Welcome! Here are the website rules, as well as some tips for using this forum.
Need to contact us? Visit https://heatinghelp.com/contact-us/.
Click here to Find a Contractor in your area.
If our community has helped you, please consider making a contribution to support this website. Thanks!

discrepancy between manuals for boiler and burner

patrykrebisz
patrykrebisz Member Posts: 25
in THE MAIN WALL

My, barely alive, Burnham V8H5 steam boiler has been abused for the past 9 years. Now that the boiler is almost dead (i'm trying to squeeze another heating season out of it) and i have very little to loose i noticed that my burner settings are neither here nor there.

And, what's worse, recommended settings from Beckett and Burham differ.

Beckett manual says that my burner should have 1.10x60B noozle (ok, just changed it from 1.35 oil man put in there) with Shutters 10 and Band 1 (ok, just changed it from S7, B1). [1.35 nozle and S7 B1 settings produced very sooty output]

But Burnham manual says Shutters should be set to 10 and Band to 5.
There seems to be a HUGE difference in air influx from Band 1 to Band 5… So which one should it be?

Beckett Source: https://www.beckettcorp.com/support/burner-settings/

Burnham manual source: https://www.scribd.com/document/229702986/Burnham-Boiler-v8h-manual

Comments

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 26,515

    Printed settings are always nice. However — particularly with potential changes in nozzle or pump pressure — there s absolutely no substitute for setting the adjustments using appropriate test equipment.

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    GGross
  • pecmsg
    pecmsg Member Posts: 6,580
    https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1866084#Comment_1866084

    AKA

    A combustion Analyzer

    GGrossCLamb
  • HydronicMike
    HydronicMike Member Posts: 170
    edited September 26

    …and pump pressure gauge.
    Id probably start with Burnham’s settings if it’s the original OEM burner on it. Latest Beckett specs may be different pump pressure settings.

  • ratio
    ratio Member Posts: 4,149

    Is it burning poorly? If not, don't fool with it. It can't be properly adjusted without specific tools & a combustion analyzer, so if you don't have a specific problem you're trying to solve, best to leave it alone.

    EdTheHeaterMan
  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Member Posts: 11,264

    I have found that the factory settings that are printed anywhere are there for a good starting point to get the system to operate so you can adjust “as needed” based on the conditions unique to that particular job.  Humidity levels and chimney heights are just two of the variables that make each job a little different.  Consider that the Beckett AFG is capable of firing rates as low as 0.50 GPH and as high as 3.00 GPH.   Now if the air band was open full and the air shutter was pen full and there was a F22 head on that burner and someone installed a 0.50 GPH nozzle at 100 PSI pump pressure, the burner may not even light as a result of the excess air blowing out the flame before it even gets started.  Likewise there could be an F-0 head with the air and shutter completely closed while a 3.00 GPH nozzle was installed.  That would make a cloud of black smoke so thick that the catholics would think they might never have a Pope ever again.  

    So you need some common sense and using the start up settings that someone has printed in a manual somewhere is not the final adjustment.  It is just a starting point that will be close enough to get the burner to fire properly and able to be adjusted as needed.

    Edward Young Retired

    After you make that expensive repair and you still have the same problem, What will you check next?

    bburd
  • patrykrebisz
    patrykrebisz Member Posts: 25
    edited September 29

    I understand that the printed material is only a reference starting point. What's confusing is how dramatically different they are.

    Becket (at 140psi): 1.10x60B noozle - air S10, B1
    Burnham (at 140psi): 1.10x60B noozle - air S10, B5
    This is a HUGE difference.

    I come from working with carburetors on vintage cars, if the carb manuals had such discrepancy, no one would listen to them.

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 26,515

    If you work with carbs on vintage carbs, you should be able to get this thin firing at least. Maybe not well, but firing. And from there use the combustion analyser to get it straight.

    Just think. At least it's not triple SUs on some evil British machine… can't be worse than a Quadrajet!

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    EdTheHeaterMan
  • HVACNUT
    HVACNUT Member Posts: 7,080

    Their work benches are obviously not in the same lab. It could very well be a misprint. It wouldn't be the first time. That's why the analyzer and smoke tester. You're not going to take somebody's word for it. You're going to dial it in yourself. The OEM settings for the Riello F5 with a Weil McLain WGO-3 were waaaaay off too. Almost twice the air needed. Then its time to earn your money and set it correctly.

  • HydronicMike
    HydronicMike Member Posts: 170
    https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1866353#Comment_1866353

    Do they both have the same end cone, or nozzle assembly and air tube?

    I’ll still recommend using the Burnham specs if it’s an OEM burner.

    Beckett may have come back and changed the burner slightly, and that’s the difference in the air settings, although that B1 vs. B5 setting is a huge difference.

    How many times will you write noozle and not notice the dotted red lines, lol?

Categories