Oil Furnace smokes

[K_man]

I am new here, thanks for reading. I have had my furnace worked on and cleaned, but there was some junk in the lines so I ended up changing the nozzle my self (after unit cut off a few times). I had a few weeks of cleaning or changing nozzles, but it seems to be running better now. The unit calls for a 1.0 gph 80 degree type A, but I used a type W because the guy at hardware store said it was ok to use. Is this correct? The problem I'm having now is that when the heat comes on and the unit runs for a while, smoke is coming out near the chamber somewhere. Would the wrong nozzle cause this? It is a delvan nozzle.

This is a Columbia Boiler with a becket burner.

[K_man]

I have had my furnace worked on and cleaned (twice now), but there was some junk in the lines ( after oil delivery) so I ended up changing the nozzle my self (after unit cut off a few times). I had a few weeks of cleaning or changing nozzles, but it seems to be running better now. The unit calls for a 1.0 gph 80 degree type A, but I used a type W because the guy at hardware store said it was ok to use. Is this correct? The problem I'm having now is that when the heat comes on and the unit runs for a while, smoke is coming out near the chamber somewhere. Would the wrong nozzle cause this? It is a delvan nozzle.

This is a Columbia Boiler with a becket burner.

Thanks for reading.

[Jeff Wisnia]

Try posting to alt.hvac, you'll get lots of answers there.

Jeff

[Proctologically Violated©®]

[Eigenvector]

Oh he'll get answers alright, answers about his intelligence, geneology, and if patient maybe an answer to his question.

[Proctologically Violated©®]

Yeah, mebbe if he begs or offers up his sister.

[K_man]

Yes it does have a blower motor that has some numbers (kind of like a sun dial). I can post some pictures later. There is a black pen marking on number

8, but it is set on number 4. I guess the part with the air intake slots loosens up and you turn to adjust?

The tech guy was messing with some adjustment one day and his assistant would tell him when the chimney was burning cleaner.

I just had the guy clean it. It was cutting off a lot, but tonight it stayed on. I used some HOT oil treatment, so maybe it has worked in.

So tonight I turned the heat on and it takes a while for the smoke to really pick up. It looks like it's coming

[K_man]

Yes it does have a blower motor that has some numbers (kind of like a sun dial). I can post some pictures later. There is a black pen marking on number

8, but it is set on number 4. I guess the part with the air intake slots loosens up and you turn to adjust?

The tech guy was messing with some adjustment one day and his assistant would tell him when the chimney was burning cleaner.

I just had the guy clean it. It was cutting off a lot, but tonight it stayed on. I used some HOT oil treatment, so maybe it has worked in.

So tonight I turned the heat on and it takes a while for the smoke to really pick up. It looks like it's coming from inside the unit, but it's hard to pin point. It's not billowing out, but steady enough to smell.

[Proctologically Violated©®]

Yeah, you can likely adjust the air like that. But, by providing too much combustion air, you might be masking another problem. But most boilers smoke on ignition, and clear up after. Does the burner fire normally, smoke later on, with each cycle, w/ you not touching it? Or do you clean the nozzle each time, it's OK, and then starts smoking? That might provide a clue.

I'm rusty on #2 oil stuff (actually, on all stuff), but smoke is usually a low air/oil ratio, and a clogged oil nozzle would RAISE the air/oil ratio. Or an atomization issue. Air can be used to *atomize* the oil in the nozzle, and if those passages get clogged, you'll get smoke. Maybe there are two adjustments, one for atomizing air, one for combustion air.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

He was a hack. A good serviceman uses instruments to tell if the burner is efficient and smoke free. Getting the job done right will save on oil.

[Proctologically Violated©®]

Actually, not true. When I was workin on berlers (#6), the only time we used instruments was when preparing for inspections--and most of those were exhaust/chimney related. Good, efficient flames are obvious to a trained eye. Less obvious is the issue of *too much* draft or combustion air, but regardless, good flames themselves are rarely a problem, and a good old school mechanic will get the air/draft very close w/o gauges, etc. A moron w/ gauges is still a moron.

[Doug]

A burner misadjusted in terms of the air/fuel ratio will indeed smoke but the smoke should be going up the chimney.

If smoke is entering the space outside the furnace or boiler, I suspect back pressure in the combustion chamber, probably a draft problem, possibly flue passages clogged with soot. If you are not VERY familiar with this, get a pro in to do a complete cleaning and checkout. You are using a bandaid approach....

Doug

[Proctologically Violated©®]

Good point.

[Willshak]

Mine did that when a bunch of 20 year old soot in the chimney fell into the firing chamber. It was vacuumed out and the burner did not blow smoke out anymore. I should have paid attention to the soot particles that fell over everything outside whenever the burner kicked on. I bought a chimney sweep kit after that and cleaned the whole chimney, which produced a half garbage bag full of soot.

[yourname]

Actually it is true, Boilers nowadays are efficient enough that you need to do real smoke tests[littlepipe, filter paper etc] to tell the difference between relative efficiency. Just burning now dying is not good enough for 2.50 a gallon oil.

Plus heavy oil boilers are quite the diffent animal

[Proctologically Violated©®]

[uncablu]

message

I am a licensed mechanical contractor and have been in the field for almost 40 years, and I will be the first one to admit, that I cannot tune-up an oil fired device by eye. Furthermore I will challenge any one to prove to me that they can.

Proctologically Violated stated that "Good efficient flames are obvious to a trained eye" but that draft is less obvious. Since draft is a flow of air (too little, just enough or too much) and it is not visually obvious, is not the concept of seeing a good flame, without knowing what the draft is, an impossibility?

Also if getting it "very close w/o gauges" is not close enough for inspections, how close is very close?

My analizer prints off all its findings for the homeowner and for me, so there is no question about what was done.

So I guess that I am just a moron with a guage, but when I have finished a tune-up I know that I got it right, and have evidence that will stand up in court to prove it. Can your tech say the same?

Uncablu.

[Proctologically Violated©®]

I'm not saying anyone w/ gauges is a moron. Just said if I had to choose, I'd choose a knowledgeable guy w/o gauges over a neophyte w/ gauges. My point was that at least at the time when I was doin berlers, the EPA requirements (or whomever) were inconsistent w/ really good fuel efficiency. We did what we had to do for the inspections, then set up the flame/draft for a really good efficient burn, which was just at the brink of too-little air, for reasons of heat transfer/contact time. You can do all this by eye, and a little finagling. At least in bigassed #6 burners w/ high volume/high pressure atomizers, the flame had a real sweet spot, white-white bright hot, really awesome. W/ rotary-style burners, you couldn't get anywhere near that flame.

Mebbe now it's more finicky, but a flame is a flame, at least within similar combustion motiffs.