Sooty flue exhaust

bill_boiler

Hello all,



I have an old (30 year?) VTF-510 Blueray oil boiler in an 1800 sqft house. I've noticed recently that the flue exhaust was black and sooty. It's summer time, so the boiler is only firing for domestic hot water. We're still getting hot water...hard to say if it's not heating as quickly but I wouldn't be surprised. The boiler last had its annual service in Feburary (it's now August). So far, no soot in the basement, although when I peek in the damper there is a shallow layer of soot in the flue bottom.



The problem is, I've been planning to replace this boiler anyway this fall. I just cancelled my service contract for the old boiler, and I've got a free NYSERDA energy audit scheduled for the end of month. The energy audit will allow me to get a discount on a new boiler, so I want to wait for that to complete, but it might be 2 months before that happens. Is it safe to continue on without sinking several hundred dollars into a boiler repair for something I'm going to replace in a couple months anyway? If I stick a carbon monoxide alarm in the basement and it never goes off, am I safe?

STEVEusaPA

Nope

It needs to be checked out. It could be something as simple as a partially plugged nozzle to poor draft, or dirty/plugged heat exchanger. But you have poor combustion and it's going to get worse. You don't want any products of combustion, which contain carbon monoxide leaking into the living space.



Why rely on a CO detector to save your life WHEN you boiler starts leaking CO, instead of preventing it in the first place?

billtwocase

is it a Blue Ray burner?

If so, it needs to go