On Sat, 07 Dec 2013 20:20:01 -0500, "Pete C."
wrote:

snipped for readability. Only 3 of your lines, plus a bunch of mine.

Yet at least two of these guys and more I think before I threw away
duplicates used hollow nozzles. I wonder if that's why it has
smelled faintly of oil when the furnace first comes on, before the fan
starts.

Hard to say. The wrong pattern *might* cause delayed ignition and a bit
of oil smell and "whomp" on startup, but other things like igniter
electrodes a bit out of alignment can also.

Ah. Delayed ignition. I can be so stupid at times. Last winter and
now the computer is in the basement, and I'm less than 30 feet from
the furnace, and I hear it go on and off. I have to pay more
attention to the time elapsing between the oil pump going on and the
flame starting..... Well it just happened, as I was typiing the
previous sentence, and afaict everything except the main fan started
at once, but maybe I missed a half second when the oil was pumping and
there was no ignition. Furthermore, the smell doesn't happen
every time -- I have to pay attention every time now -- and I don't
smell it in the basement, only in my bedroom when I'm lying down, my
nose about 2 feet from a duct.


Another complicating factor is that some newer burners don't run at 100
psi and instead have high and low firing rates, requiring some
calculation to get the correct firing rate nozzle for the higher
pressure high rate firing.

This is not one of those.

EXT, there is no gas available here.

Extra complaints! (I also noticed after I'd been here a few years,
that the techs were no longer measuring anything. At first they poked
a hole in the flue and measured something, then taped the hole. The
later guy used the same hole. After about 3 years, no one bothered.)

The hole is supposed to be used for combustion gas sampling, smoke
sampling and draft measurements. These are measures of combustion
efficiency and proper venting.


One guy taped the pivoting damper closed. I asked the next guy why it
was taped shut. He didnt' answer me but he took off the tape. None

Even he didn't use a guage. He may have fiddled with the
counterweight, but no guage was involved.

of these guys were from bargain basement outfits. They all came from
major heating oil vendors in town.

The barometric damper certainly shouldn't be taped off, it's there to
help manage the draft in the chimney.

It sounds like the quality of the techs has deteriorated in your area

Maybe so. I really should have learned to pin the company down
before they sent anyone, that he would use the gauges . Instead I
would change companies. (I thought it was too late once he was
wrapping up to ask about gauges. He'd do it reluctanty and not well,
even if he knew better.

If you are interested and have free time, you might check the tech
schools in the area and see if they offer an oil burner service class.
When I took one it was ~$100 for a 12 wk evening class that was
interesting and fun.

That's a great idea. When I googled, Maine and Massechusettes came
up as prior searches! So far only a for-profit technical school with
full semester classes, and a wholesaler, R.E. Michel, with 8 hour per
day classes, $95 for one day or $350 for 3 days hands-on. I have
to talk to them on the phone to see what level they are.