oil furnace sooting extensively

paulmars

In December 2023 I noticed lottsa smoke coming from my furnace. I live in florida, so dont use it too much. I did a smoke test and draft check january 2023 and all was good.

It was still heating house fine.

Many years ago I started doing my own maintenance/tune ups because I could not find anyone in florida to do it right. Even the guy who installed it didnt set it up properly. So, I check smoke and draft at least once a year. I change filter at every take fill. Strainer, nozzle and electrodes (yes I adj them too) every year or two. There are a few other parts that Ive changed as called for in the maintenance manual, that I cant remember right now. I also got the proper specs from the manufactures. One service guy actually came with a later revised spec for a later model and some specs were different. I confirmed with the manufacturer that those specs were wrong for my model year. He also didnt check draft. I can post that letter.

Anyway Im having doubts about my tuning ability, so I again looked for someone qualified. I contacted over 70 HVAC service companies in my and neighboring counties in the past two weeks. I found no one. Many said they could, but when asked how they adj co or stack temp, then didnt know.

Last week I scrubbed out then chamber, heat exchangers, sight tubes, flue, and chimney. Whatta mess! Then I changed the nozzle which was less then 2 years old (it was dripping oil and Ive never seen that before) and even though it looked fine, I changed the pump strainer too.

Im going to order a pressure gauge to hook up permanently to the pump, to check and monitor the pressure which Ive never checked. Suggestions for a good accurate brand?

Any ideas why it was smoking so much?

tks,
paul

archibald tuttle

doesn't say if you replaced the nozzle when you noticed thsi problem. even if replaced on a cycle, they can clog at anytime because something has got through the filter and then you get poor atomization and incomplete combustion as the spray pattern is interrupted. other possiblities but don't think of clogged nozzle as leaning out combustion. because it messes with the fine spray pattern it isn't the quantity of fuel to air but the quality cone and mist that is impacted. depending on the boiler you can observe the spray pattern if there is visual access. you can't set combustion by appearance but you can get an idea if you have a clog.

when you say smoky are you observing your chimney exhaust or just went to clean the boiler. . . ? it sounds like you check smoke in an annual or semi annual maintenance approach but if its showing as really sooty, no sense testing smoke, look for the major problem and then, given your focus on maintenance and operation, i would get a combustion meter to fine tune it.

calling @EdTheHeaterMan

Steamhead

@paulmars , if the nozzle was dripping, the problem is the cutoff in the fuel unit (pump) not cutting off completely. What burner is on this furnace?

STEVEusaPA

How much oil do you burn in the ‘winter'? And who delivers heating oil in Florida?
I think you’re doing too much maintenance/adjustments to your burner.
Set up properly you shouldn’t need to do anything to your burner until you burn 500-1000 gallons. Even then I’d probably just check the flue/chimney, for blockage, maybe look in a clean out for sooting, do a complete combustion test. If the numbers match last year, not even touch/change anything.
Your only issue may be fuel quality, sitting all summer, with condensation.

paulmars

Steamhead said:i searched the pump papers and no mention of cut off

@paulmars , if the nozzle was dripping, the problem is the cutoff in the fuel unit (pump) not cutting off completely. What burner is on this furnace?

paulmars

Steamhead said:

@paulmars , if the nozzle was dripping, the problem is the cutoff in the fuel unit (pump) not cutting off completely. What burner is on this furnace?

This quote thing is switching poster names. Suntec a2va 7116

paulmars

When i say dripping i meant i saw a drop on nozzle semi dried there and once i removed nozzle i couldn't see thru it.

paulmars

Beckett afg f3

SlamDunk

If you cant find a company that can tune an oil burner in Florida, and you have been doing your own furnace work for years, you should buy: a mitco oil pressure/ cuttoff gage, a smoke pump and a combustion analyzer. It is not very difficult to troublshoot and tune a small oil burner when you have the proper tools and it is a lot safer if you can measure you flue gases rather than eyeball it. You can get all of them from Amazon.

archibald tuttle

Steamhead said:

@paulmars , if the nozzle was dripping, the problem is the cutoff in the fuel unit (pump) not cutting off completely. What burner is on this furnace?

i missed the dripping paranthetical. But if you see dripping, the sooting would be coming from poor combustion of oil that continues to drip after shutoff (mildly but imperfectly analogus to dieseling in a gas engine). again, depending on the boiler set up you can see this phenomenon if you have visual access or possibly hear it if it still going on after your cleaning and nozzle replacement.

although your response seems to say maybe you are talking more about a deposit since the oil itself is not going to 'dry'. such deposits could arise from clogged nozzle but maybe from poor combustion from dripping as well.

