Oil Furnace Cleaning (Part 3)

Part three of my documentation on cleaning out my oil furnace after a backpuff incident.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Furnace
• Cleaning
• Backpuff

[JGHVAC17]

First thing wrong here is this unit is called a boiler not a furnace and second thing wrong is if you have to mark and label the smoke pipe you are not qualified enough to be messing with this unit. Hopefully your house didnt burn down.

[taylorbarre]

Wow ... This is a recipe for disaster that's why us techs are licensed p.s its a boiler not a furnace

[67tr876]

I think you may have a bit of a problem with that boiler. It should not have that much shoot I think it needs more air or something.

[soulfultenor]

@ALPHADOG3 I hadn't had to work on oil, boilers or furnaces since my sears days, I made that statement based on my training in class and the field. I had one that was sooty cause of bad adjustment after, I cleaned and made the proper adjustments it burned most of the soot when I checked it again. Soot is carbon, just like in your car if u've had a bad carburetor and changed it, the soot or carbon turns white or a ash color.

[ALPHADOG3]

@soulfultenor heat will burn all the carbon? It's soot, and it will not burn, it will absorb heat and eventually lead to a fire because of all the heat it retains. A well maintained furnace should have hardly any to 0 soot. This is why professionals use very exspensive flue gas analyzers, to test CO, CO2, O2, over fire draft, and many other readings. A oil furnace should never be maintained by a homeowner, but if they are I always carry extra red tags in my truck incase:)

[TheSuperwes]

Its a good thing you didnt call me ...I would have red tagged that oil tank. Cleaning the soot out only removes the indicator of the problem. Is the nozzle spraying correctly? Is the pump pressure correct? Are the electrodes clean and set correct? Whats the co2% ? 02% ? excess air? removing the soot is only 25% of the job.

[soulfultenor]

next time you do this, keep in mind the heat will burn all that carbon and go up the flue.

[soulfultenor]

next time you do this, keep in mind the heat will burn all that carbon abd go up the flue.

[GeorgeGraves]

Thanks man - I'm looking at a house with a furnace - but didn't know how they work. I was a little leeary when the home inspector told me it MUST be PROFESSIONALLY serviced. But this seems like cake.

[cddisme123]

Your draft control is not set right-Read the front of it for which side the weight goes on-I think you will find it is the other side and should be set around .06 water gauge-but this heater needs combustion testing -It obviously requires more air in the combustion process-I wouldn't do this job if I had that to deal with every time i went to service a heater-That's alot of soot for a heater that should run very clean.