Beckett burner smoke smell

vilgo

It was all been correct. We had gravity chimney and the changed to power vent. All good. Timer on power vent field control broke. Primary went into hard lockout. 

Tech replaced, oil pump motor, main motor, nozzle, electrode and lense(isnt it new burner now) and primary control. No results yet!...... Then we remembered, when call for heat, power vent turns on first now it is not, idea flashed finally pointed to and replaced power vent field control timer. Seemingly back to normal but frequent hard locks and frequency ranged from hour to days to weeks and months. Tech said primary may be faulty out of box, replaced a new one. No results....

At one point after replacement of motors we started smelling oil/ smoke in house, vents looked dark. This happened only when we first turned heater on for the day. Now smell comes every time call for heat and ignites fire. In addition, infrequent hardlock persists. 

So far in addition to above, changed oil filter, air filter, cleaned electrodes, lens and nozzle, we noticed wet (condensed vapours of oil) surface surrounding burner

Any solutions, diagnosis etc....?? 

Thanks

My technical level I can read dictionary 😅

Jamie Hall

Ah yes. The good old parts cannon. If you can't diagnose it, throw parts at it until something works...

If your tech replaced all that stuff he or she has to go right back to square one and verify that all the parts in the burner are correct (nozzle size and pattern, spacing, setting within any air cone, ignition electrodes type and spacing, etc.) then look at the pump and check that it is set up properly (one line or two?) and that the pressure is set correctly. Then look for any oil or vacuum leaks.

Then start the unit up and let it warm up, and then -- using calibrated test instruments, not the Mark I eyeball -- adjust the air and draught to get the best performance.

Your symptoms tell me that your oil burner is now WAY out of adjustment -- and possibly has some incorrect parts in it.

HVACNUT

Shut it off.
It could be a saturation. 
It needs professional attention. Not the person that was there. Where are you located?

EBEBRATT-Ed

You are in serious need of a new Technician because the one who worked on you system has not got a clue. I hope you have not paid them. They should be ashamed of themselves.

MaxMercy

Absolutely inexcusable. As others have said, you need a professional to look at it - whoever has been clearly isn't.

vilgo said:

...vents looked dark.

You have a furnace and not a hydronic boiler, and you're talking about your heat registers putting out soot??

Even with the burner running incorrectly and sooty, you should not be getting any of the soot in your registers - you might also have (in addition to everything else you mentioned), a cracked heat exchanger in your furnace which is dangerous and often deadly from CO.

Shut the system down and get someone who knows what they're doing to sort this mess out.

vilgo

@HVACnut I'm in MA Worcester. 
I don't get "smoke" through vents but smells half burnt fuel. I can also see wet surfaces at the burner which is oil,,,,, smell comes only when furnace fires up, but when running doesn't smell or smoke 

HVACNUT

vilgo said:

@HVACnut I'm in MA Worcester. 
I don't get "smoke" through vents but smells half burnt fuel. I can also see wet surfaces at the burner which is oil,,,,, smell comes only when furnace fires up, but when running doesn't smell or smoke 

You don't know if there's smoke. That's why they make a smoke tester. And only a qualified oil tech will solve your issue. 
The longer it runs the way it is, the worse its gonna get. 

At the top of the page there's a " 'click here' to find a contractor in your area" box. 
Click it.