Which burner motor do you think is best and most reliable and easy to work on?

chowchow

EBEBRATT-Ed

Beckett or Carlin. Riello's are good a lot of people swear by them but to me they have too many proprietary parts and are more difficult to work on JMHO

Mad Dog_2

Beckett

I love and use all 3.  
A NFL analogy if I may

Beckett is the Larry Czonka (Dolphins/Giants #39 1970s Greatest Fullback Ever!) physical.beast that ALWAYS moves foward, never gets hurt or misses a game. A Bruiser that took 3 or 4 Average NFL toughguys to take him down, or One Mike Curtis or **** Butkus. 

Carlin, The John Riggins (#44 Redskins/Giants 1970-1980s Legendary Fullback..superfast for a big guy (All American Sprinter in HS and College) excited to watch..busted out for huge gains...For the Hawgs...A lliving legend of the 1980s. 

Riello The Walter Payton of burners #34 for the Bears mid 70s to late 80s..Finicky, super agile, high strung like a Thoroughbred. could leap like a Gazelle, Sprint like a cheetah 🐆,  and cut on a dime like a
Larry Kelly Ocala Cutting Pony (for you cowboys and horse 🐎 people).  Sweetness as we lovingly call him was a clean living quiet gentleman unlike the other two party animals (hey.don't knock it till ya tried.it!  Ha ha). He rarely missed a game.  

All three are All Pro Hall of Famers who not only got the job done, but delighted us along the way.  All three burners are excellent and I recommend all. The Riello DOES require a bit more skill, tweaking and patience, but once you dial their oil and gas burners in....YOU NEVER touch them again..Carlin & Beckett are ready to rock out of the box..99% of the time.

I picked Riello out of high regard, but also because I couldn't choose all. Which I would.. you can't lose with any. All winners. Mad Dog 

chowchow

Beckett

Lol nice analogy mad but what do you mean with Riello once you dial their burners you never touch them again? I mean wouldnt they get touched for yearly servicing and such? And never is such a infinite term. Thanks again for your input.

chowchow

Beckett

Also are there any other burner motors i didnt mention that people also like?

Big Ed_4

Riello

Riello has been the most reliable for me since the early 80's I worked on them . Any burner after 20 years it is best to replace them ..

Steamhead

Well, as @Mad Dog_2 says, you can get good results from any of these three. The most important thing is proper installation and setup.

We still find some of the older Sunray Golden Cup and Wayne MS-R or HS burners out there, and if set up properly they're fine. Combustion test results will tell if there are any issues with them.

Riello was, I believe, the first to make valve-on delay and the 15-second trial for ignition standard on residential burners. American manufacturers have caught up with this, and they now have self-diagnostics built into their primary controls, which can be retrofitted to older burners. Haven't seen this on Riello yet- has anyone?

pell

Is this a trick question? You are you asking about the motor or the burner assembly? The reason I ask is the Riello is best for reliability compared to the Carlin or Beckett. However to change the motor is somewhat harder and longer to change than the Beckett. I have only changed two Riello burner motors in 20 years and the units were very old. Beckett and Carlin I change around six a year due to failure but much easier to change. Had one Beckett burner on a new install with a Utica packaged boiler last year. Customer called the night of the install saying the boiler is going to blow up. Went over there bearing on the burner motor was squealing so loud you couldn't stand near it else it blow you ears out.

STEVEusaPA

Big Ed_4 said:

...Any burner after 20 years it is best to replace them...

Going to have to disagree, considering almost all the burners haven't changed much in 20 years.

EdTheHeaterMan

Most technicians that are forced to work on oil burners (I say forced because most HVAC persons would prefer to work on a gas system over an oil fired system) want something that is stupid proof. I remember teaching Oil Burner Service at a 6 week adult evening education class. I had a live fire Singer Furnace with a Beckett burner. I wanted to illustrate an ignition problem that might happen with incorrect air adjustment. I tried several times, unsuccessfully to make the failure happen. No matter how bad I adjusted the burner air gate, the burner lit off every time. Now that is a stupid proof design!


Since most OEMs use some form of Beckett AF or AFG burner, technicians are most familiar so those burners are most understood and most stupid proof. The original AF burner from the 1960s uses the same chassis as the AFG of today. SO... many will select Beckett as the "Best" only due to familiarity.

In. the late 1970s the Riello rep did a live fire training session at the family oil company. Every one of the service techs were present for the class. The representative used the red cover as a seat to work on the burner. In the 1-1/2 hour presentation he sat on that red box and disassembesd the burner expalining each part and how it was so much easier to service than the American version of that same part. He put everything back together and put the cover back on. at the end of the presentation he said that these burners (Still made in Itialy at the time) was so well built that "they never break down."

So I installed one at my home and did not service it for 7 years. WOW, he was right. After 7 years of non stop operation, the boiler never sooted up, the electrodes were in perfect pencil point condition, the flame retention combustion head has some minor carbon build up. but the combustion test indicated the flame was efficient and clean. I was impressed. I installed a lot of those burners over those years. I also purchased the little red tool box with all the replacement parts. The first time I needed it was to replace a strainer on a fuel pump. Up til then it sat on my service truck unused for about 10 years. In those 10 years I had replace many burner motors, primary controls, ignition transformers, and fuel pumps on Wayne, Beckett and Carlin burners.

chowchow

Beckett

pell said:

Is this a trick question? You are you asking about the motor or the burner assembly? The reason I ask is the Riello is best for reliability compared to the Carlin or Beckett. However to change the motor is somewhat harder and longer to change than the Beckett. I have only changed two Riello burner motors in 20 years and the units were very old. Beckett and Carlin I change around six a year due to failure but much easier to change. Had one Beckett burner on a new install with a Utica packaged boiler last year. Customer called the night of the install saying the boiler is going to blow up. Went over there bearing on the burner motor was squealing so loud you couldn't stand near it else it blow you ears out.

I mean the entire thing as a whole.