need help with Beckett burner

Gregory

thanks again to everyone who has replied to me. I have installed a new set of electrodes and have had no problems for two days. However my delayed ignition was not an everyday occurance so we'll see. I do have one problem - how do I know which head I have? My literature for the burner calls for different electrode seting for an F head as opposed to VI or LI. Nowhere does it say what is on there. greg

Gregory

need help with Beckett oil burner

hello, we have a Beckett afg oil burner on our steam system that intermitantly suffers from delayed ignition. it usually works correctly but on occasion there is a short delay after the thermostat calls for heat, and then it starts with a loud bang and oil smoke and smell. it has been cleaned and checked repeatedly by four different professional techs and the transformer has been replaced with no luck. at this point I could have bought a new one. They tell me on a system this age (1973) that all the power comes from one source so if the blower runs then there is power to the primary and therefore I can forget about bad connections. is this true? pump screen is clean, filter new, trans new, nozzle new, electrodes cleaned and adjusted. any ideas? thanks in advance. greg

TGO_54

Delayed Ignition

TGO_54

Delayed Ignition

Was the unit set up using combustion test equipment? Have the electrodes been set correctly? You may want to find a mechanic who is willing to stick with you until the problem is resolved rather than calling in so many different people.

chapchap70_2

more info?

Without being there, it doesn't seem like a power problem but did they test it? I would lean toward a draft problem or an oil supply problem. What were your combustion test numbers? How old is your tank? Did they hand pump the oil line(s)?

lee_7

with age of boiler, do you have a primary control or a stack control? Was at a job today for delayed iggnition,that with the 30 mph winds actually pegged draft gauge completely negative when not running with barametric damper fully open. went over everything and was all good. When all done, wind died for about 10 minutes, boiler fired perfectly.

Cosmo_3

agree

Delayed ignition problems that are not fixed on the first call may be a sign of an inexperienced burner tech, or a tech that is not given the tools he needs to do the job right. Then again I have had some burners not want to light off due to windy conditions. May need another barometric damper. There is a reason why tech with many years experience get more $, because on many occasions they can spot a problem right away.

What are the draft conditions? Do you have the literature for the boiler? What burner model? Any materials from the manufacturer may help. Most delayed ignition problems are caused by wrong electrode positioning, or wrong settings on the burner. After that the wiring may need attention, maybe a frayed wire is not giving the transformer or burner motor all the juice it needs.

The tech has to determine what the proper nozzle is, proper burner head settings, air, and oil pump pressure settings are. You should not have to keep paying for the same problem.

If you cannot resolve this situation with your existing oil company then maybe use the find a professional feature on this site to find a good guy....

Cosmo

william_5

start with the simple things

you said it was a Becket afg does the tranfsomer have the gasket on it? is the end cone clean? are the tranfsomer spring hitting the eletrode bars? here is an easy one that is over looked do the pocilions have hair line cracks in them? or have they lost there outer coating (that would be there shine)? is the nozzle line been checked with a tee gage as well as the blast tube or is it runing with to much air ? yes it is true the power comes from one soure but what is the voltage? the blower will run at 100v but you need 14000v out for ingnation thats with 110v in less than 110v in = less than 1400v out hope this helps

william

Ken D.

beckett

Could be electrodes set incorrectly, wrong or defective nozzle, too much combustion air, some type of impingement, weak transformer, draft problem, combustion head wrong, dirty or damaged, static disc wrong or damaged, concentricity off, nozzle depth off, pump pressure incorrect, electrode porcelains cracked or porous, transformer terminals dirty or not making good connection, etc., etc.

Gregory

thanks for the many replies

thanks guys, the burner has been set up with test equipment and supposedly has acceptable numbers. it printed out a reciept like paper which is taped to the unit. I'll repy with the specs soon. I can't say that I notice any correlation to wind conditions. it is a three story house so it is a fairly long chimney if that matters. tanks may be as old as mid 1970's, not sure but oil supply is supposedly clean and plentiful and the filter replaced. it has been bled - twice. I'll check for proper voltage and it has a primary control. all your help is much appreciated. greg

Gregory

more answers

model I guess is #AE-275190, MP 1192. actually the last transformer did not have a gasket under it, but the trans was replaced and now has the proper gasket. not sure about the check with the T gage but i'll look in to it. and I'll check for porcelin cracks.

dana_3

beckett burner

check the combustion test report sheet that was left with you . look for the percentage of excess air if it's on there. cold basement air along with too much air entering the burner will cause problems. IF the amount of excess air is high( 30-50%). then the burner should be retested and re-setup.

#1 plumba

a few things to check for

just a lil input, even an open electrical hole in the j-box under the primary can set off that stuff too. check for that, and if its a new primary, it has a delay in ignition.

joeoilman

a NEW set of properly adjusted set of 5780 electrodes will probably do it. a tune up without new electrodes is like tuning up your car & not changing the spark plugs. not much of a tune up.

