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Help with oil fired steam boiler

Helgy
Helgy Member Posts: 12
in THE MAIN WALL
I am currently working a Peerless oil steam boiler. It was totally sooted when looked at it the first time. I have since brushed down the heat exchanger completly and vaccumed out the burner area. With both air bands completly wide open I have a CO2 reading of 12.2%, excess air of 29.9%, stack temp of 820F, and an eff. of 74%. I took a smoke test and it came up at about a 3 or 4 on the smoke chart. Also I have a -.02 over fire and +.01 in the breech. I'm pretty lost at this point. I know I should be seeing -.04 in the breech. Why my smoke test won't clean up I'm not sure either. I did try to close the minor air shutter down a little, seemed to make the smoke worse. I tried to attached a pic. Would a soot stick help with the chimny? I've never used one before. Any idea's???

Comments

  • Mark Hunt
    Mark Hunt Member Posts: 4,908
    You sure


    it's oil coming out of the tank?!?!?!

    820* stack? Sounds like they are burning gasoline!!

    Mark H

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  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Sounds like a chimney problem

    What kind of chimney , how long is it , and does it run along the outside of the house ? A leak somewhere in the chimney might give you positive pressure at the breech . Or it could be a plugged chimney . Has it been cleaned in a while ? Did you take the readings with the draft regulator closed ? The stack temp is way too high for a Peerless , or any other boiler . What model is it , and do you know what year it was made ?
  • Helgy
    Helgy Member Posts: 12
    chimney hieght.

    The chimney runs through the middle of the house probably to the tune of 30 ft. or so. This house is over a hundered yrs old. They also have a wood burner tied in on the first floor to the same chimney. I don't think it is a good idea. They two 100gal drums that run this unit. At a burn rate of 2.5gal nozzle. Hope that helps..
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Ahh , I think that might be a problem

    If the wood burner is directly connected to the same flue , it might act like a big draft regulator - without the regulating . That might be giving you the positive pressure at the boiler breech . What kind of liner is in the chimney ? With a house that old , probably none at all ?
  • Unknown
    Unknown Member


    > If the wood burner is directly connected to the

    > same flue , it might act like a big draft

    > regulator - without the regulating . That might

    > be giving you the positive pressure at the boiler

    > breech . What kind of liner is in the chimney ?

    > With a house that old , probably none at all ?



  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    How do you get negative pressure over the fire

    with positive pressure in the breech?

    Noel
  • roger provencher
    roger provencher Member Posts: 14
    peerless questions

    #1 is your boiler shut down during the off season
    #2 did you clean from the front also

    I have seen the passages from the chamber area to the plug with hard scale when the boiler is not properly shut down for the summer.same thing can happen on a bad soot up,front access door has to be pulled off and those passage ways have to be poked through, can be difficult. if your chimney is ok and you are not over firing this may be your problem,by the way this is assuming that you have a Peerless JOT boiler
  • Bob Boltz
    Bob Boltz Member Posts: 25
    NFPA 31

    States in 6.5.19 Soild fuel burning appliances shall not be connected to a chimney flue serving another appliance burning other fuels unless specifically listed for such connection.
  • Bob Bona_4
    Bob Bona_4 Member Posts: 2,083
    my

    thoughts exactly. What model Peerless is it?

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  • David Sutton_2
    David Sutton_2 Member Posts: 63
    have you .tried....

    taken off the motor and cleaned the burner fan, i have seen the fans 1/2 to 3/4 plugged with hair and lynt and the air bands wide open to get clean fire , after cleaning the fan the air was cut in 1/2 and the fire was just right. ... hope this helps .... David
  • John@Reliable
    John@Reliable Member Posts: 379
    I know you said that you are

    firing @ 2.5 gph. But did you try a different nozzle? I had one before marked 1.00 gph and was doing what yours is.I started to match up the one that was marked 1.00 and found it was mismarked and was really about 3.00 gpm. Also what is the pump psi and model boiler? Hope this helps John@Reliable
  • johny
    johny Member Posts: 19
    Bob Boltz

    hit it right on the head. That is your problem.
  • Jay C.
    Jay C. Member Posts: 5


    I would check the pump pressure first. Then pull the burner motor and check the fan (also check the speed of the motor as someone may have put the wrong motor or pump on there). You may also want to change the nozzle, I've seen them come through with the wrong stamping once in a while.

    As for soot sticls, I would stay away from them, we refer to them as "heater killers" around here.

    Good Luck

    JC
  • Roger Litman
    Roger Litman Member Posts: 64
    Peerless boiler

    If this is a JOT series boiler, they are notorious in the field for being difficult to clean and the only good method is to steam the dirt off with a mist of water from a garden sprayer while the boiler is good and hot. as a temporary measure, you can downfire the boiler as long as you cover the connected load about 350-400 EDR per gallon firing rate.

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