Rattle/Vibration at Start Up

DStiff

I have a Weil-Mclain P-W60-4 boiler and a Carlin EZPro 1HPW burner.



When the burner first ignites, the flue and the little door for looking at the flame rattle loudly. If the boiler has been cold for more than 8-10 hours, then this rattle will last for about 2 minutes before the unit settles down and the rattling stops. If the boiler is warm, then the rattle will last about 1-5 seconds.



My oil company has been out twice to figure out what is causing the rattle. But they can't find any problems. They replaced the nozzle and checked the oil pressure.



Any help would be appreciated.

billtwocase

shake, rattle and roll

There could be a few things going on here. First is the inspection door should be tightened, and not rattling. Second breech and overfire draft readings, last servicing, pre-purge enabled, nozzle size and correct plate installed, pump pressure, vac reading? There can be a few things that would cause this.

Charlie from wmass

Has the boiler ever been brushed out

has the chimney ever been cleaned out?

DStiff

Rattle/Vibration at Start Up

The boiler was serviced and cleaned about 2 months ago. I have had my oil company in two times to check the rattle, but they cannot find any problems.



It turns out that the clay tile liners in my chimney are falling apart, but the chimney still has draft. I will be having the chimney relined soon.



But, I don't think that the problem is the chimney. When the burner starts up, the flame is orange/blue and jumps around in the combustion chamber. This creates puffs of air that rattle the barometric damper and lookout door. After about 1 minute, the flame turns bright yellow/white and becomes strong and steady.



The longer the burner sits between burns, the longer and louder the rattle is when the burner starts up again.



It almost seems like there is air/water in the fuel line at startup. But that doesn't make sense, wouldn't that be a problem the entire time (not just at start up)? My fuel line runs about 15 feet to my oil tank. How long would it take for 15 feet of fuel line to be cleared when the burner is firing?

billtwocase

gravity feed?

Where is your oil tank? underground, basement? Sounds like too much air, or lack of oil supply? Did they test combustion? Test results? The run is not excessive for the oil line, but if it is plugged, kinked, filters are dirty, strainer not replaced, bad nozzle, low pump pressure, wrong firing plate, and the list can go on, will cause this. If there is a negative draft at the breech, and over fire, the chimney, although needs lining if the liner is compromised, isn't  your problem. The fire should not be blue. Probably time to find someone who can find the problem for you.

Jean-David Beyer

Oil piping?

When I first bought this house, there was a 275(?) gallon oil tank in the ground -- a little over 25 years old. Boiler did not run right due to excess water in the oil suppply. Oil supplier  pumped out the tank, but by the next day there was too much water in it again.  So they pumped it out and installed a 1000 gallon tank in the ground  much farther away (could not get it past a row of lilac trees) with a single copper supply pipe. That sort-of worked until it got cold. They installed a two-pipe system with a bigger pump. It pumped a lot of oil up, and most of it went back to the tank through return pipe. No more problems with air or water.

DStiff

Sticky Solenoid Valve

Turns out that the solenoid valve was not opening fully opening for the first few minutes after ignition. Thanks for everyone's suggestions.