Nick L. in Vt

beckett heads

if the retention head is on the burner tube, it's a f head. the v1 and l1 head attach to the gun assy and come out when you pull the nozzle and electrode assy.
as a side note, beware a fualty electronic ignighter. the dogma"it either works or it doesn't" is not true. have a whole box of carlin bk-1 ignighters with the date code 01-19-03, and they fail intermittently. just food for thought.


They call me "Hot Pipe"

Charles J. Hills

similar problem

> if the retention head is on the burner tube, it's

> a f head. the v1 and l1 head attach to the gun

> assy and come out when you pull the nozzle and

> electrode assy. as a side note, beware a

> fualty electronic ignighter. the dogma"it either

> works or it doesn't" is not true. have a whole

> box of carlin bk-1 ignighters with the date code

> 01-19-03, and they fail intermittently. just food

> for thought.

>

> They call me "Hot Pipe"



Charles J. Hills

Charles J. Hills

similar problem

I had a similar problem that turned out to be that there was a crack in the tube that the nozzel attches to but up by the nozzel it self, and that would let the oil bleed back past to the filter and would cause the gun not to fire at all given enough time in between firings. Best of luck.
Charles J. Hills

BobC

Intermittant delayed ignition Becket AFG

I have a Becket AFGon a Burnham V75. towards the end of last heating season I noticed occasional delayed ignition when the boiler started up from either the thermostat or the vaporstat closing as steam pressure decreased. It never happened during a burn only at the start.



I had the system cleaned about a month ago and told the tech about the problem. He replaced the nozzle, filter and strainer and set the thing up. It seemed to run fine for him, but now that it's getting cooler in Boston I turned on the heat. Initially all was fine but I started to notice some delayed ignition (2-5 seconds) only at the start of a burn.



It seems to me this is probably a spark issue rather than a fuel supply issue but I don't know for sure.



Any thoughts would be appreciated.



Bob

Jean-David Beyer

When I had an oil burner...

It was an old GE oil burner. The original GE burner died after 25 years or so. It was removed (downdraft type), and a Beckett burner was instaleld instead, shooting in the side where I believe there was an inspection port before. It worked for quite a while.



Then it had trouble starting, and they checked "everything". Replaced oil filter, nozzle, checked spark, etc. Everything was fine, but it would not always start. Especially after it was off for a longer time.



Turned out the oil pump was defective, but not because it could not deliver enough oil at enough pressure. The oil burner was at ground level, but the tank was buried below ground. A supply and a return pipe. I do not know if there is a check valve in those pumps, or whether they normally form a suitable sea without onel. But this one was worn, so if you waited too long, the oil would return to the tank, and to start, you had to pump a lot of air out of the line. Often the timer in the controller would time out and it would give up entirely with the red light on.



The technician finally guessed what the trouble was, and put in a new pump and that fixed it. Actually, it was a great pump (two stage), better than I needed, but it was all he had on the truck. That pump lasted for over 25 years, until I had the oil boiler replaced with a gas one.

BobC

oil pump

Thanks for the reply JD.



My tank is about 8 feet away on the same floor as the oil gun so I don't think that's an issue here.



The boiler (with the Burnham oil burner) is 14 years old and has been reliable to date. It never has a problem during a burn cycle except at the start of it. I have a new ignition transformer so I'll probably put that in because it seems once it starts to burn everything is fine till the start of the next cycle or the one after that. I'd say I get the delay about 1/3 of the time, sometimes a couple of seconds sometimes more.



Bob

Jean-David Beyer

Transformer

When I had the Beckett burner, it used up high voltage transformors every three or so years. Then one time, it needed a new transformer, and the technician put in a tiny (compared to the transformer) solid state device that never wore out. If yours is really a transformer, try to get one of those solid state gizmos.

BobC

Transformer

I already have a direct replacement for whats there so I'll put that in and hope it lasts another 14 years. I also noted the gasketing is missing from the existing transformer. I assume that was lost during one of the dozen cleanings the old stinkpot has seen over the years.



I'll be replacing it with gas in the next few years because of the difference in fuel costs. I haven't been too anxious to do that because I only use about 400 gallons of oil a year so it will take a while to amortize the cost of a new rig. My aging oil tank will be the straw that breaks the camels back.



thanks again for the help.



At heart I'm just a cheap old yankee. Fix, reuse and re-purpose.



Bob

BobC

New transformer

I just wanted to update  those who posted suggestions about the delayed ignition problem I was having.



I installed the new ignition transformer on Friday with the gaskets, and the burner has been purring like a kitten ever since. I did check out the porcelain insulators while I had it apart and they looked fine.



My thanks to all.



Bob