Winkler boiler with Carlin oil burner not working

fireandice

Our oil heat recently stopped working. It's an old system running a Winkler Econo Section Boiler and Carlin Elite Model EZ-1. See attached pictures of setup.

The pump, pump screen, nozzle and oil filter were recently replaced, but still no heat. Those repairs were supposed to be preventative maintenance as heat was working prior.

Oil tank is underground and I think has plenty of oil based on lowering wooden stick into tank.

Unfortunately I don't know the history of the system. ANY suggestions on fixing or upgrading this would be much appreciated.

Jellis

Not enough info provided to offer any help.
is the burner going out on reset? or is there another issue?

Don't forget, you could easily ruin your boiler or put yourself and others in danger by making the wrong adjustments or changes to the boiler. I highly recommend calling a pro to come take a look at it.

Jamie Hall

Most likely problem is that it's lost its prime (doesn't take much of an air leak in some fitting or other) -- or was never properly reprimed after the service.

However, as @Jellis said, this really isn't something for a homeowner to fix. Find a good service company and get them to come and service the burner and system all over again (I know, I know -- more money. But... if it worked before it was serviced, and doesn't work now...). Have you looked in the "find a contractor" section of this web site?

STEVEusaPA

You have an underground tank and a 1 pipe oil line.
First thing for a pro to check is for a vacuum leak or a restriction, then proper priming, then the fuel unit itself, on the oil side.
Looks like your set up for 1.5 gph, which is underfired, unless they properly raised the pump pressure.
Did the tech leave a copy of the combustion results from the PM?

Are these cracks (circled in red)?

HVACNUT

Does the burner fire?
Do you have hot water or is it just no heat?
When you raise the heat does the circulator run? The B&G red pump near the right side wall.
Side note. The Lo side of the aquastat is at 120°. Raise it to 145°-150° to prevent condensing of the flue gasses and lower the Hi to 180° Max. Differential to 10 or 15.
Keep a minimum of 20° between Hi and Lo.

STEVEusaPA

I think it’s cold start now, which is probably why they turned the low limit all the way down.
OP, is the boiler still being used for dhw, with the storage tank?
As far as upgrading, a proper heat loss would determine if that boiler is worth keeping. If the “5” on the name plate means 5 section, and 2 gph firing rate, then either you’re in a very large leaky house, or the boiler is massively oversized and wasting energy.
I suspect the latter.
I see signs of water leaking, flue gas condensing, old energy-hogging circulator, etc.
A properly sized, properly piped and installed modern efficient boiler with modern controls would save you a lot of money, and provide you with better comfort.
I’d be surprised if you’re doing better than 50% system efficiency.

John Mills_5

Seems to me Winkler was made by Stewart Warner somewhere around Indy? I've seen a few forced air Winklers come out but not a boiler. Didn't they make units with low pressure burners?

EBEBRATT-Ed

@John Mills_5 Yes Winkler made low pressure burners. Never seen one myself. The boiler is probably made by someone else and rebadged.

@STEVEusaPA , maybe converting the oil to two pipe or a dreaded tiger loop would fix it

STEVEusaPA

EBEBRATT-Ed said:

...
@STEVEusaPA , maybe converting the oil to two pipe or a dreaded tiger loop would fix it

Underground single line, if I couldn't find the vacuum leak or a restriction, I'd throw a Tiger Loop on it-never 2 pipe .
I'm generally not crazy about them, but I'm not interested in callbacks either.

The OP did a 1 and done, so I guess we'll never know.

Steamhead

EBEBRATT-Ed said:

@John Mills_5 Yes Winkler made low pressure burners. Never seen one myself.

I have two in my garage

They were originally made by U.S. Machine Co, located in Lebanon, IN which is just northwest of Indy. Stewart-Warner bought them out sometime in the 1950s, and mismanaged the operation out of business. At one point they did market a high-pressure burner- I ran into one here:

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/170456/door-mount-disaster-or-ohhhhh-this-is-just-wrong

These units used a positive-displacement fuel metering system, then the oil was mixed with air before being fed to the nozzle. The burner fan supplied the air-oil premix at something like 4 PSI, and not much secondary air (coming through the air tube in the usual manner) was needed for a clean burn. As a result, stack temperatures were much lower than with traditional burners of the time.

Later versions had a power-operated damper that closed the air gate when the burner shut down. And you thought Riello was first to offer that feature.................

But they cost a lot more to make than a standard burner, and fuel was cheap, and apparently S-W was not good at marketing, so Winkler bit the dust.