what's in a nozzle assembly?

snugone

I had a Beckett nozzle assembly out of an AFG today and I noticed that when I tilted it one way (ie. towards or away from one of the ends) that there was something heavy inside the nozzle assembly fuel tube or maybe the nozzle adapter that I could feel moving around and would 'clunk'. As I was tilting it back and forth puzzling over what it might be, it seemed to wedge itself after a while and I could no longer feel it moving or any 'clunk' after that.

Is it supposed to do that?

Steamhead

Yes. Some of those drawer assemblies had brass rods in them to reduce the volume in the tube, so it would be easier to get air out when starting up after a servicing. Nothing to worry about.

Marz

Beckett made that style for a relatively short period of time. We here have had many that can cause intermittent reset problems. The check valve can get stuck, causing low flow to the nozzle. Glad that Beckett stopped that foolish design years ago now.

snugone

Thanks for the replies. The Beckett in question has a hard start issue, slamming the damper door shut with a bang every startup, but is otherwise running very well and efficiently. Nothing obvious to me as to why; has a good spark, a cleancut pump which tested fine for cutoff, a tigerloop with no visible leaks between it and the nozzle, proper tube depth into chamber and no nozzle drip beyond a small amount visible on bottom of nozzle with no wetness on tube floor (so I'm doubting nozzle overheat, though control does lack post purge), burner is slightly tilted towards boiler which itself is level.

It would be interesting if a new drawer assembly solves the hard starting. It certainly wouldn't be something that would have occurred to me as a possible culprit (mostly because I wasn't aware it had moving parts).