Should my plumber know what I mean by 'clean and tune'

Mark_125

Hi All,

I've had a home energy audit done and was told that my aging boiler for my 320ft addition has high CO output (130 parts per million). The engineer performing the audit also said that I could probably get my heating guy to do a 'clean and tune' and that should bring the CO back down.

I called my regular heating guy and he didn't seem to know what I was talking about....said something about packing the flue - should I be worried? Is clean and tune a common term for heating?

Thanks,

Mark

kcopp

Worried...no

surprised yes. If the contractor does not then I would explain it to him. Opening up the flue pipe, look in in the fireways, brush and vac, pull the burners....do a combustion test. But there again if you have to explain that he probably does not have the tools to do that. I would start looking around.

STEVEusaPA

You bet....But you need a 'heating professional'

Not just a plumber.

If he says........"huh?" just hang up on him and call someone else.

If it's oil--complete cleaning, change & install proper nozzle, filters, pump strainer, and complete efficiency testing will either fix the problem, or determine if you need a replacement.

What kind of boiler? Gas or Oil? What burner on it.

What were the rest of the combustion numbers, besides CO?  High CO can be caused by a number of factors.  What do you have for draft, net stack temp, and excess air?

Mark_125

Natural Gas boiler

Should have included that its Natural Gas. The only other number he gave me was a draft of -7. I think I will take your advice Steve and call somebody else anyway. Thanks.

ed wallace

clean and tune

sorry mike butmost  plumbers are not equiped to do cleanings you dont say where you are located if we knew where you lived city state we might be able to help you more

Charlie from wmass

Yes your plumber should know what that means

This plumber would not say "huh" I would say "morning or noon what is the best time to schedule for you?"

JohnNY

Yes.

We do a clean and safety check for an annual fee for our service agreement customers.

Where we see an older boiler or evidence of a problem we do combustion tests, thermal scans, meter clocking, draft test, etc.



If these are foreign concepts to your plumber then you need someone else to take care of your boiler. Use your plumber to clear your clogged drains.