Stanley Twin Series 100k btu sooting up completely in a week

[Crofter11]

HI,

New to this forum, so please bear with.

I have a Waterford Stanley Twin Series 100k btu, 10 years old. No probs til 2 yrs ago, boiler burner packed up. Very reliable plumber inspected and replaced burner with a reconditioned Ecoflame Minor 1 Boiler 100k (550101/815), checked oil filter and fire valve, serviced unit and replaced nozzle. All fine til last week. Much coughing and spluttering followed by Morse code like clicking and then died. Lots of black smoke from the flue outside (chimney). Opened and inspected - full up to and including baffles with soot, including carbonized (??solidified) soot around the blast tube within the furnace/boiler. Total clean, including chimney and air intake duct on stove, checked and serviced again including new nozzle - worked fine, for a week. Full of soot again. Anyone any ideas whats causing this?

 

[Burnerman]

I'm wondering if the installer set the fuel pump pressure and did a gas analysis when the job was done - and if the appliance had the correct nozzle fitted?
Sorry I cant recommend the correct nozzle though!
With the burner running, there should be no visible smoke at the chimney, but water vapour, i.e steam, is perfectly ok.
John

 

[Crofter11]

Burnerman, thanks for the prompt reply.

He certainly did pressure check, not sure about gas analysis - don't think so.

New nozzle fitted was 0.58 80 degree - spec for the boiler/cooker, but can't find any manuals/specs for the burner unit as its old. Generic Minor 1 says 0.60 80 degree, as far as I know.

Air is set at max (sliding bar 0-9, set at 9).

When I cleaned it out I found a piece of gasket board in the chamber behind the blast tube ope - looks like it was surrounding the ope. This is also where I found the solid soot built up caked to the blast tube - could this be the problem. He thinks air or oil. 28 sec Kero used, as spec'd. -9 here at the moment, coincided with first problem. However, so did new fill of oil tank, though half full at the time. Maybe the fan?

Cleaned out furnace and baffles and internal flues, running both burners at the mo to see if sooting occurs on both. If so, may be bad oil or main air inlet. If not, prob must be with the boiler burner.

 

[Burnerman]

All a bit of a mystery really - I would hazard a guess and say that the nozzle size is about correct, and the fuel pressure should be at 12 bar (at least thats whats needed for the Minor 4 - no data for the Minor 1).
If the air inlet is fully open I would love to know what the CO2 reading was at!
Can you compare the length of the blast tube with that from the previous burner?
I don't understand where the piece of gasket board was?
John

 

[Crofter11]

Thanks again Burnerman.

I will be taking it apart again this week-end to check if re-re-cleaning is required and will let you know.

Will also try to get plumber to take a flue gas reading for the boiler burner - don't know if he's set up for that, but I agree it's needed. Worried about CO2 since all the sooting issues so going to get a CO2 alarm in the room for now.

Would love to tell what the tube length on the original burner was, but he took it with him. As far as I can tell from the Stanley schematics (not great for info) it looks pretty similar, but that's a guess. Schematics show a gasket board, or "Burner Ceramic Board" between the burner carrier plate and the boiler assembly. None present on my unit (other than debris).

 

[oilhead]

Original burner, Minor 4 takes between 1.10 x 80 to 0.85 x 80 nozzle at around 135 psi from memory.
Was your .58 nozzle a .85? In a minor 1 burner, there would not be sufficient secondary air from the blast tube, so whatever the air slide is set at it will make soot. When you get the original burner back, count the holes in the blast tube, and compare the size, and you will see what I mean.
A flue gas analysis would have shown up a high CO2 level, and a smoke test would have been dirty.

 

[Crofter11]

Thanks Oilhead - my mistake, nozzle is 0.85 x 80 degree.

No smoke at present, running clean from the flue. Will ask about original burner. Pretty sure he said it was running at 120psi, will discuss with him.

Thanks again.