Oil burner advice

helgy_2

I have this oil service call that I went out on today. After getting the unit all cleaned up. I fired it up and was taking a smoke test. My paper was tinted yellow. I seem to remember that this ment that all the fuel oil was not being burned. I don't remember how to correct it though any help would be great. By the way it is a Becket A,AF burner.

Thanks, Helgy

sootmonkey

to much air

Bill Nye

Did you check...

the pump pressure? and did you burn off all of the soot? Sometimes the soot that got brushed into the chamber needs to burn off. It takes more than a couple of minutes.

I would check it again tomorrow. Too much air may cause this , like already stated in other post.

Robert O'Connor_6

or

the unit could be underfired which is what Bill was getting at.


regards,

Robert

J.C.A._3

If the unit was showing signs.....,

Of pruducts of imcomplete combustion and you cleaned it, was the soot(such a nasty word, lets say ....the unburned products of combustion)wet?

This has been described as a "running saturation", in that, there is enough light to satisfy the cad cell, but still not burning the fuel completely. Unburned fuel will sick to the (usually) cold surfaces of the boiler and the other unburned particles.

In most cases, when I find a saturated boiler, I replace the flue piping, just to remove the chance that further product weren't deposited in the chimney, thereby giving a lower chance of a fire dept. call.(seperation of further complaints. Chimney fires don't score big points with the local F.D.).

If you did have a saturated boiler, you will have to go back and re-test the offending unit. The thorough cleaning still isn't enough to get all the stuff out. It will usually take a day or 2 to get it completely clean. The yellow spot is what's left over, and the only way to find out if it's gone is to go back and test again.Smoke test should be clean.

Take the time to do this right! It will show the customer your companies worth, and make you look like a hero. Chris

Big Ed

It's called.....

......staining, Too much air for the mix. Could be all of above.

Weezbo

it is likely too much air.

take a look at the drawer assembly if you see oil all about , then there is more of a chance of a leaking nozzel holder ....i am not there so its tough to specify what to look for... too much air a whiteish flame means less efficentcy and while clean able to do some serious damage to a boiler or home. a leaking nozzel holder and too much air is something a fire eye(cad cell) would normally detect and fault out. extremely cold oil sputters and shoots to the target wall(which better be there!)and vaporizes on it leaving black dots on the target wall and usually runs large amounts of soot and oil up the flue and boiler passages. my apologies for not being and af enthusiast ...

chris_21

once again it sounds like it is leaned out(too much air).if you changed the nozzle did you put the same one back in? if not you are going to brobably have to make some air adjustments.if there is an inspection door and you can see the flame back off the air to a sooty flame and slowly add air until the flame clears up. look closely at the tips of the flame when they are nice and sharp(no black tips) you are pretty close. then take a co2 test try to get between 10-12% then do your smoke. check your equipment if you are doing alot of smoke tests it gets dirty. pull some fresh air through a clean piece of test paper and see if it is dirty if it is it may need to be cleaned. check the heater rateing plate they usually tell you what nozzle they want in there. inspect endcone or spinner wheel for defects.
that's what i would do. hope i "heating helped" you.