Beckett oil burner slight flooding

WhirlingD

Hi everybody,

I just came back from a weekend away to find that my sump pump in the basement failed and my basement had about 6 inches of water in it.

My boiler is up on about a 2 inch pedestal, but had about 3 or 4 inches of water up the side of the casing… And may be about an inch of the actual burner was underwater.

The water didn’t get up to the bottom of the fuel filter on the left side of the burner, if that can give you some context.

I have had what I believe would be about this much water in my basement several times before, but the boiler always operated, and I’ve lucked out.

This time around, it wasn’t firing, so I turned off the power, and I’m sucking the water out of the basement after getting the sump pump back up and draining.

Other than calling a service tech, which I may probably do just to be prudent, but hesitate to do because I have very little income… What can I be doing to perhaps save myself a service call?

I have a dehumidifier down here that was on a bin which was not submerged, so I can have that thing running for the rest of the night.

Should I even attempt to try to get this thing started in the morning, or even after a day, without having a technician over here?

I know you will all likely say… Don’t be stupid… Get a tech over there, but it’s so friggin expensive, and I just don’t have cash.

What do you think I can do?

Thanks for whatever help you might be able to offer!

Mad Dog_2

A service call by a competent oil burner tech is certainly cheaper than a trip to the hospital or a funeral or two.  This is NOT the time to cut corners:  electric motor, fuel oil, unwanted water. I wish I had a better answer for you. This is not a DIY project. Mad Dog 

SuperTech

Did the burner motor get wet? They aren't meant to operate in water. That might be the problem.  You can try to reset the primary control once, if that doesn't work then the best course of action is to call your service provider. 

WhirlingD

SuperTech said:

Did the burner motor get wet? They aren't meant to operate in water. That might be the problem.  You can try to reset the primary control once, if that doesn't work then the best course of action is to call your service provider. 

All I can really tell is that it appears that about half an inch or so of water seems to have been along the bottom of the entire burner assembly. But not high enough to reach electronics or the round filter enclosure on the left.

LRCCBJ

WhirlingD said:

This time around, it wasn’t firing, so I turned off the power, and I’m sucking the water out of the basement after getting the sump pump back up and draining.

Do you know for certain that you have power at the burner? Check circuit breaker.

WhirlingD

LRCCBJ said:

WhirlingD said:

This time around, it wasn’t firing, so I turned off the power, and I’m sucking the water out of the basement after getting the sump pump back up and draining.

Do you know for certain that you have power at the burner? Check circuit breaker.

Well, the digital lights were on at the control box up higher… So, yes, there is power getting to it, and no circuit breakers were tripped.

If the thing went into a permanent lockout, will having the power turned off and back on again the next day, take it out of that lock out?

pecmsg

Do you have insurance?

Time to get your service provider out to advise.

LRCCBJ

WhirlingD said:

Well, the digital lights were on at the control box up higher… So, yes, there is power getting to it, and no circuit breakers were tripped.

If the thing went into a permanent lockout, will having the power turned off and back on again the next day, take it out of that lock out?

Which primary control do you have?

Which lights are on?

WhirlingD

LRCCBJ said:

WhirlingD said:

Which primary control do you have?

Which lights are on?

I haven’t turned it on since I noticed it not firing up, but when I initially looked at the large electric box above and right of the burner, which was just replaced a few months ago, there were LEDs on the inside showing power.

LRCCBJ

WhirlingD said:

I haven’t turned it on since I noticed it not firing up, but when I initially looked at the large electric box above and right of the burner, which was just replaced a few months ago, there were LEDs on the inside showing power.

The make and model of the control is required before anyone can suggest the next step. Or take a photo of it and post it.

WhirlingD

Hi again… Here is the current status.

I was able to get my oil company tech on the phone, and he suggested to just power it up.

I jokingly asked him if I was risking blowing my house up… Because I had heard a build up a fuel inside could be catastrophic… And he was pretty convinced that there was nothing like that that could happen and that there was no risk at all. Hmmmm… really?

So, I stood there and powered the thing up, and then he told me to try to reset by pushing the lower box red button once… And sure enough, the upper control unit began to click, and within moments, the motor began to run, and about 20 seconds after that, it began to fire!

He said there was no way to know yet whether it was going to continue and that all would be well, but it’s been about 20 minutes, and it completed its first cycle and the water seems to be hot, since it’s a tankless hot water system.

I asked him if there was likelihood that there would be water infiltration inside the boiler, given that the water probably rose three or 4 inches up the metal casing, and he said he didn’t think there should be, although there are unknown factors, of course.

I had read last night that whenever something like this happens, you should always open the thing up and inspect the insulation for water contamination. No mention of that.

I also asked him that if none of the key components had significant water infiltration, why would the thing refrain from powering up? He said there were too many possibilities to know, and without looking at it, there’s no way he could say with any kind of clarity.

