Fuel smell discharge from the draft control

hosviolin

Every once in a while partially burned fuel oil odor comes out of the draft regulator when the furnace starts. (Weil McClain boiler, Beckett burner, Field Controls "R-C" calibrated draft control, all c. 1990) One time I witnessed a puff of smoke coming out of the draft regulator when the furnace started. The odor is not unlike driving behind a diesel powered truck that is most likely in need of a tune up.

My furnace tech seems not to be able to pinpoint the problem. Is it possible that more outside air needs to be available for the burner? I imagine more than just diesel odor is getting into the air in my basement.

Any ideas would be helpful.

EBEBRATT-Ed

The risk is Carbon Monoxide poisoning.

You IMMEDIATLY need a new technician and a chimney sweep to check the flue.

Failure to take care of this could be deadly. Get a co detector down there.

It could be a blocked chimney,
dirty boiler
mis adjusted burner
or any number of things

This is what we read about in the news, Don't become a statistic.

I would shut the boiler down

SuperTech

I would check the cut off on the oil pump. If it's not holding pressure properly after shut down you will get oil dribbling out of the nozzle causing soot, CO and smoke on start up. I prefer oil pumps with a solenoid valve. Is your team have using a digital combustion analyzer to tune your burner? I hope so. It should be pretty easy to check using an analyzer and pump testing manifold.

STEVEusaPA

Agree w/ @EBEBRATT-Ed & @SuperTech.
Some pre & post purge may help too.