from each terminal to the ground screw with the power OFF. A carlin brand ignitor should have between 1100-1500 ohms on each terminal and any differance between the two shouldnt be more than 50 A becket, or france ignitor should be between 500-800 ohms.

To be on the safe side, Id just go ahead and replace the ignitor anyways. A nozzle that big should have positive ignition. If I have any reason to think I have an ignition problem, I replace the ignitor and then continue checking all the combustion related equipment, electrodes, end cone, burner fan, pump pressure, delay valve etc etc.

The key to knowing if it is an ignition problem is if there is excessive oil in the chamber that burns when I put some lit newspaper bown the blast tube and through the endcone.

If there is no excess oil, I wouold check the starting amperage of your burner motor

- Norm

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Ragu_5

Jamie...

How old is your burner? More importantly: what does it have for a primary control? Is it an older Honeywell (grey in color) or is it one of the newer Honeywell relays (black in color and relabelled "Beckett")? These have proven to be tougher to troubleshoot and are very susceptible to high ohm readings through the cad cell.

Have you called Beckett? 1-800-645-2876. Good luck.

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Ragu_5

Jamie...

How old is your burner? More importantly: what does it have for a primary control? Is it an older Honeywell (grey in color) or is it one of the newer Honeywell relays (black in color and relabelled "Beckett")? These have proven to be tougher to troubleshoot and are very susceptible to high ohm readings through the cad cell.

Have you called Beckett? 1-800-645-2876. Good luck.

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Steamhead (in transit)

The R7184 primaries

are all 15-second as far as I know. When you use valve-on-delay (highly recommended) the 15-second countdown doesn't start until the control sends power to the valve. The valve used with this setup should not have its own built-in delay or you won't get much of a window for light-off as Darrell mentioned.

Another thing to look at is the temperature in the boiler room and at the oil tank. Cold oil can be very difficult to ignite. As long as the oil can flow from the tank to the burner, a nozzle line heater will bring it up to a workable temperature. If the oil has trouble leaving the tank, there are several methods of dealing with it.

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Jamie Hall

Thank you all!

We're looking... haven't found it yet, but your suggestions are a big help! One thing at least -- it doesn't seem to be getting excess oil in the box (you're so right: that big a burner can make quite a 'sneeze' if there's an excess).

Just at the moment I'm letting my poor burner guy service the folks who really have no heat, and just paying attention...

Jamie