Thoughts?

LRCCBJ

You were successful in your goal.

Any water inside the combustion chamber will dry quickly within one hour.

Observe it and leave it at that.

WhirlingD

LRCCBJ said:

You were successful in your goal.

Any water inside the combustion chamber will dry quickly within one hour.

Observe it and leave it at that.

Thank you… Although I don’t really have much choice, that’s exactly what I’m going to do!

Cross your fingers and toes for me…

Mustangman

They are very serious about re-using appliances that went under water in my area of PA. If they were even slightly under water, they have to go and a new one be installed. Period. I remember a flood in 1996 and it got cold as hell. Everything froze within 24 hrs of the flood. A real nightmare. In that case, in order to midigate damages and prevent anymore frozen pipes, the insurance company was okay using existing boilers and furnaces as temporary heat.
Its good practice to get rid of water damaged equipment. That same flood in 1996, I pulled a furnace out that was only a few months old. I had put a new oil furnace the summer of that year. I was going to keep it for heat in my shop. I dried everything out and thought it would be a great shop furnace. Burner motor went first. blower motor was next then transformer. By the time I was done, I damn near re-built the whole thing.

WhirlingD

Mustangman said:

They are very serious about re-using appliances that went under water in my area of PA. If they were even slightly under water, they have to go and a new one be installed. Period. I remember a flood in 1996 and it got cold as hell. Everything froze within 24 hrs of the flood. A real nightmare. In that case, in order to midigate damages and prevent anymore frozen pipes, the insurance company was okay using existing boilers and furnaces as temporary heat.
Its good practice to get rid of water damaged equipment. That same flood in 1996, I pulled a furnace out that was only a few months old. I had put a new oil furnace the summer of that year. I was going to keep it for heat in my shop. I dried everything out and thought it would be a great shop furnace. Burner motor went first. blower motor was next then transformer. By the time I was done, I damn near re-built the whole thing.

Wow, that’s pretty extreme.

I read that if the insulation lining in the box of a boiler gets wet it can get moldy and mildew… Not good.

This thing has seen similar water heights, probably two or three times in the nearly 20 years I’ve been here. It hasn’t even skipped a beat yet, other than this time.

LRCCBJ

There is a huge difference between underwater and 1/2" above the bottom of the burner assembly. In the former, all the electrical components are toast. In the latter, it is likely that the motor did not get any water ingestion and the pump and primary control certainly did not.

False equivalence.

WhirlingD

LRCCBJ said:

There is a huge difference between underwater and 1/2" above the bottom of the burner assembly. In the former, all the electrical components are toast. In the latter, it is likely that the motor did not get any water ingestion and the pump and primary control certainly did not.

False equivalence.

I do get that, but then… What would have made the burner trip into lock mode? It’s never done that before with similar amounts of water.

EdTheHeaterMan

The reason a primary control goes into lock out is: the flame sensing cadmium cell fails to observe a flame signal (the eye does not see light). So that is the simple answer.

The complex answer is, Why did the flame sensing eye not see the flame? There are many answers to that question. Running out of fuel, the ignition system failed, the flame sensing eye is defective, the primary control is defective, there is water in the fuel and water does not burn, the motor did not operate when it was supposed to, the coupling between the motor and the fuel pump is starting to fail, there was a piece of carbon buildup across the electrode spark location, the insulator on the electrode is cracked, water may have been splashed up on the electrode causing the spark to happen in a location that the oil would not ignite. That is just the ones I could think of off the top of my head. There are many others.

If you pay for a service visit there is no guarantee that the technician will be able to tell you if it does not happen when he is there. And since you indicated that you don't want to spend more than necessary, I would just let that question hover there in the combustion chamber until the next time you have a problem. If that is soon then you need a service tech. If it is months or years from now, then I would not worry about it

Edit: I forgot the awesome drawing I made

or the entire boiler if you live in PA.

pecmsg

WhirlingD said:

There is a huge difference between underwater and 1/2" above the bottom of the burner assembly. In the former, all the electrical components are toast. In the latter, it is likely that the motor did not get any water ingestion and the pump and primary control certainly did not. False equivalence.

I do get that, but then… What would have made the burner trip into lock mode? It’s never done that before with similar amounts of water.

It has had water before that high?
get the boiler replaced and RAISED!

LRCCBJ

WhirlingD said:

I do get that, but then… What would have made the burner trip into lock mode? It’s never done that before with similar amounts of water.

Let's say the cage was sitting in a very tiny amount of water. When the motor starts, the cage tosses this water all over the inside of the housing. This could easily cause the spark to be lost or possibly prevent the cad cell from functioning properly IF the flame developed.

The water was of such little quantity that it dried overnight and when you reset it all was well.