Riello burner with New Yorker boiler?

HotShotMedic

Hi guys, great forum and lots of great info!

I recently had some work done to my oil/hot water furnace including a cleaning and new circulating pump installed. While the tech was here he told me about riello burners and some of the benefits including reliability and effiency. There is a Beckett burner on the furnace now which every year seems to need repair/servicing of some kind. (I'm no expert on this stuff but have replaced a few nozzles in my time and a coupling a few years ago(plastic!?! Really!?!)). Would a riello burner be a good choice for this boiler which is about 15 years old? Pros/cons/cautions? He quoted me $300 installed for a refurb'd unit and warranties his work for 6 months. I can follow up this post with specs and pics soon if it would help. Thanks for any info!

STEVEusaPA

My thoughts...

First....you're not suppose to discuss pricing....

1. How efficient is your current system running? Was an efficiency test performed? What are the numbers?

2. If yes to #1, what efficiency is he promising you with the new Riello?

3. What's the model # on the New Yorker, what Beckett Burner is in the Boiler, and what model # Riello is he offering to install?

4.  The Beckett isnt unreliable.  Nozzles have nothing to do with the burner, and a coupling fails for the same reasons on any burner.

5.  My guess, he has a Riello sitting around (refurbished by who?), pulled out of a conversion job, or whatever, and he's looking to make some more money off of you.

Get us the info in #3, and we can advise you further.

BTW, why did you get a cleaning AND a new circ?  Did he come out for a cleaning and sold you a circ, or did he come out for the circ, and stay for the cleaning?

STEVEusaPA

My thoughts...

double posted again....this time I know it wasnt me

EddieG

Why not...

I don't see a big benifit to installing the Riello. Don't get me wrong I like their burners. But you should but your money into things that SAVE OIL!!!!! I would look at outdoor reset controls or Beckett's Aquasmart control (which can do outdoor reset as well). I wouldn't blame the burner for your service issues. I would look at tank condition, oil filters, and has it been set up properly with a combustion test. What I would also do is add an upgraded primary control and oil valve that gives you pre and post purge. Doing this will give you the same features and more than the Riello. Also make sure you have good oil filtration, dual filters or spin on type as a minimum. JMO 

billtwocase

like the others have said

was this guy serious? A dry base steel boiler, and a Riello burner is not a good match. They like zero to a positive draft to start with, and a tight boiler. I would consider throwing that baby out with the bath water, and all couplings are plastic or rubber. It needs to be flexible. 

HotShotMedic

reply

Hi guys, sorry about the lack of info in my original post and the mentioning of pricing.  I stumbled across this website during a google search and didn't have time to read through the forum rules, my bad.  Allow me to clarify a bit.  I haven't had an efficiency  test done on this furnace.  I booked a yearly cleaning for the furnace, when the guy arrived, I told him that a few of my back bedrooms were not getting as hot as they should be, he checked the circ pump and found that it was seized so he replaced it along with doing the cleaning.  The circ replacement fixed the cold back bedroom issue.  It was during this visit that he told me about the Riello burner and how much he likes them compared to the old style becketts, etc.  He told me a few things about them, most of which I forget now, but it related to reliability and better efficiency.   It makes sense that he may be trying to offload an 'extra' one he had laying around.  It seems as though, from your expertise, that this may not be a good fit for my aging boiler due to the 'type'.  Forgive me, I'm still learning about this furnace and its maintenance.  Here are some pics :









Ok, so lets move on. 

Over the last few weeks, on occasion, I would notice the house not heating properly, cooler rooms even though t-stats were calling for more heat.  Upon looking at the water temp gauge on the furnace, it was down to the bottom, so it was not firing up to heat the water and in turn the house.  The reset button was up.  One press caused it to fire up and heat the water and in turn the house.  This happened 3 times with similar results.  House got cold again throughout the night. Today when I pressed the reset button, the burner came on but would not fire up (does this make sense?) then shut down shortly afterward.  I figured I'd try the most basic of maintenance by checking and replacing the nozzle.  Inspection of the old nozzle revealed a tonne of crud around it.  Replaced nozzle and the furnace fired right up when power was restored.  But it started leaking oil from the burner housing.  The transformer and electrodes had oil on them.  So I shut it down and checked all my connections again.  Turns out I put the thumb nut on backwards, concave end toward burner and the oil line was not making good contact.  I cleaned oil off of transformer and electrodes then corrected this connection and no more oil leak.  I'm gonna leave the furnace off for now until I can change the filters as well.  Tomorrows project!

EddieG

You....

You really need to find a good contractor! If that burner is not dialed in / set up properly it can be dangerous! Try the find a contractor feature on this site and check out oiltechtalk.com. Were are you located? Some of the best in the biz hang around these sites!

HotShotMedic

No where near...

Yah I'm in Sydney NS. Not likely that any of you are near me.

billtwocase

no need for appology

you had questions, and hopefully someone can answer them. You have a good combo, just needs a qualified tech to work on it and set it up. Rieloo is a good burner, but is overkill on that boiler. In other words, you will gain nothing by having one installed for you, and a refurbished one to boot does not sound tempting to me. That was actually a Sussex boiler, and originally came with a Wayne Blue Angel. They are so-so. If it is doing what you need it to do, and consumption isn't off the charts, like Eddie said, invest in fuel saving controls.

Mac_R

Real Savings

If you are looking for real savings there are two things I would do off the bat.  First thing would be install a Beckett AquaSmart.  The AquaSmart is a 10% savings.  It will also make the house a little more comfortable.  The second thing I would do is replace the circulator with a Taco Delta T 008.  That little pump with the AquaSmart will work really nicely together.  The Delta T circulator will adjust the flow of water through the system to what is needed to heat the house.  No less no more.  Set it for a 20 degree difference and watch the savings build up.  Beckett also makes a wireless outdoor sensor for the AquaSmart that will give you the ability to do true outdoor reset.  I have installed one on our system here in the office.  So far so good.  To early to see any real savings. 

A new system will always save you more than any individual part or control.  Your system is 34 years old.  It was produced in 1978.  Needless to say systems back then were not designed for efficiency. 

If you were to compare your current system to a Buderus or a Burnham MPO the savings are there.  Along with the addition of an indirect water heater and outdoor reset.  No contest. 

You really will not see any savings by having a Riello installed.  What you have now is a high speed retention head burner.  Not that different from the Riello in principal.  If you had a 1720 non retention head burner then you would benefit from the Riello.  But that is just not the case here.   Save your money and go with the AquaSmart or replace the entire system. 

sdc

Code

You are not allow to change out that burner to a Riello, certification is for the Beckett. It would make it an "uncertified appliance" in Canada. If I read the serial number right...1990 that makes it 22 yrs old this year. The water heater behind it looks approx same age. Time to consider replacement of both items for piece of mind.