Lennox Furnace

[Russ]

I have my sights on a Lenox furnace.  The guy couldnt tell me if it has a beckett burner or not.  He mentioned that he seen suntec on it, which I am guessing is the pump.  Do you guys know if it is more than likely a beckett?  Would a Lenox be a good brand to get a hold of?  He wants $20 for it.

[Kyle]

Lenox is a good one jump on the deal.....but almost all the burners are almost identical.....

[Russ]

Sounds good Kyle.  I am going to take a look at it this weekend.  I will let you know how if I get it.  Hopefully it is in decent shape so I can begin my project!

Thanks!

[Russ]

Well, the Lennox is home.  Had the wrong spelling in the title I guess.  Anyway, here is what it looks like.  What do you think?  Not sure what kind of burner it is.  Does Lennox make their own?

Russ

[Kyle]

Hey there Russ whats with all the reducers running into the intake port of the pump?? looks to me someone was playing, and alot of black soot around the inspection hole.....Just remember if it says .75 per hour...then on waste oil go at least .65 or below..

[Russ]

Not sure what was going on with the the reducers.  That does look kind of odd.  The burner was not fastened in either, so someone had been working on it.  Hopefully it still works.  Looking in the burn pot, things actually looked really clean, even though there was quite a bit of soot around the inspection hole.  So you think I should replace the .75 nozzle with a .65?  One other question I had is that the exhaust connection is oval instead of round.  Will a standard exhaust pipe fit if it is bent in an oval shape?

Thanks for the help!

Russ

[Kyle]

I would recommend it, buy try it as is.  Just need to make sur you don't over fire in the burn chamber, Oil has a higher BTU value than #2

[Russ]

Sounds good Kyle.  Thanks for the info, I think you and I are the only ones out here.  I was hoping for more activity.  Maybe in time?

I am going to fire up the burner on #2 and see if it works soon.  Then on to finding or making a heater block.  I would like something I can put a cartridge heater in and control the heat with a PID controller.  I wish I knew someone who made a heater for a pressure type system.  Do you know of any one Kyle?  Might have to get together with a friend at a metal shop. 

Talk to you later...

Russ

[Kyle]

I actually built mine I made a preheat tank to take load off the pump, using a 240v 1000watt hot water heater element wired @ 120v so it puts out about 250 watt, I use a PID to control it, works great and the element only cost $11

[Russ]

So you just preheat the oil in the tank and not right before the nozzle?

[Kyle]

no @ the nossel also, that way I can "tune" it for any oils, the standard # 2 oil pump won't last long pumping waste oil without making it a close viscosity to #2, so I run 2 heaters and 2 Pid's.  The first I usually run between 120 F-160 F, and the secondary nossel heater @ 180f-220f, it also makes the nossel heater work alot less.

[Russ]

Finally got power to my furnace tonight.  It didnt light because I didnt have fuel to it, but the blower started and the igniter was buzzing away.   Hopefully I can get some fuel to it tomorrow night and see if it will fire.  I pulled the burner out of the furnace and checked out the nozzle and electrodes.  Do all nozzles have that screen thing on them? 
Next will be on to some kind of heating system for the oil.  Kyle, would you be willing to share how you are heating the oil at the nozzle?   I like your idea of heating it before the pump to take the load off the pump too.

Thanks!

Russ

[Kyle]

aww, brings back memories..looks exactly like my ABC burner before I did the nossel mod for pre heat, I can take some pictures this weekend, I had planned on checking out the nossel anyways because I haven't for a really long time, but basicly I use two 125 w cartrige heaters 60 volt wired in series @ 120 volt (250 watt total) set in a brass block, with a stainless steel (what I would call a frying pan) line enclosure with thermocouple in direct oil stream, you'll see in the pictures when I do my maintenance on it. I'll also take the pictures of the stainless preheat tank, which is a immersion heater (not scared because of low temp) $11.00 water heater element, and the controls.

[Russ]

That would be excellent.  That would be great to see how you have done things.

So you have a burner just like this one?  I have heard of others extending the blast tube.  In your experience do you think this is necessary?

[Kyle]

not unless you plan on converting to a siphon nossel, otherwise I haven't found it nessary