Moving Olsen oil furnace to new basement and parts identification
Hi all, first post here.
I have an old farm house with an old (80's? 90's?) Olsen oil furnace. I am looking at moving the furnace into a different (1960's) house that has just had a new basement built under it. The furnace still works and I like the simplicity and build quality of the old oil furnace. However, I want to be sure that I can still get parts for it. The fan motor is just a standard AC motor and the fire pot seems like it could easily be replaced with a universal Lynn Manufacturing Time Saver.
The burner is Olsen branded and everyone I've talked to says you cannot get parts for it and there is no replacement. However, it sure looks identical, or at least very similar to a Beckett burner. I am not sure if the furnace is a BCL100, 115, 125, or 140 as the name plate was never marked as you can see in the pictures. Regardless, according to Beckett's burner application guide, this furnace calls for an AF series BR200 burner with an F3 or F6 head depending on the size.
The only difference I can see is the Beckett pump runs at 3450 RPM and the Olsen pump runs at 1725 RPM. All other parts look identical as far as I can tell from online pictures.
Can anyone tell me if Beckett parts will fit this Olsen burner? And if not, would there be any issues just replacing the burner with the Beckett unit I described above?
Thanks
Comments
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So not worth the hassle. Already know parts are schetchy, get a new Olsen/Airco with a Beckett
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The burner may be a Beckett AF but an AF shouldn't have a 1725 RPM pump. Can't see the burner….need pictures from farther back also look for model # on burner.
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Can't get olsen in Canada anymore. The main option seems to be a Comforto and I've seen mixed reviews on them
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I added another picture to the first post. The only model number is the sticker shown in the picture. SO 65XD.
I'm not really too concerned about finding parts for the Olsen burner as long as I could have a replacement beckett burner sitting on standby.
If the Beckett would work, I'd be able to buy all the parts to rebuild this furnace from the ground up twice for less cost than a new thermal pride furnace.
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"A penny wise and a dollar foolish " It is too old , too thin skin to spend the money on the move and new install..
There was an error rendering this rich post.
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Beckett did have a model "S" which was a slow speed burner I think.
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I will be doing the move and install myself, so the cost of the move is not an issue. I live in the country in a rural area so when it is -40° outside and the furnace quits, I need to have parts on hand to fix it myself. It seems like with newer systems that becomes extremely expensive. If anyone knows of a simple oil furnace with affordable replacement parts sold in Canada, I'm all ears.
It seems the only way I can find out for sure is to buy some Beckett parts and see if they fit.
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it’s not an AF. Look at the pic down the air tube.
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Pretty much any Beckett burner will fit, but a newer 3450 rpm burner will have a hotter flame, irrc, and that furnace firebox might now handle it. This sounds like an older furnace, especially with that burner, so the first thing you should do is a complete inspection of the firebox/heat exchanger to make sure it isn't cracked or burnt through.
Rick
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The pump and burner motor are still around, but little harder to find 1725 rpm stuff.
if you really care about reliability, get a properly sized modern burner. Get an actual professional to set it up.
Shouldnt fail. But if it does, parts are easy to come by.0 -
changing the burner will change the flame pattern and will likely make the hx crack when it sees a different heating pattern than it has been seeing for the past 40 years.
it will need to be set up with combustion and draft instruments in its new location, the vent that it is connected to is part of the system.
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how is this off topic? this is exactly why this is a bad idea.
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I think Beckett had an "S" and an "SR" burners that were both slow speed. I don't know what the difference is between those 2. @Steamhead would probably know more than i.
I did install a boiler or furnace in the very early 70s that came with the SR burner on it and I remember it was quite good and it was quiet. That was the only one I ever saw..
I would suspect the "S" might indicate a slow speed (1725rpm) burner and I suspect the "SR" was slow speed flame retention.
Carlin as well as Beckett had some slow speed flame retention that are pretty much as good as the 3450 burners These came out in the 60s and the 3450 Beckett AF and Carlin 100CRD came out around 1970 so they overlapped for a while.
When the 3450 burners came out a lot of customers complained about the noise especially if you put one in an old boiler that had a combustion chamber made from hard fire brick. Insulating fire brick was just getting started and would quiet the burner. Not that the new burners were that noisy but compared to the slow speed sootmakers they were.
I was told that insulating fire brick was originally developed for insulating space capsules for NASA is how it came about.