Beckett says fuel shutoff solenoids are "useful" but doesn't indicate a requirement implying that the degree of importance and utility is application specific. that said, if you experience continuing sooting and aren't sure you can isolate the cause it is standard approach that can't hurt and might help.

I haven't experienced those problems with the suntec. I think a fuel shutoff is good practice but I haven't seen post nasal drip, so to speak, in boilers setup without it. beckett is talking mostly about fuel that comes through the pump at lower pressure in the few seconds it coasts to off where air supply is also reduced. Remotely possible to get dripping associated with air admittance from imperfect bulkhead flare fitting but if it leaks air in, you might expect to see oil dripping out when under pressure.

I can see you cleaned it and changed nozzle, but i'm not sure if you believe you are still getting sooty results or are wondering why it happened in the first place. what tipped you to the problem in the first place? e.g. chimney exhaust outdoors, noticing soot at the draft control tee, sound of combustion or ? Within reason, if this were afterburn, you wouldn't notice it significantly during heating call, but at the end of a cycle. (possibly puff at startup if it extinguishes but has dripped additionally.)

in the FYI department, there are plenty of believers in oil here in the NE, but do you have gas available? for furnaces that run shorter periods as in your climate gas takes less periodic maintenance, even a conversion burner which would still need the same combustion setting is possible, but I've been very impressed with the condensing furnaces which are not that expensive. Or think about heat pump when you replace AC at some point which could all but supplant the oil system in your climate (does the AC run in the same ducts as heat?)

It seems you have devoted yourself to keeping your oiler maintained in the face of limited skillsets in the service sector. Is your sense that the prevalance of heat pumps is crowding out combustion skills in general in the service industry there? While there is a degree of taking factory setting for granted on new gas boilers that are carefully matched to their burners, troubleshooting–forgetting best practice installation–requires combustion analysis as well and it almost sounds as if combustion analysis period and not just for oil service is on the ropes?

EdTheHeaterMan

paulmars said:

When i say dripping i meant i saw a drop on nozzle semi dried there and once i removed nozzle i couldn't see thru it.

You can't see thru a nozzle. There are some finely machined parts inside that nozzle and they will block the orifice from letting light thru the cindered filter. If however you went to the trouble of disassembling the nozzle to look thru the orifice, then throw those nozzle parts away. You will never get it back together with the proper torque and cleanliness needed for proper flow and pattern.
Here is a look at the inside of the nozzle:

EdTheHeaterMan

Here is a list of things I was taught, and therefore would teach my one day seminar classes on the proper handling of a nozzle

In order to accomplish #9 on the list, I carried a 300 PSI pressure gauge with a Tee. On the other two outlets of the Tee were 3/16" flare fitting and a 1/4" flare fitting. (Older burners and commercial burners sometimes have 1/4" high pressure lines) On each of the flare fittings there was a Flare CAP. When I connected the gauge to the Beckett burner High Pressure line, I would remove the 3/16" Flare CAP and place it on the nozzle assembly so not to loose it during the service call.

With the pump end of the nozzle assembly capped off, no oil would spill from the assembly when I removed the old nozzle. I could then pour the oil from the assembly on to a clean napkin or paper towel and see if there was any debris floating in that oil. It was like filter paper letting the oil thru but the dirt behind. This would indicate the condition of the oil filter and pump strainer and the overall oil quality. I could flush out the nozzle line with high pressure water or air, then place the flare cap back on the nozzle assembly.

With the nozzle assembly capped and cleaned, I could use clean fuel oil to fill the nozzle line then place the nozzle in the full nozzle assembly. A small amount of fuel would squirt out the nozzle orifice and I knew there was no air left in the nozzle line. When the burner was cleaned and ready to re-assemble* I would put the assembly in the burner and just before I put it all the way in, I would remove the Flare CAP and put the end thru the burner bulkhead then connect the high pressure line from the pump.** Now I knew there was very little air (if any) in the high pressure line from the pump to the nozzle. Here is why that is important.



You can see at 100+ PSI oil pressure in a high pressure line an air bubble might be very small. But when the fuel pump stops, the pressure drops to zero on a gauge, that air bubble will no longer be compressed, when it expands, it will force oil thru the nozzle causing an after drip.

