Burner electrode and head condition

seized123

Here are photos of the head and electrodes and floor of my old Beckett AFG. The electrode tips seem a little grungy, the burner head is obviously not clean and shiny, does their condition say anything unusual that I should be concerned about, or is this fairly typical for a year since last cleaning and tuneup? (It’ll be cleaned and tuned again, of course.)

Also, in the second and third pictures if you zoom in you can see the floor of the burner inside is a little slimy with oil. The tech who tuned it a year ago (whom I trust, and also he’s a supervisor) said that’s fairly normal and not cause for concern?

It’s on a Weil-McLain WGO-3 and has an F3 head and the recommended.85 70B nozzle.

SuperTech

The burner head doesn't look terrible. The electrodes are worn out, typical for a burner without an interrupted ignition primary control. I'd replace the electrodes and install a Carlin 70200 or Resideo R7284U. The oil in the air tube is concerning. Some dumb dumb might have over tightened the nozzle at some point which will cause the nozzle line to leak where the nozzle screws into it. Unfortunately once that happens the only repair I know of is a replacement air tube assembly. That comes with the new nozzle line and electrodes.

seized123

Thanks @SuperTech. A Carlin 70200 will go on, I already have it.

I guess with my old Carlin the igniter is firing like all the time ….

Grallert

You might want to check the pump seal also. A small leak there will foul up the burner tube and often go unnoticed.

EBEBRATT-Ed

And make sure the burner tube is pitched down towards the combustion chamber. Shim with washers if need be.

seized123

@Grallert and @EBEBRATT-Ed and @SuperTech those are good suggestions. I will figure out how to check the pump seal, and burner tube pitch.

I already mounted the burner on my new WGO because my overall plan is to try to start up this new boiler (identical to the old one) with the burner as is, because before the other boiler started leaking this burner was at least chugging along, and it’s going to be getting cold and we’d like some heat! If it starts up okay I’ll immediately do the basic tests with my wet kit as a sanity check, then either do a cleaning and nozzle change (my first) and check the things you said like pump seal and pitch, but then have a pro recheck it with a digital analyzer. Or just let a pro do it all. This DIY boiler change thing is fun and interesting and going well so far (thanks mostly to this forum) but goes slow as molasses for me because every day has about twelve learning curves and eighteen little hurdles I never anticipated etc., etc.

HVACNUT

Its got the welded burner flange/air tube. Thats OEM. So if it came out the old GO3, it will go into the new GO3. I think everything is the same except the paint job, but make sure insertion depth is the same as the old. Obviously get a new burner flange gasket.

SuperTech

Can we get a picture of the new boiler installation? I'd love to see how it turned out. Although from what I gathered from the other threads it probably looks just like the old boiler.

seized123

@SuperTech thanks for asking. Still lots to do. I decided to start a new thread just about the whole thing and put the photos on it, so check that out.