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The "S" refers to the chassis. The plain S was not flame-retention and the SR was. Both were 1725 RPM. We still find the SR in some older boilers. The SF was the same chassis with a 3450-RPM motor, which could move more air and had higher GPH ratings.
All Steamed Up, Inc.
Towson, MD, USA
Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
Oil & Gas Burner Service
Consulting0 -
I appreciate everyone's responses. There is a lot of good information here that I did not know. It was not my intent to start any arguments or ruffle any feathers. Perhaps I shouldn't have even mentioned the move to a new location in the original post. I am by no means a heating expert, but I like to think I am smart enough to figure most things out, or at least know when I need to ask for some advice.
Perhaps I am jaded, but I am growing extremely tired of how "smart" everything is becoming. Recently replaced an induction blower motor in my fathers gas furnace not because the motor had failed, but because the control board built into the motor had died. That was not a cheap repair. My cousin has had to replace the main control logic board in his boiler twice in 5 years due to "a firmware fault" for $800 a piece. There is none of that crap on these old oil burners and yet they still make heat.
Obviously if I did reuse the old furnace, it would be torn down completely and thoroughly inspected, as well as a proper combustion analysis, draft test, and air balance once installed. If it lasts 5 years, great. If it lasts 20 years, awesome. Or I bite the bullet, buy a new furnace, and hope it gives me a reasonable service life without too many expensive repairs due to proprietary parts and control boards. There are a lot more power surges/fluctuations out here than in the city. Perhaps that plays a role in the frequency of failures with newer equipment with integrated electronics.
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Don't worry about ruffled feathers. You ask 1000 people you sometimes get 1000 answers
New oil furnace probably have less electronics and circuit boards that a new gas boiler.
I worked in the business 46 years. I too am not sold on the new equipment at all. When it works it works great but I have seen gas boilers that need a blower motor or control board or something that is $$$$ of dollars. ECM blower motors that don't last.
Equipment should last 20 years and that was the standard rule of thumb and a lot of it lasted 30, 40, 50 years when taken care of.
Not so much now. We see boiler s replaced in 10-15 years and in some case get tossed because parts are no longer available and the MFG no longer supports it and has moved on to a new model.
I suspect that a lot of this is pushed by government efficiency standards. cheaper, lighter. and more efficient but not longer lasting and more $$$$$
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I couldn't have said it better myself. You summed up my thoughts exactly. It seems as efficiency goes up, so does complexity, and reliability goes down.
I think you are right about the new oil units being more simple than the new gas units. They still use Beckett burners on most oil units I can find, so those parts shouldn't be an issue for a good while. I will do some more looking at new oil units.
Another question I have regardless of which route I go (am I better off to start a new thread?), is that I am looking to install an oil forced air furnace as well as an oil fired boiler. The boiler would handle in floor heat for the basement and garage, as well as residential hot water. What information is required to determine if I can vent both appliances up the same chimney? Looking online the answers vary from: never, only same fuel type, or it's fine as long as acceptable draft is maintained. It seems most questions online are whether oil and wood/coal can be vented together, which is not the case I have here. I know it was common to vent a gas furnace and hot water heater together.
I'll be getting a plumber to do the venting installation but I would like to have an idea of what to expect before I get them involved. What information is required to decide if it is possible? Thanks
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i don't think there is an issue venting two oil appliances. Many jobs have an oil furnace and oil fired HW htr. As long as the flue is large enough. You would have to size the flue based on the BTU of both appliances.
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As soon as you see its not a retention head burner, you take the whole thing to the scrap yard. It looks like a Beckett housing, but that's it.
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No Olsens in Canada?! When did this happen?
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Not a Beckett. Not sure who made that one………..
All Steamed Up, Inc.
Towson, MD, USA
Steam, Vapor & Hot-Water Heating Specialists
Oil & Gas Burner Service
Consulting0 -
I am confused. Everything about that burner says Beckett. Except the cad cell location. What am I missing?
Rick
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I agree @rick in Alaska looks Beckety. They was a burner made in Canada (don't know if they are still made) that some referred to as a "Canadian Beckett". I think it was called Arrow?? I don't know forgot the name.
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I'm thinking just rebadged Beckett. I had an old Chevron furnace with a "chevron" burner on it. It was definitely Beckett.
Rick
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AREO not Arrow. There is one for sale on e-bay that looks similar. And the one on e-bay is 1725 rpm as well.
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