* When the burner was cleaned includes the fuel pump service and fuel filters up to the pump
** When finishing the wet part of the service, I would run fuel thru the fuel pump to flush out any dirt left by the work I just completed and to also have a small amount of clean fuel to put into the nozzle assembly.

EdTheHeaterMan

So getting the nozzle installed without getting some leftover dirt from your fingers or the fuel pump that has just been serviced, or a filter that has just been changed can easily mess up your flame. If you adjust based on a partially clogged nozzle, then for some reason, the dirt dislodges and is gone through the nozzle, now you have more fuel than there was when the adjustments were made. That can cause a rich mixture that leads to soot. Here is an illustration of what might happen:


You might ask "How does the dirt get past the oil filter, then the pump strainer then the filter on the nozzle inlet?"

Just consider that you have just finished brushing out all the soot from the boiler, and your hands have fine particles of carbon on them. That mixes with fuel oil from replacing the strainer and fuel filter. Now you have some real crud on your hands, so you wash them off. But how clean are those fingers? As clean as a surgeon prepping for the operating room? Probably not, A flake of skin or a leftover remnant of sludge may still be on the edge of the oil line.

Now consider this, connect a garden hose that has been coiled up in the shed to the hose bib on the side of your house so you can wash your car. It has a squeeze nozzle on one end and you turn on the water. What happens to all the air in the hose? It gets compressed by the water pressure from the house. Now open the squeeze nozzle and let the air out. Have you felt the difference in pressure as the air, then water, then air flows out of the nozzle? Kind of a hammering action as the different fluids change from liquid to air and back. That is the same hammering action of the oil at 100+ PSI then the compressed air then oil then air that can force a small speck of debris past the otherwise too small screen of the filter.

And just like that, in an instant, you have a bad nozzle, brand new out of the box. All because you have poor nozzle handling practices. So proper nozzle handling can save time and reduce the number of bad nozzles that came from the factory already plugged from the dirt on your fingers.

EdTheHeaterMan

When you order a pressure gauge, you will want an oil filled gauge. https://www.supplyhouse.com/Bluefin-GSS25-200-BM-2-5-Stainless-Steel-Liquid-Filled-Gauge-Bottom-Mount-w-Brass-Internals-0-200-PSI
I used to purchase oil filled gauges without the oil, then I would put vacuum pump oil or refrigerant oil in the gauge before using it. You do not want to leave the gauge connected permanently to a pump that is operating at 100 PSI or higher. If you have a gauge failure when you are not there, that would be a real disaster. If you are going to leave it connected permanently, you will want to have a valve between the pump and the gauge, so you can leave the valve closed when you are not watching the pressure gauge. https://www.supplyhouse.com/Webstone-41699-1-4-FIP-Full-Port-Forged-Brass-Mini-Ball-Valve?_br_psugg_q=1/4+inch+valve

STEVEusaPA

For proper checking/service, you really need a 300 psi gauge.

archibald tuttle

wow @EdTheHeaterMan I had the basics but I will admit I never went so far as refilling the nozzle assembly. do you use a syringe or ? all of this gets me back to my basic issue with these fine nozzles, why not have oil burners use pressurized air for atomization like waste oil burners do so they can have a larger nozzle not subject to clogging, esp. if you are running standard #2. the constant need to filter the most minor contaminants and the possibility of having new nozzles quickly clogged–I thought I handled them properly but as you point out keeping the interior of nozzle assembly perfectly clean is a level of festitidousness that drove me nuts (and to convert everything to gas).

I would use double filters, vaccuum meter to monitor on the low side, and I would have long trouble free stints, but then I'd get into bad luck cycle on some boiler and go through a nozzle a week.

speaking of a week (or two) are you going to Chicago? I got a breakfast joint picked out. just confirming with them and I'll put up an invitation thread.

EdTheHeaterMan

Won't be going to Chicago @archibald tuttle. The AHRI was a one and done for me. It was close to my new home in South Carolina, and it was a chance to show my son what the trade show circuit would do a couple of times a year. When I was in the Greater Philadelphia area, I was a regular at the Atlantic City Energy Expo, and the Service Managers convention in Hershey PA... Do they call it that anymore?

As far as putting fuel into the nozzle assembly, I would have several containers on my work van. A 5 gallon bucket with a lid to pour waste oil from changing filters and the like. A shallow pan for placing under oil filters and burners to collect spillage from strainer and filter changes. I always had a two liter clear bottle with a screw on cap, for clean oil. After I purged the fuel lines thru the pump until clean air free oil flowed out the high pressure line. I would place the “Clean Oil” bottle over the high pressure line and put a few ounces into that bottle. (are you allowed to put ounces into a two liter bottle?)

