"andre" wrote in message
ups.com...
Edwin Pawlowski wrote:

I don't know what you mean by top flushing. When put into
service, a boiler is often boiled out with some chemicals to get rid of
any
residue in the steam/water chambers. It is then flushed and closed up.

What they say they do is removing all the dirty water
from the water chamber.

Something else I don't quite understand - how could the smell move
between the basement and the radiator vents inside the house.
Isn't the water/steam system supposed to be separate from the
basement air? Could it be two separate problems?

Andre

You can be looking at two problems. If there was residual oil in the boiler
and it was not properly flushed at startup, some of the residue would be
carried by the steam into the system, thus contaminating the entire system.
When heated it will give off an odor that may come out the steam vents on
the radiators. They are designed to purge air from the system. This should
diminish in time. Any oil in the system should be long gone.

Another potential problem is the oil burner itself. There may be a leak
someplace after the flame. This can be some bad gasketing on the burner,
leaks in the flue pipe, some downdraft in the stack, etc. In any case, you
should not be smelling oil of any sort. If it is from the burner, it may be
seeping into your place from all the crack in the joints and air moving in
the stairwell, or even as the flue gasses move across the roof and can seep
back in if the flue it not right.

There is a difference between the odor of the fuel oil burning and the
oil/water mix being heated. Get someone that may be familiar with them to
visit and maybe give you a better idea of what the smell is. Anyone that
works on car a lot can probably tell the difference as they washed down an
oily engine and would know the odor you get when it is heated the first time
or two.

In any case, you need a competent service tech to sort it out. Sounds like
all you've had is a hack.