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Ray Oil Burner AR-131, Two-stage gear pump

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philburch
philburch Member Posts: 3
in Oil Heating
I have a 60+ year old fire tube boiler with a Ray oil burner model (style) AR-131. We burn #4 or #5 fuel oil. We can no longer hold a prime and we believe it's the gear pump - specifically the stage that pulls from the tank. Has anybody had any luck getting these old pumps repaired or was able to match up with a current manufacturer successfully?

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  • STEVEusaPA
    STEVEusaPA Member Posts: 6,506
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    Are you talking about a transfer pump, from tank to transfer tank?
    Either way, post a picture, someone may know.
    steve
    philburch
  • Grallert
    Grallert Member Posts: 644
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    I'll be interested to hear what folks have to say about this. We used to burn #6 then #4 now we use gas and #2. It seems that our pump might not like the #2. It wont pull from the tank any longer.
    Miss Hall's School service mechanic, greenhouse manager,teacher and dog walker
    philburch
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 15,520
    edited December 2016
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    It may be the pump or it could be a suction leak. Sometimes a suction leak is masked a little bit by heavy oil and sludge. When #2 oil gets put in the tank the sludge and heavy oil is washed away exposing a small leak. Also, when switching from heavy oil to light oil the fuel lines are now somewhat oversized which doesn't help

    Pictures of the pump may help. You may be able to take the pump to a machine shop and have it repaired or install a separate pump driven by it's own motor.

    Try priming the pump with 30 weight motor oil. If that doesn't make the pump draw nothing will.
    Grallertphilburch
  • philburch
    philburch Member Posts: 3
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    Thanks to all for taking a moment to answer. We managed to prove out that it was the suction side of the two stage gear pump by doing the same thing that EBEBRATT-Ed suggested. We hooked up a separate gear pump and motor outside of the burner assembly. Once we did that, we were able to pull the #4 from the tank and the other side of the gear pump was able to feed the rotary cup. Boiler has been running for four hours so far. Question is: other than making a more stable platform and buttoning up the wires, is there anything else we should do to ensure this is safe?
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 15,520
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    If you are going to use a separate motor driven pump you have two choices. Run it 24/7 or wire it to start and stop with the burner.

    Either way is widely used and acceptable, HOWEAVER especially with a pump running 24/7 a little dirt or sludge caught in the oil solenoid valve could cause a nasty fire or oil flood.

    I would recommend a 2d oil solenoid valve and a good oil filter/strainer.
    philburch
  • philburch
    philburch Member Posts: 3
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    @ EBEBRATT-Ed: Thanks again for your input. I ran your suggestions past my maint techs. We were thinking of wiring the new gear pump into the same circuit as the old one and moving the strainer from its current position between the two gear pumps futher down the line between the tank and the temp gear pump. Will this accomplish the same thing?

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