That bottle is where I would just pour the clean fuel from, into the assembly pipe. Then add the pristine nozzle from the vial, and then tighten it in place with the nozzle wrench. Those nozzle wrenches have small handles for a reason… so you don't over tighten the nozzle. I was taught that method of nozzle handling when I was 17 or 18 years old. And I have had very few “BAD NOZZLES” in the past 40 years as a result of proper handling.

STEVEusaPA

I've never refilled a nozzle assembly, 30+ years. Seems like a ridiculous idea.

EdTheHeaterMan

STEVEusaPA said:

I've never refilled a nozzle assembly, 30+ years. Seems like a ridiculous idea.

I know, doesn't it, But there are those occasions that come up where the air that is in the assembly and high pressure line will compress as oil rapidly fills the void and compresses some of that air. Did you look at this illustration above? How would you go about solving this problem if you came across it?

You also need to remember WHEN I was taught that procedure. It was in the 1970’s when there were still lots of those old 1725 oil burners that were designed by folks in the garage or basements of their home. Have you ever come across a PARK oil burner that was designed and sold by a couple of brother in Atlantic City? The high pressure pipe that assembly was the support chassis for all the other parts were in some cases ⅜” iron pipe. Not like the assemblies today with a piece of metal rod inside it to reduce the interior volume. And the nozzle adapter did not have that air trap design that needed to have the word TOP on one of the hex sides in order to have that minimum amount of air expelled more efficiently.

You are right by today's standards Steve, It is ridiculous. But it has served me well over the years. I don't like to mess with success. And the fact that the person who taught you the trade did not have a 200 PSI pressure gauge with 2 flare fittings and 2 flare caps just made fuel pump pressure testing have an extra step with whatever gauge setup you were taught with. It's not a bad thing, it's just different.

I find it a very effective tool to go into a service call where the customer hit the reset button ONLY ONCE LOL. I would remove the high pressure line from the assembly and place the gauge on the high pressure line. (exception would be if I were going to start a maintenance call and want to see if the burner operates before taking anything apart) Now when you hit the reset button, you are guaranteed that there will be no flame. You can listen for spark, you can see if there is pressure. You can see what the pressure is, you can see if it gets to operating pressure quickly or if it rises slowly, and you can time the safety lock out, all because the gauge is preventing the oil from getting to the nozzle.

This is not a slight against your abilities @STEVEusaPA . Not in the least. The fact that you were taught differently from me does not make you better than me, or I better than you, I believe we are both very competent oil burner men. A rare breed today. It's just that I always have a cap for the other end of the nozzle assembly therefore it was easy to fill the assembly with oil. Not better, Just easy, and it works for me. Perhaps with today's oil burner design, it is a little of overkill but with my method of operation, it is almost an automatic thing. And I have experienced almost no "BAD NOZZLES" on first commissioning in 45 years. Not many burner men can say that.

Let me tell you that the John McGarry from Weil McLain was impressed with my pressure gauge and the fact that I paced it on the high pressure line before stating the burner. He was called out by a contractor on a problem job with a 78 series oil fired boiler with a Carlin CRD 601. Check it before dumping more oil in the pot.

Here is the gauge I would carry with me on every service call. The left is what I built for use on multiple burners, the right is the simple version for someone that is working on only one type of burner.




It is easy to make and the parts are available on line. Special note: get at least four 3/16" flare caps and put them in a place you will forget about when you need one. They get lost easily.

archibald tuttle

@EdTheHeaterMan going to miss you in chicago. hope there are some other wallys to make a breakfast of it. will your son come? so you had the cap on and poured oil in the nozzle holder. and then must have got a little dripping out when you pulled the cap to put the end through the bulkhead but most was retained by vacuum?

paulmars

EdTheHeaterMan said:

You do not want to leave the gauge connected permanently to a pump that is operating at 100 PSI or higher. If you have a gauge failure when you are not there, that would be a real disaster. If you are going to leave it connected permanently, you will want to have a valve between the pump and the gauge, so you can leave the valve closed when you are not watching the pressure gauge. 

What if that valve fails?

paulmars

Any u guys coming to florida?

The burner recommends cking pump pres and cutoff. The pump papers likewise. Ill do both once I choose a quality pressure gauge.

