Oil Burner Questions

[homeguy]

I have a Beckett head on a Bock Hot water heater. The heater was shutting off and cavitating (pulsating). I changed the pump and nozzle and the pulsating went away. However, the burner still shuts off and trips the breaker on the controls. I've replaced the light sensor, transformer, controls and checked the gap on the electrodes. Everything looked fine. I'm wondering if the aquastat could be causing the burner not to light at times. When I press the breaker button the burner heats the hotwater to temp. Then for some reason, over night it pops the breaker on the control. ALso, the boiler is on the same line and it rund and shuts off fine. Any suggestions?

[RBM]

The reset is not a breaker. If you push it and the burner starts, it means the aquastat is already in the closed position. There are several reasons why the primary control may be opening, all of which are best determined by someone with proper testing equipment

[flansp78]

You may have air in the oil line. Check all connections to determine if they are tight. Your burner and controls are doing waht they are designed to do. If you do not find any problems with the connections then you will need to call a qualified oil burner tech. to solve your problem.

Paul

[homeguy]

I guess I could have an air leak. The strange thing is that I have one oil line coming in and then it's split between the furnace and hot water heater with check valves. I'll check my connections. I was told that the motor could be hitting a flat spot. There isn't much else it could be. The only things not changed are the electrodes (look good) motor and aquastat. So I giess it can only be these things or air in the lines. But if there was air in the line wouldn't it sputter when I press the control button or not start at all? Are there any test I can do?

[Bubba]

You haven't quite replaced enough parts yet. Keep trying. Once you change them all, you'll find out that you still don't have a freaking clue on proper combustion of an oil burner. Hopefully, we wont read about you in the obituaries. Bubba

[Mark]

Gee,

I thought we had to go over to alt.hvac to see those kind of responses.

Mark

[Bubba]

Nope, this was your lucky day Mark. Bubba

[Doug]

Humm, Perhaps I should discuss the time when I was out of the country on a job, my furnace shut down and a relative called a pro to service it? Two days after the "pro" serviced it, the burner puffed back so hard it blew the stack pipe off, filling the house with enough soot to cause an $18K insurance claim?

Or the time when I visited a neighbor hours after a pro serviced her burner, only to find fuel oil spraying all over her basement floor?

Or the time techs from my local gas company replaced the delayed start main gas valve on a furnace in one of my rental houses with an instant start value? The flame roll out was indeed impressive.

etc, etc, etc

I've been installing and servicing heating equipment in my properties for 31 years and have yet to endanger anyone.

My point is that are poor professional techs and good amateurs and vice versa. Automatically giving someone such useless advise as the above is pointless.

Doug

[Ted Mittelstaedt]

We all agree with this.

It is not useless advice. The automotice newsgroups are full of people shotgunning also, and it's no more right there than here.

Have you even tried putting an ammeter on this to measure current draw on this circuit? Or any other instrumentation whatsoever?

Is the oil tank underground? If so has it been checked for the presense of water in the oil?

Ted

[Bubba]

All you have explained is that you and your neighbor dont shop for a professionally trained licensed HVAC tech too well. As far as your local gas company goes, Id just as soon have hired my

12 yr old neighbor. Would you let "just anyone" baby sit your newborn and sibling children? Of course not. You would check many many references before hiring out that task to such precious "cargo". So WHY OH WHY would you not do the same amount of investigating into searching for a professional HVAC company? You are trusting someone with your life and the lifes of those in your home to someone that can burn your house down or fill your house with soot and carbon monoxide in a very very short time. Next time, do your homework a little better. Its obvious that you and your neighbor didnt. Bubba

[Doug]

Humm, another trite useless answer... Oh well, I shouldn't expect more...

BTW, the guys mentioned above were licensed with good references, at least in terms of how much can be checked out on a weekend with no heat.

I've had so many bad experiences that I ALWAYS do my own work unless I'm out of town and a tenant has no heat or it's a weekend and I can't get a part. In any event, under no heat conditions in New England, one can not spend a day or two checking references, especially if the tenant has complained to housing code enforcement. Heat has to be restored NOW!

I just made one exception because it was a warranty job. This past week I had a well known company replace a boiler core this past week. I've used them several times with good results. And yes, they have many references.

This time their techs broke a sump pump adjacent to the boiler, installed the safety relief valve drain tube so that it dumps its output on TOP of the boiler and failed to reinstall the draft diverter in the smoke pipe (it was left hanging ajar on one screw). Those were the mistakes I found in the first 3 minutes of my follow up inspection.

Maybe you get better help in your area?

Pardon my cynicism but it's based upon unfortunate experience.

Doug

[Bubba]

Sorry Doug but you are explaining simple 3rd grade mistakes. This is proof positive that you are doing nothing more than picking the biggest yellow page ad or just plain calling until you find the first or cheapest hack. Spend time now, while you dont need a hvac guy to look for one that is good. Its just like any other blue collar or professional industry. There is good and there is bad. You wouldnt keep going to the same doctor for a cold if each time you showed up he wants to stick his thumb up your ass, would you? Bubba

[Mark]

Bubba,

let me ask you something as a pro..

which kind of customer would you rather deal with...

they guy with a heat problem that doesn't know anything about anything...

or they guy that understands how a furnace works and has a pretty good idea about what the problem is but doesn't have the experience or parts or tools to fix it himself?

Mark

[aka-SBM]

Jumping in here, but as a pro, either is fine.

The one that has no clue, a REAL tech with integrity can come in, fix it, EXPLAIN things, and unless hes one of those, "I dont care, make it work" types, he will have a better understanding.

The one that has half a clue will be the one that gives you the most crap. he knows half of what is needed and tells you what is wrong with it when you get there. Those, you can TRY to explain it all to, but if they start with the instructions, then you just tell them that you will do it their way, (depending on that way, and what is being done of course) and if it does not work, then they get to pay for the parts and time that was wasted. Works well.

Those that know, normally will sit back and watch. When you are done, they will pay you gladly, and without question. They also tend to refer you to more people, since they actually know why you set the oil burner up with $2800 in tools, or more.

[Bubba]

The guy above because.............. The guy below does NOT exist. If he understands nothing about it or something about it he has already fuquered with it by the time I get there. Then after he watches me fix it, he sees how quick and efficient I am. Now he thinks its easy and whines about my bill. At this point I infer a little phrase reitterating a slight detail that if it were so easy to fix, then why the hell am I here? Just had one the other day. Changing out a blower motor on a Sat afternoon for an old fart that had done the same repair himself 10 yrs ago. Wondered why we charged "so much" when he bout it at Grainger 10 yrs ago for $40. Funny part is, we charged him a lower diagnostic fee than our regular day rate (by mistake) and charged a lower repair fee than our regular day rate (another mistake). This was done Sat afternoon. He called back and bitched. This guy was even told the complete repair price BEFORE we repaired it and still whinned. Give an old guy a break and he still bitches. Hmm, wonder why I dont cut anyone any slack?? I just cant imagine. Bubba

[Bubba]

Hey! Go find your own "bitches" SBM! Mark is mine. :-) Bubba