Weil Mclain QB burner??

rick in Alaska

So the QB burner is being talked about on another thread, and I thought I would start another one about it.
Everyone keeps talking about how bad it is, so I am trying to find out what it is that people don't like about it. The only thing that I have ever had problems with is where the fuel line connects right to the burner. That adapter has a bad habit of trying to unscrew itself when you try to get the fuel line off.
I always seem to get them to burn nice, so what am I missing with this?
Rick

Steamhead

Same here. All you need to do is read the manual, use the right nozzle and set it up with a digital combustion analyzer and smoke tester.

STEVEusaPA

The burner has always been fine for me. Still have about 7 in my customer base. Although some parts are basically impossible to get. So every time I replace one, I'll scavenger any usable parts.
For the fuel line a small 5/16" (I think) wrench fits right underneath the nut to hold it on the flats, while removing/tightening the nozzle line.
The only problem is that's it's in a gold. And if the heat exchanger wasn't clean, and draft wasn't good, you couldn't get negative over the fire, and that would create problems.

Steamhead

STEVEusaPA said:

........if the heat exchanger wasn't clean, and draft wasn't good, you couldn't get negative over the fire, and that would create problems.

And you have to actually clean the fire side of the boiler, and use a combustion analyzer to see if there's a draft problem. Around here, doing so seems to be the rare exception................

Ctoilman

The electrodes suck on the QB, but all in all, never had any drastic issues.  Doesn't run as clean as the Beckett with the V-head though.

EdTheHeaterMan

Well, it's been a week now, Lets put this back on top for tomorrow. I stated in the original thread that I had about 5 or 7 customers with the QB before selling my business. I also had no problem with it.

I do remember when it was introduced. The Weil-McLain trainer took us thru the burner features. Of course the one piece electrode "Never" needed to be adjusted because it was "one piece". The electrodes were locked in the the proper position and gap. There was some trick to adjusting the electrode forward or back in the slotted hole but I forget what that was. The other thing I remembered was on the side of the housing there was a 4 sided cut out. The cut out was covered by a tab on the ignition transformer. The cut out was the size of a 3/4" spanner wrench.

This was to hold the nozzle adaptor (like a miniature vise) so all you need to change the nozzle is a 5/8" wrench. (like every oil burner repair tech didn't already have a Nozzle extractor or at least a 3/4" spanner). But that was a sales feature that was brought up at the seminar.

I kind'a liked the burner. I only had one issue with the cad cell eye on one burner. It just seamed to be in a blind spot. I would get nuisance lock outs several times a year on this one. Sometimes it was the outside above ground oil tank would freeze up. But sometimes i just couldn't get the flame signal to keep the primary from tripping. I reconfigured the cad cell holder to place the cell closer to the flame, That solved the signal problem, but it was difficult to open and close the transformer without messing up that bracket's adjustment.

Mr.Ed

BTW, I did use the 3/4" built in vise onetime to change a nozzle. Oil (from the nozzle assembly spilled on the basement floor

HVACNUT

I was never really a fan of any Wayne residential oil burner. After we stopped using the QB, the  service Managers choice of "upgrade" was the Beckett AF2. Another poor design IMO. We hit paydirt with Riello.

We had multiple issues with the QB on Long Island. We had accounts on 55 gallon drums to ensure it wasn't a delivery problem. My belief, without proof was static pressure. There was definitely a series of slight hiccups during the run.