P

EBEBRATT-Ed

Never refilled a nozzle line. I have heard stories and witness those of air trapped in the nozzle assembly causing the nozzle to dribble on shut down. The old recommendation was to start and stop the burner several time which you usually do on a service call anyhow to check things out and by then any air is purged out.


The other ridiculous thing is to refill a steam pigtail. There are thousands of steam controls installed especially on older boilers that never had a pigtail and the controls still work.

Yes a steam control needs a pigtail but the idea that the control gets damaged or destroyed by getting steam to it one time is a joke. As soon as the boiler steams once the pigtail is full of water.

EdTheHeaterMan

archibald tuttle said:

@EdTheHeaterMan going to miss you in chicago. hope there are some other wallys to make a breakfast of it. will your son come? so you had the cap on and poured oil in the nozzle holder. and then must have got a little dripping out when you pulled the cap to put the end through the bulkhead but most was retained by vacuum?

I think it is called surface tension. The opening of the flare fitting side is fairly small. I bet if you shake it hard enough you could probably empty the oil out of that end because the nozzle end has a small hole in it. I think Delavan, Hago and all the others calls it the orifice

EdTheHeaterMan

Just taking a quick survey. How many times have you found a bad nozzle right out of the vial on commissioning the nozzle on a maintenance or service call.

Daily
Once or twice a week
Once or twice a month
Once or twice a year
I can't remember the last time it happened.

I purchase less than 10 nozzles a year
I purchase between 10 and 25 nozzles a year
I purchase between 26 to 50 nozzles a year
I purchase between 51 to 100 nozzles per year
I purchase over 100 nozzles per year

My answers would be:
I can't remember the last time it happened
I purchase over 100 nozzles per year.

paulmars

Once i choose a oil pressure brand ill test the shut off and oil pressure. Because of clearance issues ill need a 4' tube between the pressure  guage and pump. How do i get the air out of that?

MaxMercy

EdTheHeaterMan said:

Just taking a quick survey. How many times have you found a bad nozzle right out of the vial on commissioning the nozzle on a maintenance or service call.

Just one on a new pre-packaged boiler/burner - it ran 5 minutes smooth as glass and before I had a chance to check combustion it started rumbling loudly, smoked, and banged the damper as it pulsed. A new nozzle fixed it, but there was one extenuating circumstance - while the boiler was brand new, it sat in the basement between 2-3 years in the factory crate - it looked like it had been test run at the factory and I wonder if some congealed oil had shifted in the nozzle tube or nozzle itself.

That was the only one, but I'm not a pro, but I have heard some pros say they run across a bad nozzle out of the box once a twice a year.

STEVEusaPA

amir12 said:

Extensive sooting in an oil furnace can indicate combustion issues. Check and replace the furnace nozzle, ensuring it is the correct size. Verify proper fuel-to-air ratio, adjusting if necessary, to prevent incomplete combustion. Inspect the chimney and flue for blockages, and ensure the burner assembly is clean. If sooting persists, consult with a qualified HVAC technician to address potential issues with the burner, heat exchanger, or other components that may be affecting combustion efficiency.

Thank you AI, or captain obvious.

Dave Carpentier

@EdTheHeaterMan - I feel like I want to assemble these posts into a printout and put in my drawer.

BTW my favorite nozzle trick is to put the "probably still good, keep it as a backup" back into the nozzle tube container that the brand new one came in. Just mix the new and maybe-good nozzles up in a box to keep things interesting. If we cant laugh at ourselves now and then, we're not having fun.

STEVEusaPA

paulmars said:

Once i choose a oil pressure brand ill test the shut off and oil pressure. Because of clearance issues ill need a 4' tube between the pressure  guage and pump. How do i get the air out of that?

Huh?

paulmars

Juck checked pressure and shut off.

Running pressure was proper at 100 lbs 

Pump papers say "after shutdown it should be 80% or higher. NOTE: A and B model pumps could theoretically have a cut-off

pressure of less than 80%. The important operation is that it drops to some value and stops."

​im type A pump (a2va-7116)

​how long should it stop?

​Mine dropped immediately to 63, then after 5 minutes on a timer it was 43, then after another 5 minutes it was at 40. Then i removed gauge.

