Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
All-Purpose OWF Discussions => General Outdoor Furnace Discussion => Topic started by: Roger2561 on September 22, 2017, 05:42:16 PM
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Okay, I do not know where to post this so if you feel it needs to move please do so.
This spring I performed a service on my oil furnace. I changed the nozzle, pump screen and tank filter. I cleaned everything very well. It's been running great all summer up until about a week or so ago when I heard my oil furnace running which in not uncommon in the summer, it heats my DHW. What was uncommon is that it had a very brief interruption, when I say brief I mean for a split second. I checked on the furnace and all appeared fine. I didn't give it a second thought. But, this morning it did it again only this time it did it 3 times in a row. It did not trip out, I did not have reset anything. Every time after it "burped" it continued running until the high set point was reached. When I got home from work this evening I decided to change out the nozzle, cleaned the pump screen (didn't have a new one on hand). I did not have another tank filter to change so I didn't touch it. If it does it again, I'm contacting my HVAC guy to have them go through it for me. Anyone have any ideas what happened? Thanks, Roger
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Roger.
If the tank is not low on fuel. Could there be water from condensation ? Check all electrical conections. From breaker to the emergency shut of switch to furnace and all the grounds back to the panel. What kind of burner is it? Becket , Riello , etc. what is the primary control?
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Have you cleaned or replaced your photo eye recently? A friend was having similar problems and I ordered a new photo eye for him and it took care of the problem
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smokeless - It's a Beckett EFG burner. I was thinking about it earlier this morning and have concluded it must something electrical. Like I said, it's just like a brief hiccup and I'm somewhat confident in saying it's not a fuel delivery problem. What kind of tests can I perform without killing myself with a simple multimeter?
schoppy - How would I and what would I use to clean the photo eye? If I clean it, how careful do I need to be with it; is it a delicate component? Depending on cost I may go ahead and order a new one and replace it anyway. Thanks folks. Roger
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Well ,when it is running wiggle the wires and tap on the electrical boxes. Chances are it is close to the burner. If you take off the wire nuts the copper should be twisted together.
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Roger
Two other thoughts if your TT is jumped ,make sure it's a good conection.
Also may be the electrode gap. Maybe losing the electrical arc if it is to much gap?
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smokeless - I'll do the easier one first; wiggle the wires and then if the problem persists I'll check the electrode gap to be sure it is where it belongs. Thanks for the suggestions. Roger
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Sorry Roger, having computer problems lately. It isn't that delicate of a part and not too expensive either. I found my buddies online last year. I am not sure what to use to clean it but a cleaner like you would use to clean fireplace ceramic glass would probably work.
Get your part number and you should be able to find a compatible replacement online pretty easy.
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It could be water in oil but with just changing tank filter may-be not. It could be air in line may-be when you changed
filter it was not tight and or fittings got Jared or line not tight when you changed things. These are some simple things that can be checked that could make it skip. You say it was running all summer fine if by chance you have in ground tanks and plenty of rain water could get in somehow??? You just gotta keep playing around and checking all
the little things. It might even be the transformer working but skipping at times. When ya do find out let us know what it was.
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Hi all - Quick update - The oil furnace has been running great since the last time I posted on here complaining about it. I'm still at a loss as to what may have been causing the problem due to the fact I haven't had time to clean anything or perform any of the suggestions posted. The only thing I did was put some fuel conditioner in the tank. Maybe it was crud, sludge or some moisture in the tank, I have no idea.
whitepine2 - the oil tank is located in the basement of my house.
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Hi all - Quick update - The oil furnace has been running great since the last time I posted on here complaining about it. I'm still at a loss as to what may have been causing the problem due to the fact I haven't had time to clean anything or perform any of the suggestions posted. The only thing I did was put some fuel conditioner in the tank. Maybe it was crud, sludge or some moisture in the tank, I have no idea.
whitepine2 - the oil tank is located in the basement of my house.
I actually hate that, I’d rather find something wrong than have it self fix, eventually it could do it again.
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I hope it doesn't show its ugly head when you need it the most.
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mlappen - Me too. There is nothing more frustrating than something act up one minute only to have it run completely fine then next. Soon I'll be firing up the OWB for the heating season and won't have to deal with the oil until next spring.
smokeless - Same here. There's nothing worse than a cold shower first thing in the morning.
