If the "furnace guy" thought it may be a sludge issue originating at the
tank, did he bother to check the filter? Has anyone checked the filter? If
there is in fact sludge in the tank it will be in the filter also. Did
anyone check delivery pressure when they were standing there looking at it,
for diagnostics sake? Most, not all, but most service providers are not
equiped or adequately trained to diagnose oil problems. Find a specialist,
guarantee he will find the problem.
"Mark Holbrook" wrote in message
...
Hello all, I have an oil boiler (ca. mid 80s, according to previous owner)
that every now and then rumbles loudly (sounds like a truck going by
outside
the house), and spews gray/black smoke from what normally is the air inlet
vent on the pipe that leads to the chimney. I have had a couple furnace
guys
over and they shrug their shoulders and say that unless it does it while
they are there they don't know what it could be. I have had the boiler
cleaned and the nozzles replaced. One of the guys said if he had to take a
guess it might be sludge buildup in the oil tank, so I tried some sludge
remover additive that I found at home depot. I figure that stuff is
probably
snake oil anyway, but it was pretty cheap so I figured I'd give it a go.
Didn't really seem to do much. The repair guy stated that some sludge
could
be making its way to the nozzle that would then starve the combustion of
the
oil, this then causing the problem. So how do I make this stop?

The oil tank is in the basement and there is a copper line from the oil
tank
to the boiler. Would cleaning the line out help, or just replacing it? The
tank looks old, and has some exterior rust, not a lot though. Could there
be
a lot of sludge buildup in the tank itself? The boiler works fine most of
the time, but it does this every other day or so during the winter while
it
is running on a regular basis. I am in CT so it only runs right now for
hot
water. It happened to do it again a few days ago (hadn't done it for a
long
time), and it got me thinking about it and how to get it fixed. I'd like
to
try to get this problem fixed before the fall/winter hits us.

thank you,

Mark

--
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness"
- Mark Twain