Any chance I can clean out my own oil furnace?

[mm]

Any chance I can clean out my own oil furnace?

The oil burning forced air furnace starts right and burns with a well-shaped flame, but it hasn't been vacuumed for a season and a half, and I would like to do it myself if I can.

I found 5 upright vacuum cleaners in the trash, and usually I just unclog them and give them to Goodwill. These, however, were I think thrown away by a maid who was going out of business, or one who bought a whole bunch of new tools. Only one at most could be fixed cheaply, but 2 of the other 4 have hoses on them.

I wouuld either use my shop-Vac, or one of these vacuum cleaners.

Probably best to use the junk vaccum?? If I burned it up, no loss, if I didn't I could save it for next year. The Hoover has a 12 amp motor.

The hose isn't that long, so I would use a piece of pipe and some tape to temporarily join a couple hoses in series.

Would it be better to take off the belt that drives the brush? I think it would spin faster then and have more suction. Or might the motor spin too fast??

But frankly, the Hoover upright with hose confuses me. It's a typical upright, but bagless, and has a hose attachment on the side by the right rear wheel. The hose winds around and goes into the back. When the hose is connected tothe vacuum at both ends, I don't know if any dirt goes through the hose or not. BUT WHEN it is disconected at the bottom and the upholstery attachment attached there, I don't know what would cause there to be suction into the bag. The motor is near the floor. How is it supposed to work? I have a general desire to understand this -- I've sort of wondered for years -- not just related to the furnace.

[mm]

Maybe I should have said that I called my fuel oil company and, of course, they're booked for a month, and said they would call when there was a cancellation. But I'm not first on the list. And it's going to be down to 40 tonight. Now I'll be fine tonight, but it seems like this is a good time to see if I can clean it myself. I don't want to start up with another furnace or oil company just for this cleaning. I should have had it done over the summer, but I'm getting better. This time I called 10 days ago, when it wasn't even cold. :)

[Edwin Pawlowski]

While it is not rocket science, to do it properly takes a bit of know-how. Not sealed up right when you are done presents other problems as exhaust gasses can escape. I don't know you skills and abilities so I'm not about to say to give it a try.

As for the vacuums, you need a very fine filter or you will have black soot all over the place.

In addition to cleaning, the service tech will change the nozzle, filter, adjust the burner and check efficiency. I'd wait for the pro.

[George E. Cawthon]

Why don't you just turn it on and test it? The hose is connected at one end to the floor pickup and at the other end to fan. Disconnect it from the pickup and the hose will have suction. Disconnect the end connected to the fan and the hose will have no suction.

The brush doesn't move in most uprights until the handle is moved down, so there is no need to disconnect the brush belt. If they didn't do that, many users would wear holes in their carpets when vacuuming drapes and chairs.

[scott21230]

I have a neighbor that's a HVAC tech. When I asked him about cleaning out my gas furnace, he told me to just use my shop vac and air compressor to clean it.

[mm]

I've gotten fairly good at changing the nozzle (done it about 5 times) and adjusting the electrodes, from watching and from buying (for only a few dollars) a manual from someone online.

The one thing he omitted, and said he might get to later, was how to vacuum.

The fine filter sounds important. Home Depot? Ace Hardware? Janitorial supply?

I don't have an oil filter, and either one service tech or none of them has suggested installing one in the last 23 years. When I get a new furnace, I will put in an oil filter then.

The fi

[mm]

My mother likes gas heat. It's a lot cleaner. That goes 10 times for the furnace.