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Cleaning a burner blower wheel This weeks video

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RayWohlfarth
RayWohlfarth Posts: 2,075
edited August 21 in THE MAIN WALL

Cleaning a burner blower wheel is an all or nothing task because of the speed they spin. Furnace blowers will typically run around 1100 rpms. Burner blowers operate at 3,450 rpms Please let me know your feedback

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiOd0w0hA1M
Ray Wohlfarth
Boiler Lessons

Comments

  • HydronicMike
    HydronicMike Posts: 429

    Probably the most neglected/missed part of pm's.
    Of course addressing why it's getting that dirty should be job 1.
    Would be nice if burner motors themselves had an exterior molex connector to make it very easy to pull the motor.

  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Posts: 20,938

    When coffee makers were percolators, they made percolator cleaning brushes that worked good for blower wheels

    We sold Iron Fireman burners back in the day. Problem was every burner they made in the commercial line up to 30gph you couldn't remove the blower wheel with the motor. You had to remove the oil pump and air intake shroud to get at the blower wheel.

  • EdTheHeaterMan
    EdTheHeaterMan Posts: 12,690

    That is the only part that needs cleaning after one year of operation on a new boiler or furnace installation. If it was set up properly when it was new, then that minimal one year of buildup is all that has changed.

    If you don't clean the fan and instead make adjustments to compensate for a dirty fan, then repeat that process every year, eventually the fan will look like the one in the last slide of your video. At that point, the burner will operate like a piece of junk.

    I have gone back to five-year-old boilers that I installed, tuned, and maintained every year and found that the original fuel pressure and air band adjustments did not need to be changed at all. Those five-year-old burners still looked and operated like they did the day I installed them.

    How do you get the homeowner or business owner to agree to maintenance when the equipment is still new? I included the first year's maintenance in the price of the new equipment. That way you get less folks saying NO to that first maintenance because you tell them "it is free since, they already paid for it last year".

    That first annual service call is an easy way to show the customer how comprehensive your maintenance is. Use photos to show the difference between equipment that has been properly maintained and equipment that has been neglected. That comparison can help sell the next year's maintenance.

    If you want to start offering maintenance agreements, that first service call after one year is the perfect opportunity to sell the next year's plan. You can also include reasonable discounts on emergency repairs or service calls.

    I was able to sell my business after more than 20 years in part because I had hundreds of active service agreements that included annual maintenance. Many customers paid monthly by automatic bank or credit-card payment.

    Those agreements provide steady income, give you maintenance work during slower periods, and help keep customers with your company. They can also make your business more valuable when the time comes to retire or sell it.

    Edward Young Retired

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

    EBEBRATT-EdRayWohlfarth
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Posts: 20,938

    @EdTheHeaterMan

    I worked at several different companies and maintenance is the key. One of those companies I worked in a branch with 6-7 other techs. We all did service but I did more installs than the others. That company wouldn't do service for anyone that didn't buy a service contract. We had 6 pretty good experienced techs and the # of emergency calls was greatly reduced compared to other companies where the customers only called when they needed service. This was all commercial and mostly AC and gas heat. Not too much oil.

    EdTheHeaterMan
  • RayWohlfarth
    RayWohlfarth Posts: 2,075

    @HydronicMike It is neglected and can affect the boiler. We sold boilers to a university and they had the combustion air vented outside. The blower wheel plugged in just about 6 months from all the construction going on.

    Ray Wohlfarth
    Boiler Lessons
    HydronicMike
  • Dyingtofly
    Dyingtofly Posts: 10

    Thanks Ray, for this reminder and admonition. After 40-years in the commercial & industrial side of our HVAC industry I've seen what preventive maintenance neglect can do to any mechanical system. Not only do dirty blower wheels on combustion equipment have adverse affects on equipment and performance, but the same goes for air-conditioning (cooling) systems and ventilation equipment. New techs, fresh out of school, frequently used all their newly aquired knowledge to "troubleshoot" poor performing equipment by blaming more complicated components rather than checking the simpler more common causes of air-flow dilemmas (slipping belts, plugged filters, dirty coils, blocked air vents and, as you've just discussed, dirty fans). Sometimes these simple maintenance tasks are overlooked, despite having a critical impact on operational performance.

    Thanks again for this timely reminder!

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