micky wrote:

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.


Be sure you have a good working CO detector in the area. While oil smell
in the immediate vicinity of the burner is common, if you smell it
elsewhere from the ductwork it could indicate a cracked heat exchanger
which can let CO into the house.

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.

Unfortunately the public tech schools have been rather gutted by those
who think that somehow such skills are obsolete and are beneath their
darling hell spawn.