Peerless MI Boiler with alot of Orange in Gas Flame....advice please

FloMo201

Evening everyone,

I had a new peerless boiler installed before this winter, model is the MI. Everything was running great for about 2-3 months, until about a week ago. I started to notice the gas flames were a mix of blue and orange. That said there are times when it is firing and its a nice clean blue with just an occasional orange pop....and then there are times that during the entire cycle it is a mix of blue & orange.

Hard to tell how much of each color...but it could be 50/50...hard for me to really say. I've tried taking pictures but there is no way for me to get my iphone under the boiler while its running...at least not safely for me When I look in, to me, it looks like the orange is at the top of the flame because by the burner tubes is blue.

I've had the installer check it and he examined the heat exchanger to see if there was any blockage or soot and he said everything looked clean. He also checked the draft and that was fine as well.

I've read posts on here that orange may not be anything to worry about, but i am a worry wort so......is there anything else I should have the installer do or perhaps even the gas company? Should I pull out the burners and see what they look like?? How do i do that on this boiler? The manual doesn't have anything in it on that. I did look to see if any of the air openings on the burner tubes where closed and they are all open and look equal to each other.

The basement itself is fairly clean and unfinished. Mostly used for storage.

Thank you for any guidance you can provide me

Regards, Flo

Jamie Hall

Orange? Or yellow? It is a critical difference. If the flame colour is orange, that usually indicates sodium or dust. Are there any sodium containing chemicals in the basement? Poll chemicals? Road salt?

FloMo201

Good morning Jamie. It is orange from what i can tell. there is a water softening system in the basement and i do have a couple of unopened bags of salt next to it. But the softener and sale bags are pretty far away from the boiler. The basement is also L shaped and the 2 devices are at the opposite ends of the L shape. Is it possible that is my cause??

FloMo201

And also...this morning....the flames are all blue with the occassional pop of orange.

EBEBRATT-Ed

@FloMo201

stop walking around the boiler. When you walk around it stirs up dust which get into the flame and makes it burn orange. If you watch the flame and they are orange stay still and see if they go back to blue. Sounds normal to me

Jamie Hall

Sounds normal to me, too -- and even though that salt is a long way away, there's going to be enough of it loose in the dust to do that quite nicely. It only takes a tiny amount -- a few grams.

FloMo201

Thank you both! Regards, Flo

FloMo201

@EBEBRATT-Ed , @Jamie Hall,

The only additional info I can offer you to see if your opinion stays....those salt bags have always been there....its where I keep a couple of bags on hand at all times. So the boiler ran for 2-3 months without any orange in the flames.

I'm not actually anywhere near the boiler when I first noticed it. I was grabbing things off shelves. I mentioned the basement is L-Shaped....the shelving is in the 90 degree section. From there, the boiler is about 25-ish feet away from where I am moving around. The salt bags are about 15ft in the opposite direction.

This morning, as I entered the storage area I could see a mix of orange an blue. I did get further up close to see if it was orange, or yellow, and it does appear orange. Blue by the burner tube, maybe some purple (hard to really tell) and then the orange at the tip end. It did get worse as I was near the boiler but never settled back to all blue as I left that area.....it stayed orange/blue...less orange. It is all flickering across all burners.

I will attempt to get you guys a picture.

I do have UL listed CO detector in the basement and have been considering a low level which I am going to purchase for some added peace of mind. CO Experts was recommended to me on this site.

Thank you again for your input. Please let me know if you think there is anything i should have checked out, or if this is just normal. I apologize for being such a worry wort. I've read to many carbon monoxide posts on here .

Thank you, Flo

Jamie Hall

If it really is orange, and kind of sometimes there and sometimes not, I wouldn't think it's a problem. Orange is from sodium, and as I said it takes very very little of it. Now if it is yellow, more like a candle flame, that would suggest that the air/fuel ratio is off and it should be checked.

FloMo201

Thank you Jamie. In that description...in the candle flame would there be any blue? Or would it be orange or yellow at the at the base?? I think I am driving myself nuts

Jamie Hall

FloMo201 said:

Thank you Jamie. In that description...in the candle flame would there be any blue? Or would it be orange or yellow at the at the base?? I think I am driving myself nuts

Relax! And go look at a candle flame. What you see is some blue (usually) right around and just above the wick. And then as you move away from the wick, it will be (if it is an ordinary candle) a nice yellow -- really yellow, almost like the centre of an emoji but a little yellower -- with maybe a little smoke at the tip. The orange from traces of sodium really is much more orange, and will be more scattered in the flame, though usually concentrated near the ends of the flame. Hard to describe, unmistakable once you see it.

FloMo201

@Jamie Hall

That was very helpful. Looking at my burners versus a candle. Mine looks something, but not 100% the same as this picture. I have a light blue base followed by darker blue/maybe purple. The orange shows up as pops at the base and disappears or flickers at the top. It is always moving from one place to another...flickers around alot and nothing appears steady and constant. I've tried on several attempts to take a picture but my cellphone just wont focus on it...so I went to the internet. There is a flame in this picture in the middle that looks like a candle to me, but my burners do not look like that.

Jamie Hall

Your descrption (verbal) sounds much more like dust with a little sodium in it that anything else.

FloMo201

Thank you again. I did check to see if the UL listed CO detector captured any peak values but it was zero. For now i will just let it got, but I think i will purchase the CO Experts low level detector for my own sanity.

Your help was very much appreciated. Stay safe, Flo

FloMo201

If anything changes and need further assistance....I will reach out to this community. So very helpful