Oil furnace rumbling and sputtering

[homelessdespot]

Have an oil furnace with a carlin oil burner used for hydro hot air and hot water that has been rumbling and sputtering for over a year. We've had the furnace since house purchase 13 years ago, this is the first issue with sputtering and rumbling we've had. We have it maintenance once a year, every year. Our independent maintenance guy says he changes the nozzle and the fuel filter every year. We had our flu cleaned this year too.

We have an outdoor tank that had freezing and slugging line problems in the past. The freeze problems have stopped since we always add the antifreeze additive every fill and don't let it drop below half a tank.

Maintenance guy noticed the lining of the furnace had cracked and deteriorated badly, said it was the actual cause of the rumbling and sputtering. We had him replace it for $400, looked like white casting lining the inside. He replaced the nozzle and fuel filter at the same time.

We still have rumbling and sputtering after the lining replacement. Slightly less sputtering but more rumbling. Usually happens when the furnace has not cycled for a while. > 50% of cycles it run completely fine. After calling our guy, he's irritated and is now blaming water condensation in the tank again.

Any ideas on what the cause is? We may search out a different furnace guy.

 

[fitter30]

This is a water finding paste that detects water in the fuel
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00207LS5M/?tag=atomicindus08-20
Your fuel supplier either has a service person or knows someone.

 

[Sevenhills1952]

I'm not a furnace repairman but I had an oil furnace here years ago and used to work on it myself. Two things come to mind I would try. First my furnace had an air adjustment ring you could loosen screw, adjust for best combustion. It had a window so I could watch the flame also go outside making sure no black smoke out of chimney. When adjusted correctly it ran and sounded smooth, no rumbling.
Nozzle jets are available different spray angles and sizes. I would refer to manual and contact manufacturer, there recommendations.
Second thing is I would have fuel problems, condensation and even algae growth. My test was using a new clean 5 gallon has can filled with fuel oil, disconnect and feed outside line from it. That way I could rule out fuel issues. I would add treatments into tank if there was a problem.
Again... I'm a do it yourself hack...not professional. It's what worked for me. Everything has to be set up properly to run right. Calling furnace manufacturer may be your best bet.

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[Torque&Recoil]

My first house had an oil furnace. Yeah, I remember the rumbling. I could make that go away with regular cleaning of the nozzle. I would remove the nozzle assy, clean everything carefully with brake clean, reassemble. Also sharpen and re-gap the ignition electrodes. Now that I think about it, the electrodes might have had even more effect than the nozzle. If I did this maintenance annually, it worked fine. If I skipped a year ... about December I could expect ignition problems, backfiring, smoke, or plain no-start. In 7 years, I never once replaced the nozzle or did anything with the lining. I did occasionally replace the filter, but it always seemed like a waste of time - I never saw any foreign debris on the element.

My tank was in the basement, and I think that was a better setup than having it outside. Warm fuel oil is easier to ignite than cold oil.

 

[Kaizen]

Get a new guy. He should have solutions not just blaming.
Can’t imagine a liner would make a difference.
I’d look at electrodes as well. If they are warm vs cold it can affect them. Perhaps just out of alignment of not sharp. Also verify he put in the right nozzle.
On mine there is a filter also on the pump and air inlet that can be adjusted.

If those are all good the. A larger part is beginning to fail.


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[LS6 Tommy]

Get a new guy. He should have solutions not just blaming.
Can’t imagine a liner would make a difference.
I’d look at electrodes as well. If they are warm vs cold it can affect them. Perhaps just out of alignment of not sharp. Also verify he put in the right nozzle.
On mine there is a filter also on the pump and air inlet that can be adjusted.

If those are all good the. A larger part is beginning to fail.


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X2. When was the last time the firing rate was set?

Tommy

 

[homelessdespot]

Thanks guys, I'll check those things and I'm gonna get a new guy.

 

[malarson]

I have an outdoor fuel oil tank for my garage. I also had water problems, the line would freeze in between uses (only ran it when I was going to be out there working). My solution was to elevate the end of the tank where the fuel comes out, line is in the bottom of the tank. I simply put a 2x4 under the legs. This puts the lowest point of the tank at the opposite end and any water that forms will stay down there. Been doing this for the past 8 years with no issues whatsoever, furnace fires up every time no matter how cold it is. In the spring I shut the valve, pull the 2x4 out, let it sit a couple days, and then drain off any water.

 

[Climatecreator]

Or could also be air. You could use something like this https://amzn.to/2OUqvb8 and or use something like this https://amzn.to/2qjHY2t to seal ALL the connections INCLUDING any flare nuts or compression connections.

CC

 

[pbon]

We had that. It got worse over the years and the furnace would stop periodically. We were told it had to do with the oil delivery system. I forget what that part is called, but we cleaned parts and replaced parts with no success. We went away one winter for a week and the furnace shut down and the pipes froze and two burst. Luckily we came back and were there as they thawed and started leaking so we could minimize the damage, but water was running down some walls.

I love gas. We have it now.

 

[Jackfre]

You are lucky it has worked as long as it has with an outdoor tank. If you keep the outdoor tank you should be burning K1 or getting the oil warm with an inline preheater. Your burners pump, nozzle, turbulator, motor all work to provide a good atomized spray pattern. In order to spray it must be at a temperature that will provide a low enough viscosity to form a small droplet of oil which can then be properly ignited and burn cleanly. With cold oil temps you are getting a poor pattern and poor ignition/combustion. Your burner isn't spraying the oil, it is chopping it. That poorly combusted oil then sticks to the HX and reduces efficiency further.
I would also suggest that you install a Tigerloop.