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Air Boot on oil gun for partial outside combustion air?

Leo
Leo Member Posts: 772
in THE MAIN WALL
If you use a fan in a can it delivers air for the burner and air for the draft regulater. It is inter wired with the burner and has a very good maintenance record. Now you can close in the doors. Have some old runner rugs handy, it sounds like the area is finished off.
I hate tuning systems around carpeting.

Leo

Comments

  • Stray
    Stray Member Posts: 29


    I'm rephrasing this question (from yesterday) that didn't get any responses...in hopes that someone can help shed light on this:

    In short, can I count an existing Field Control "Air Boot" on a Beckett AFG gun for calculating PART of my ouside combustion air requirements? I'm trying to convert my unit to a confined space (100% OA), but I can't figure out how to best compute the air gained from the air-boot setup, to therefore get to how much more suplimental air I need to duct in.

    Thanks!
  • Big Bob_2
    Big Bob_2 Member Posts: 23


    If you use the boot, for 100% makeup air, why would you need supplemental air?
  • Darrell
    Darrell Member Posts: 303


    The Outside Air Kit is designed for 100% supply of outside air. The first ones didn't require a damper in the flue...and then the more recent ones did. Check the instructions, with a damper in the flue you may still be required to have makeup air in the room.
  • Stray
    Stray Member Posts: 29


    Well, I was told by Field Controls that their air boot isn't intended to provide 100% combustion air.

    They can't tell me how much more air I need to provide, because obvioulsy the CFM needed depends on Beckett's burner, and how much that can draw in.

    I can run about 10 feet of 8" round duct into the closet (With a Hoime motorized damper on the end), which gives me about 50 sqr". My gut tells me that that this, plus the air boot, is fine. But I don't like to "gut engineer" things like combustion air...
  • Stray
    Stray Member Posts: 29


    Is this Outside Air Kit a Field Controls product?
  • Bob Bona_4
    Bob Bona_4 Member Posts: 2,080
    I'm cringing

    at the use of the word "gun"! That needs to go away, just like a "blast tube", "ripping out the boiler" "juice" (for 115V), "freezone" (freon), "soot saw/vac", etc. Scary and intimidating for the HO :)

    Your OIL BURNER would better benefit from a fan in a can so that it's ingesting some tempered air for combustion. Here in NE anyway, pulling straight 10 degree air directly into the burner makes for some rough running...FWIW.
  • Stray
    Stray Member Posts: 29


    Sorry for the slang...

    The reason for this work, is that my burner makes too much noise for it's location. It's in a closet wioth louvered doors, in the middle of living space (in a hall between bedrooms and family room).

    I'm trying to do 100% outside combustion air so I can put insulated doors on it. It also makes me feel better about my kids sleeping down the hall if the CO hazard is diminished.

    I've thought about a Fan in a Can or Tjerlunds "In-Forcer" if I can't make this work. I'd prefer not to ADD noise to the closet, and add another mechanical peice that can fail

    FYI I'm in upstate NY, and the cold temps you mention are a reality here. I hadn't thought about diminished performance with running off cold air. Will I lose efficeincy?
  • Bob Bona_4
    Bob Bona_4 Member Posts: 2,080
    A couple

    of suggestions: Beckett did at one time sell a burner cover to reduce noise..might want to check into that. What are you hearing? Ignition noise can be annoying if the burner is set up on the older primary controls with intermittent ignition. You could convert to the newer primary with the clean cut pump incorporating pre purge for smoother light offs as well. Motor bearings on the way out? They make a throbbing noise to tell you that.. Pump pulling hard/high vacuum? There's stuff to help that type of situation. Combustion noise? is the draft regulator in a place that amplifies noise?

    Intake air noise does diminish with the boots hooked up. You could do a winter/summer thing, taking the boot on and off, but tht will also change your air setting each time. Burnahm's Beckett cover or even Beckett's generic cover could be a compromise, with ODA connections opposite the pump/air inlet, giving the air some slight chance to mix around the burner housing before getting sucked up..

    It's a good question about the efficiency effect. It's a fact combustion is not helped with cold air injection, meaning the burner will act like it's running richer. In some cases, this will lead to dirtier running leading to more build up on the heat exchanger leading to a loss of heat transfer to the water leading to loss of efficiency and increased fuel consumption.

    As an aside, the Burnham V8 Beckett combo is extremely quiet w/ their covers on.
  • Stray
    Stray Member Posts: 29


    I hadn't heard of the burner boot before. I wonder how much of a reduction to expect from it.

    The unit runs smoothly from all indications. No throbbing or other noise I'd associarte with bearings. I'ts just loud (being 10' from a TV and 10' fromn a bedroom doesn't help).

    I'm trying to get perhaps 5yrs out of the setup until I can install a power vented unit in the garage away from living space. I could maybe live with slight efficincy losses and more frequent cleanings with 100% OA in that interim time period.

    Any thoughts on how I calc the cfm supplied by the burner/air-boot combo?
  • Howard Emerson
    Howard Emerson Member Posts: 103


    Stray,
    I'm not at all sure how this relates to your set up, but the Beckett Burner on my EK-1 System 2000, is completely enclosed and 100% of the combustion air is supplied via a 2" PVC pipe.

    There is no damper on the stack.

    On our old Blue Ray boiler that also had a Beckett, the floor above shook when it kicked on.......but now if I'm talking or playing guitar directly upstairs I'm often not aware that it's just fired up at all.

    HE
  • Stray
    Stray Member Posts: 29


    I'm envious...

    My boiler is about 10yrs old. The house used to be a rental...and the owner's at the time didn't put in bare minimum stuff.

  • Techman
    Techman Member Posts: 2,143
    AirBoots

    Morning! I've installed a few AirBoots and they provided 100% air for combustion,then the draft damper requirers its own source of make up air,from the room.Then there is the VRV which opens ( room air) for combustion air ,sometimes.
  • Guy_6
    Guy_6 Member Posts: 450
    Damper

    My understanding of the damper in the air boot arrangement was that it operated as a failsafe. If the kids decide to pack the outside intake full of snow/rocks/mittens/mac-n-cheese/whatever, the damper will draw from indoors to keep the air/fuel ratio correct.
  • Stray
    Stray Member Posts: 29


    I believe you are correct. Which leads me to the question of how much additional air do I need to duct in, so that in case the draft damper needs to make up a little...

    If I need to acount for the possiblility of 100% combustion air (if the boot was filled with macaronni) then I have no option to do the fan in a can or inforcer.

    If I can get away with 50 cubic inches of additional air...then I'm golden.
  • Stray
    Stray Member Posts: 29


    In this setup, how would you calculate the air needed for the damper itself? Currently, the damper can get room air since the closet has louvered doors.... but once it's closed off, I need to supply some amount for the damper (should it ever need to make up additional air). Thanks.
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