Flue Dampers For Oil Burners

Harlan

Who sells a 6" motorized flue damper for oil furnaces?

Steamhead

I don't know of anyone

Flair used to but they went out of business.

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John@Reliable_4

What would be the reason for even using one?

J.C.A._3

If you COULD find one ....

Why bother . It was a fad in the 70's to get the old Coal stokers efficientcy numbers up, but they failed at an alarming rate due to the sulpher in the fuel combining with water in the now cool stack. The result was rotting flues and stuck "oil savers". Not a pretty picture .
If you're that worried about standby loss, look into a Riello burner with a hydraulic air gate . It acomplishes the same thing , in reason, without having to replace a damper every few years. Pre and post purge controls have come a long way also, and are standard equipment on lots of newer oil burners.Move forward, time has passed judgement on such devices. JMHO. Chris

Jed_2

Riello air gate

Chris, hydraulic jacks are gone(except existing in the field). They use a small motor now to operate the air gate.
thought you'd like to know.

Jed

Steamhead

Not all the time, Chris

Here's a Flair that's 20 years young- it came with my Burnham. Only thing it has needed was some lube in the gear box. Smoke pipe is the same age, and still in good shape.

Net stack temp runs around 300 degrees on this one- maybe that's why it hasn't rotted out. Proper adjustment is everything!

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J.C.A._3

Steamhead,

Very rare indeed !Most of the ones I threw out WERE on "snowmen" and a few Ideal and Kiwanee boilers.

Jed, I should have mentioned the electronic air gate. Some of the OEM units still come through with a hydralic jack, probably leftover. Some , like Buderus are sending them with no air shut off at all. Thanks for the correction. Chris

Harlan

Reason for flue damper on oil furnace

The reason I am looking for a motorized damper to use with my oil furnace: I have an oil furnace where the oil smolders in the combustion chamber after the unit cycle downs because it is hooked up to a triwall metal chimney flue which loses the draft within 10 minutes and smoke pours back out into the house due to the large heat build up in the Williamson Furnace. Therefore to counter this condition I have sealed up the unit and removed the barometric damper and I bring in outside air into the furnace thru a 6" duct. I have a Flair motorized damper in the duct. This has worked very well over the last 15 years. However the Flair damper unit is not working properly and since they are no longer in business, I would like to install another one in the outside air intake duct.

John@Reliable_4

Better way maybe?

Control the oil. How about installing oil valve and a cad cell relay that has pre/post purge. Oil valve will prevent oil going into chamber with out proper psi, and provide pos. shut off at shut down, pre/post purge control will provide draft at start up and help remove left over heat from heatX at shut down, not to mention unit will be allot cleaner as most smoking/sooting happens @ shutdown. Allot of new units are coming this way from factory. I find that it works, we service allot of units like these and find a vacuum is rare. Hope this helps John@Reliable

Steamhead

Try this

if the damper is sluggish or sticking:

Punch a small hole in the top of the little gearbox attached to the motor with a nail- don't let the nail go too far in the gearbox or you may damage something. Stuff as much petroleum jelly in there as you can, and close the opening with a little sheet-metal screw.

I did this about seven years ago and it worked great.

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J.C.A._3

I agree...

Updating the burner is an option and( in the long run) your best bet. Dump the damper, and do a pre/post purge burner to save yourself a lot of trouble .

My only other suggestion would be to have a chimney specialist look at your particular situation .

You could benifit from sidewall or direct venting. It may seem like the long way around, but if the draft issues in your vacinity have changed (someone built a house next door that cut your natural draft significantly?) It can prove to be less expensive in the long run. Sueing neighbors isn't a good way to start a relationship.

If I'm wrong, let me know . If I'm right , you get a 5 yard penalty for "withholding information" Chris

Nick G

Weil Mclain may have a replacement for you. There is more-

I believe Weil McLain has a replacement damper that may work but I am concerned that you have impingement in your chamber causing the smoldering from the fuel. I understand you have a slight down draft after shut down and I would rather see you go to a tjerlund draft inducer which I have installed many of with great results. There is a time delay after call for heat ends and the inducer keeps runnig to purge out fumes. I would agree that a positive shut down divice for the fuel line would be good but I would check for carbon build up in the chimney or heat exchanger. I don't recomend taking out the barometric damper because on a high draft day you are over drawing from the primary air in the chamber and causing more problems including incomplete combustion. Peace, Nick G