let the fun begin

[doug]

Russ,
 
 In mild condition like we are currently having I have the water temp set at 170*f just to conserve fuel. Later this month and into Jan and Feb I will increase temp to 180*f.

Yes, the circulating pump runs continuously. There's all ways hot water circulating thur the heat exchanger in the furnace causing a gravity flow of warm air up into the living space of the house. So there's no blast of cold air when the blower does kicks on. The aqua stat signals the burner when to fire.

doug

[doug]

Hi  Doug
i also am running a Ck burner assembly it works great. but i do have a carbon problem between the electrodes
causing a bridge, then it wont fire.  it doesnt happen often, have you run in to this problem, other than that it burns clean and put out a pile of heat.

Steve

The last month I've developed some on again off again carbon tracking issues. I was thinking it might be a weak transformer. After watching  it I noticed the part of the electriode under the transformer was shorting out. I've got a piece of 3/16th rubber under the electriode end to insulate it from shorting out right now. If I continue to have problems I will replace the transformer.

[doug]

Disassembled and cleaned my delavan siphon nozzle today. It wasn't very dirty but, I believe it was causing some problems.

[doug]

Here's what happens when you run an electrode too close to the nozzle tip.

[Russ]

So did that happen after you cleaned the nozzle and put it back in?

Are you still running the original nozzle you got with your CK kit?  These nozzles really seem to be durable.  Cleaning looks easy enough.

Thanks for the update.

[doug]

The nozzle was a .5 that I was using to try to conserve fuel. I wasn't getting enough heat out of that nozzle. My electriodes tips were worn short and needed replacing. The new electriode porcelain on one was out of round and didn't fit well, but I got it to work. Later the electriode was shorting under the transformer on to the air line tube. When I stuck a piece of rubber between the electriode and the air tube it caused the electriode tip to move closer the the nozzle. I didn't realize that the tip had moved. I'm now back to using the .65 nozzle that had come orginally with the ckBurner kit.

[doug]

I replaced my homemade retention head with a Kagi retention head(the people at Kagi were very friendly and helpfull, I enjoyed talking with Wendy. They boxed it up while I was still on the phone with them)  http://www.kagiburner.com/partsservicespecials.html. My homemade one was starting to warp causing a spray problem and a build up in the chamber liner in the boiler that would cause a flame out. After discussing my problems with Craig at ckBurners he suggested increasing the diameter of the chamber liner from 5" to 7"or 8". Now I have a 1/16" x 8" x 8" stainless steel chamber liner in the boiler. Everything seem to be working great again.

[Russ]

Thats an interesting picture.  So does the flame shoot inside the tube?  Is that ash buildup inside the tube?  It looks almost closed off.  I am not really familiar with that style of boiler.

Is your Kagi installed now?

Thanks for sharing.

[doug]

The boiler is a Buderus. It is considered a wet base boiler. Meaning that there is a water jacket all around the burn chamber. The walls of my boiler don't get hot enough to burn off any unburnt oil/fireflies.  This will cause oil to pool on the floor of the boiler. The flame does shoot down the chamber liner tube and will glow red hot to burn off any of the unburnt oil/fireflies from the nozzle spray. There is no build up in the chamber liner of any kind now with the current set up.

[Russ]

Hello Doug,

I was just wondering if you could give us more detail on how you have your plumbing on the 55 gallon drum?  Do you have a long pipe screwed into the cap?  I see rubber hose leading from the 55 to your storage tank, but how is it inside the 55?

Hand pumping is getting tiring.  Need to figure out something different.

Thanks!

Russ

[doug]

Russ,

Cranking that hand pump does get old. The rubber hose is attached to a 3/4" x 5" pipe nipple. The nipple is then screwed in to a 2" x 3/4" reducing bushing. Then a piece of 3/4" pipe the length of the barrel was then welded to the bottom of the reducing bushing. I hope that makes some sense. Let me know if I can help you more.

[doug]

Russ,

Cranking that hand pump does get old. The rubber hose is attached to a 3/4" x 5" pipe nipple. The nipple is then screwed in to a 2" x 3/4" reducing bushing. Then a piece of 3/4" pipe the length of the barrel was then welded to the bottom of the reducing bushing. About 2lbs air pressure is plenty. I hope that makes some sense. Let me know if I can help you more.

[Russ]

Thanks for the info.  Yes, I think that makes sense.  I have several 15 gallon barrels and a few 55's, but they are all plastic.  In researching this, it looks like the steel ones like you have are 2" NPT, but the plastic ones are more of a course thread.  I guess they refer to them as a buttress.  I have some ideas I will try. 

[doug]

Some of the plastic barrels I've collected over the years have had bungs like these that you could use the 3/4" knock out.
http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=34134

Or Granger offers this adaptor.
 http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/ACTION-PUMP-Bung-Adapter-6PFN6
I really don't like using 55gal. plastic drums. I do collect oil in some 15gal. drum and I use the hand pump to empty those.

[Russ]

Yea, some of mine have the knock out.  I will see what I can figure out with that.