Help with R. W. Beckett 'NX' burner

Wall9608

Hello. I have an oil furnace with an R. W. Beckett NX burner. Last season I had an issue with it starting up, showing a flame, then cutting the flame off. Then it would restart the cycle and do the same thing. Had a tech come out who changed the nozzle, oil filter, and pump strainer. Worked fine for 1 full season. I just turned it on for the first time this season and I'm having a similar issue. It starts, flames for a little over 2 minutes, then locks out. I removed the electrodes, adjusted them to the manual specs, made sure everything was clean and reinstalled. It didn't help anything.

What else can I troubleshoot? I'm having a hard time thinking I have to pay the professionals 300 bucks a year to do simple maintenance on it. 

SuperTech

It needs maintenance and a full combustion analysis done. The NX is a very finicky burner and it cannot be setup by just looking at the flame and calling it good. It sounds like the cad cell eye isn't detecting the flame properly and shutting it off on safety.  You need to call an experienced oil burner technician to set the burner up properly 

HVACNUT

Wall9608 said:

What else can I troubleshoot? I'm having a hard time thinking I have to pay the professionals 300 bucks a year to do simple maintenance on it. 

Think harder. Setting up a modern burner, especially an NX, isn't DIY. That's why they call it an "annual" maintenance. 
Do you have the combustion report from last year?

Wall9608

HVACNUT said:

Wall9608 said:

What else can I troubleshoot? I'm having a hard time thinking I have to pay the professionals 300 bucks a year to do simple maintenance on it. 

Think harder. Setting up a modern burner, especially an NX, isn't DIY. That's why they call it an "annual" maintenance. 
Do you have the combustion report from last year?

They did not perform a combustion test. Changed those three things and fired it up and called it good.

BDR529

dose it have the mica windows on the throttle ring?

Wall9608

BDR529 said:

dose it have the mica windows on the throttle ring?

I'm sorry I don't understand. 

HVACNUT

Wall9608 said:

HVACNUT said:

Wall9608 said:

What else can I troubleshoot? I'm having a hard time thinking I have to pay the professionals 300 bucks a year to do simple maintenance on it. 

Think harder. Setting up a modern burner, especially an NX, isn't DIY. That's why they call it an "annual" maintenance. 
Do you have the combustion report from last year?

They did not perform a combustion test. Changed those three things and fired it up and called it good.

Well that's definitely not good. Get another company. Make sure the tech has experience with the NX.

EBEBRATT-Ed

I am usually against DIY on this sort of thing, but the homeowners are caught between a rock and a hard place.

Paying for service is one thing. Paying for incompetent service is another thing.

Steamhead

I had an NX on my boiler for years, without issues. They just need to be set up properly. If your "service" company can't or won't do this, find someone else. Where are you located?

Wall9608

Steamhead said:

I had an NX on my boiler for years, without issues. They just need to be set up properly. If your "service" company can't or won't do this, find someone else. Where are you located?

I'm in NJ, Hunterdon County 

EBEBRATT-Ed

@Wall9608

PM @EzzyT or @clammy

If they can't do it they may be able to recommend someone

jimna01

Homeowner. Yes it’s a finicky beast but mine has been running for 15 years now. Runs much better when my service guy a few years back replaced the Beckett Genisys primary control with a Carlin primary. Been 100 percent reliable ever since. I am not a pro, so I can’t say whether this was appropriate but it works for me.

Wall9608

Thanks for the assistance all. It ended up being the capacitor and was fixed quickly

EdTheHeaterMan

Short story about when the NX was introduced a the service managers convention in Hershey PA. many years ago. We had just started using Riello Burners at F P Young Co. as our "Go To" oil burner for "modernizing" old oil heaters. My little brother (about 19 years old at the time) went up to the RW Beckett Booth at the trade show and asked "Is that the new "Beckello" burner?" One of the Beckett brothers (perhaps a grandson of the original) was at the booth at the time, and was not impressed with the question.

What did Art Linkletter use to say? Kids say the darndest things!