Mustangman

I have had fuel pumps fail where I was getting 250 psi at the nozzle port. Too much fuel / fuel pressure will smoke like crazy. Its a bit rare. In 46 years I have only seen a pump fail on high pressure a few times. Pump pressure is important. Some manufacturers are running pump pressures at 140 or 160 and smaller GPH nozzles. My complaint is the smaller GPH nozzles clog quicker than bigger nozzles at 100 PSI
Good luck

archibald tuttle

@Mustangman IIRC, the higher pump pressures are in favor of the best atomization which of course you don't get if you get any clogging. I still can't understand why there isn't some effort to build standard #2 burners similarly to waste oil burners where the atomization is done by high pressure air instead of high pressure oil. . . nozzle passage way can be bigger, less subject to clogging and with high pressure air on board there could be manual or automatic purge of the choke point in the oil line. just me thinking outloud. I knew a guy who built his own waste oil burner and if he hadn't passed away I was thinking of engaging him on focusing the design on standard oil as well, but instead everything is on gas so this is an academic discussion for me.

EdTheHeaterMan

paulmars said:

Juck checked pressure and shut off.

Running pressure was proper at 100 lbs 

Pump papers say "after shutdown it should be 80% or higher. NOTE: A and B model pumps could theoretically have a cut-off

pressure of less than 80%. The important operation is that it drops to some value and stops."

​im type A pump (a2va-7116)

​how long should it stop?

​Mine dropped immediately to 63, then after 5 minutes on a timer it was 43, then after another 5 minutes it was at 40. Then i removed gauge.

One of two problems... you have a bad cut off and the pump needs to be replaced. If that is the case I recommend the clean cut pump as a replacement https://www.supplyhouse.com/Beckett-PF20322U-Single-Stage-CleanCut-Pump-3-GPH-120V But you will need to remove the 5/16" head screw at the top of the smaller (side) air adjustment, because it is in the way for the solenoid of the pump. (see the attachment below) You can then remove the screw at the bottom that keeps the adjustment plate in place. Take a flat screwdriver or small cold chisel and knock off the nub that keeps the screw from tightening on the adjustment plate. Now that bottom screw will be the one that will lock the adjustment in place.

The other reason for the drop in pressure is that your gauge and or the pipe fittings you use to connect the gauge to the pump are leaking. You will want to test your testing tools before you condemn the pump.

paulmars

Not this? #26 here https://postimg.cc/KRs3xbN5

EdTheHeaterMan

That is another way to do it. Regular pump with a valve kit.

I just like the Clean Cut Pump. It is easy.

paulmars

Im starting a new thread titled "when to replace oil furnace shutoff solenoid"

paulmars

EdTheHeaterMan said:

Juck checked pressure and shut off.

Running pressure was proper at 100 lbs 

Pump papers say "after shutdown it should be 80% or higher. NOTE: A and B model pumps could theoretically have a cut-off

pressure of less than 80%. The important operation is that it drops to some value and stops."

​im type A pump (a2va-7116)

​how long should it stop?

​Mine dropped immediately to 63, then after 5 minutes on a timer it was 43, then after another 5 minutes it was at 40. Then i removed gauge.

One of two problems... you have a bad cut off and the pump needs to be replaced. If that is the case I recommend the clean cut pump as a replacement https://www.supplyhouse.com/Beckett-PF20322U-Single-Stage-CleanCut-Pump-3-GPH-120V But you will need to remove the 5/16" head screw at the top of the smaller (side) air adjustment, because it is in the way for the solenoid of the pump. (see the attachment below) You can then remove the screw at the bottom that keeps the adjustment plate in place. Take a flat screwdriver or small cold chisel and knock off the nub that keeps the screw from tightening on the adjustment plate. Now that bottom screw will be the one that will lock the adjustment in place. The other reason for the drop in pressure is that your gauge and or the pipe fittings you use to connect the gauge to the pump are leaking. You will want to test your testing tools before you condemn the pump.

Beckett told me to use PF203N2U. What's the difference?

EBEBRATT-Ed

See attached

The PF203N2U does not appear to be a clean cut. Says it doesn't include the coil. not sure the difference

paulmars

Yes i had found that pdf. None have delay, for that need purchase pd timer. Some like the one recommend for me because of my drip does not appear to have shutoff valve, although it is shown in pictures that ive seen  Getting info from beckett is like pulling teeth. Early in 2023, but after my jan smoke test I changed the filter housing. My 2a 700a started leaking and i replaced it with an F20 Westwood. So last night I decided to disassemble & reassemble that to make sure no leaks. Then I started to wonder if that housing being smaller is an issue.

captainco

What is the definition of a bad nozzle? How many things could be wrong? How do you know it is wrong or bad?