Roger
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Well, the saga continues. The oil furnace is doing the same thing this morning as it was a bit over a week ago only this time it "skipped" 4 times in a row. This time I observed a clicking sound every time it "skipped", if that means any thing you guys. When I get home from work this evening I'm going to clean the "eye" to see if that makes any difference. I'm not an oil burner tech, only a DIY'er who tries to save as much money as possible by doing things for himself. But, if I cannot find the problem and it persists I'll contact the HVAC guy.
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Roger, with the limited amount of oil burner stuff that I do, I'm going to say that it is probably the transformer getting weak, be very cautious messing around with it as they store up to 10,000 volts, de energize it by running an insulated screwdriver across the two springs with the service switch off and then it's safe to play with!
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The first thing I'm going to do is test and clean the photocell. If that doesn't rectify it, I'll recheck the electrode gap to be sure they are correct. When it skips, it sounds very much different than it does when it flames out so I'm somewhat confident that it's not a fuel supply issue.
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It could be water in oil but with just changing tank filter may-be not. It could be air in line may-be when you changed
filter it was not tight and or fittings got Jared or line not tight when you changed things. These are some simple things that can be checked that could make it skip. You say it was running all summer fine if by chance you have in ground tanks and plenty of rain water could get in somehow??? You just gotta keep playing around and checking all
the little things. It might even be the transformer working but skipping at times. When ya do find out let us know what it was.
whitepine - I can't remember if I mentioned that the tank is in the basement of my house. The filter canister at the tank is nice and tight. The fuel line at the fuel pump on the Beckett burner is nice and tight. If air is being introduced into the fuel line, where could it possibly be getting in? I ran my screwdriver across the transformer springs and I had a nice bright arc about an inch long. I called my HVAC guy and he's so busy that he isn't available until early December. I'm thinking of calling the oil company to come out and have a go of it but man they charge an arm and a leg. This is driving me nuts. Roger
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Hi Roger
I am also curious as to what your issue may be. I input your problem and tried some google fu and most suggestions seemed to revolve around water in the oil. One person, who did suggest they had an issue similar to yours, had a bad pump gasket. In case you haven't seen it, here is the link below. Hope you find the problem. You might consider a used burner. So many people are going off oil, at least in my area, that burners are a dime a dozen. I had a perfectly good Beckett burner given to me a month ago, which I promptly gave to someone else.
http://www.contractortalk.com/f6/sputtering-oil-burner-18277/
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Roger I'm thinking there is a mesh filter under the four bolts on the pressure pump. Mine plugged before. That is after the filter. Four bolts n brake cleaner.
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Boilerhouse, smokeless, Thank you for the suggestions. I have treated the oil so I kind of figured I can rule out moisture in the oil but one never knows. I checked the screen on the pump and it was nice and clean with exception of a few tiny particles. But, I now have bigger issues. One of the times it skipped, the relay sounded like a rapid fire, firearm and then everything went quiet. I checked the circuit breaker, it's working okay, I cycled the on/off switch to see if it would reset and nothing. The only noise I hear is from the transformer in the zone controller. As a test I decided to turn on up the heat to see if that made any difference, it didn't, nothing happened; the burner did not run, the circulator for the zones did not run, nothing happens. I fear that the rapid misfire may have done something to the triple aqua stat (Honeywell 8151). If I didn't need to be at work for an important meeting with the bosses, I'd stay home do some troubleshooting, but this is a meeting I cannot miss. So, I have a call into my HVAC guy begging that he make room for me today to get this thing going and get me hot-water. He knows how to get into my home without me being there. I hope to have an update for you guys this evening. Roger
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Okay, I have an update and hopefully the final time. The HVAC guy stopped by while I was at work and it was the cell relay (Honeywell 8184) that went bad. They changed it out for a new one and all seems to be working fine for now. I say "for now" because I thought I had fixed the problem before only for it show it's ugly ahead again. But, it's nice to have hot-water again. Roger
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It's nice to be able to "do it yourself" also nice to be able too get a guy there asap.
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It's great that when you call with no heat, he'll send of his guys over as soon as one gets some free time to fix it. Roger