I have an oil-based hot-water system running a Lennox Furnace with a Beckett
burner. Ever since the system was installed 15 years ago, the furnace has
burned with a loud rumble, louder than any other oil furnace I've
encountered. I have the furnace serviced annually by a pro(filter, nozzle,
cleanup)who claims that nothing can be done to quiet the furnace down. Also,
about every winter or two the burner conks out with carbon deposits fouling
the electrodes.

Anyway, I was complaining to a friend about all of this and he said he had
the same problem with his oil furnace on a hot air system. He said he
quieted his furnace down by moving the electrodes out "just a hair" further
from the nozzle and suggested I give it a try. Before I do, I'd like to ask
a few questions.

Has anyone tried this, and did it work?

Is there risk of damage to the electrodes, maybe burning them out by raising
the combustion temp. by moving them?

How critical are the specs on the electrodes -- gap distance, angle to the
nozzle, distance from the nozzle, etc.??

I'm willing to give his idea a try, but want to make sure I'm not going to
mess things up worse than they are and have my furnace go out on the coldest
night of the winter.

TIA for any advice.

snafu wrote:
I have an oil-based hot-water system running a Lennox Furnace with a Beckett
burner. Ever since the system was installed 15 years ago, the furnace has
burned with a loud rumble, louder than any other oil furnace I've
encountered. I have the furnace serviced annually by a pro(filter, nozzle,
cleanup)who claims that nothing can be done to quiet the furnace down. Also,
about every winter or two the burner conks out with carbon deposits fouling
the electrodes.

Anyway, I was complaining to a friend about all of this and he said he had
the same problem with his oil furnace on a hot air system. He said he
quieted his furnace down by moving the electrodes out "just a hair" further
from the nozzle and suggested I give it a try. Before I do, I'd like to ask
a few questions.

Has anyone tried this, and did it work?

Is there risk of damage to the electrodes, maybe burning them out by raising
the combustion temp. by moving them?

How critical are the specs on the electrodes -- gap distance, angle to the
nozzle, distance from the nozzle, etc.??

I'm willing to give his idea a try, but want to make sure I'm not going to
mess things up worse than they are and have my furnace go out on the coldest
night of the winter.

TIA for any advice.



not the oil burner "expert"
I'll be surprised if moving electrodes solves a rumble problem.

The gap, angle, distance are all critical to getting ignition.
Changing anything by just a few thousandths of an inch can
make starting unreliable. But, if you're up to experimenting,
make measurements of where everything is now and try it.

Rumble and pulsation are usually caused by very complex
conditions. Firebox dimensions, nozzle size, spray angle,
combustion air delivery, stack draft, boiler passages, etc.

It takes a really, really, experienced burner mechanic
to solve problems like this. And a customer who is willing
to pay (substantial amounts) for his time trying various fixes.

If I could get consistent and reliable ignition with a
minimum of trouble, I would be willing to live with the rumble.

Jim

snafu wrote:
I have an oil-based hot-water system running a Lennox Furnace with a Beckett
burner. Ever since the system was installed 15 years ago, the furnace has
burned with a loud rumble, louder than any other oil furnace I've
encountered. I have the furnace serviced annually by a pro(filter, nozzle,
cleanup)who claims that nothing can be done to quiet the furnace down. Also,
about every winter or two the burner conks out with carbon deposits fouling
the electrodes.

Anyway, I was complaining to a friend about all of this and he said he had
the same problem with his oil furnace on a hot air system. He said he
quieted his furnace down by moving the electrodes out "just a hair" further
from the nozzle and suggested I give it a try. Before I do, I'd like to ask
a few questions.

Has anyone tried this, and did it work?

Is there risk of damage to the electrodes, maybe burning them out by raising
the combustion temp. by moving them?

How critical are the specs on the electrodes -- gap distance, angle to the
nozzle, distance from the nozzle, etc.??

I'm willing to give his idea a try, but want to make sure I'm not going to
mess things up worse than they are and have my furnace go out on the coldest
night of the winter.

TIA for any advice.


What nozzle pattern is it running?

snafu wrote:
I have an oil-based hot-water system running a Lennox Furnace with a
Beckett burner. Ever since the system was installed 15 years ago, the
furnace has burned with a loud rumble, louder than any other oil
furnace I've encountered. I have the furnace serviced annually by a
pro(filter, nozzle, cleanup)who claims that nothing can be done to
quiet the furnace down. Also, about every winter or two the burner
conks out with carbon deposits fouling the electrodes.

Any chance you've had the same guy for 15 years? Do you pay "normal"
cleaning/maint charges or does he always have some "extras" you have to pay
for?
Maybe it's time to try a new handyman? Get a reference, sort of?
It's not normal for the burners to "rumble". 99% of the time the pump makes
more noise than the flames do if everything is working right.
You might ask this question on the mfg's web site, too.


Anyway, I was complaining to a friend about all of this and he said
he had the same problem with his oil furnace on a hot air system. He
said he quieted his furnace down by moving the electrodes out "just a
hair" further from the nozzle and suggested I give it a try. Before I
do, I'd like to ask a few questions.

Has anyone tried this, and did it work?

I haven't tried that way, but I have set it to exact specs for postioning
and often let the "error" be on the high side rather than the low side.
There's always a small possibility the specs are wrong and were corrected,
but you'd have no way of knowing that. It's not ultra-critical, actually,
but there is a "best" setting for them.

Is there risk of damage to the electrodes, maybe burning them out by
raising the combustion temp. by moving them?

Not really, but yes if they're misadjusted too far. Or, you won't get
ignition at all.

How critical are the specs on the electrodes -- gap distance, angle
to the nozzle, distance from the nozzle, etc.??

It's not rocket science, but like I said, it does have to be near the spec.
It's not all that unusual to have things like that change on old furnaces as
the transformers age, the grid voltage changes slightly, things like that.
IFF you have a way to "put them back" where they were, I'd probably say give
it a try. But if you're not comfortable, you might end up calling a repair
guy after all.

I'm willing to give his idea a try, but want to make sure I'm not
going to mess things up worse than they are and have my furnace go
out on the coldest night of the winter.

When you look at the flames thru the viewport, what do they look like?
Blue? Yellow tips? How much yellow? Any orange or red? Steady? Bouncy?
Lifting up from the burner? Consistant all along the burner? Higher in one
place than others? Etc..
That descrip might get you some more pointed responses than mine.

Pop`


TIA for any advice.