New Burnham Boiler Project

[Russ]

Just below the heat exchanger on the left is a 15 gallon holding tank that goes into a CL tank.  The CL tank is the orange 5 gallon bucket.  Every once in a while I stick the pump back on the burner and filter some oil from a nearby 55 gallon barrel into the 15. 

Yea, the hot water heater is just for storage.

[Russ]

I'm going to try this Thomas 2660 vacuum pump for my air source.  Matt (Mschindler300) is working on getting his burner attached compressor done, but in the mean time I wanted to get something quieter than my big compressor.  I was also having problems with my big compressor blowing the breaker.  Unfortunately everything is plugged into the same circuit, so hopefully this will prevent the breaker from blowing.  I have heard that these pumps (they work as a vacuum or compressor) will easily provide enough air for a burner.  I will report back how it works.

[doug]

Russ,

 Are you having any problems with unburnt oil collecting on the walls of your boiler?

[Russ]

I havent actually looked in my boiler all winter.  It was definitely time to check it out.  It is hard to get pictures of, but they should give you an idea of how it looks.  My boiler had a brand new liner in it and it seems like that is holding up pretty well.  I think having that in there helps.  It looks like the same stuff that was in my forced air furnace and it gets red hot when the burner is running.  Anything that hits that is pretty much gone.  It does look like there may be some above where the liner ends.  I will have to investigate further.  Hopefully I can get through winter first.  Otherwise there is a bit of white ash that will need to be cleaned up soon.

[doug]

That's not bad looking. The refactories do a good job of burning off the unburnt oil. I was wondering if may be I needed to put a Kagi retention head on mine to help with unburn oil issuses. I think first I should clean the heater block to make sure that's not causing my problems. Thanks for the pics.

[Russ]

My ignitor died last weekend, so I had to get a new one.  Patriot Supply had a Dongan SSI-BK103 Solid State Ignitor Kit on ebay for a little under $30.  It doesnt look to much different than the one that was on there.  Hopefully it will hang in there.  Fired it up tonight and it has a nice strong spark.  Below is a picture of the new one on the burner and the old one taken off.

[doug]

Russ,

Do you know what the differences is between the solid state ignitor and the older type transformers? Wasn't sure if it would be better to upgrade to a ssi.

[Russ]

Thats a good question.  I couldn't find much information on the differences between the two.

My old forced air furnace had the old iron core transformer.  My boiler came with a solid state and it died.  Maybe the transformers are more durable?  I posted some info I got from the Beckett site regarding solid state transformers here:
http://wasteoilheaterforum.com/index.php?topic=273.0

It looks like the biggest difference is energy usage.

[doug]

Thanks for the link I believe that's what I was wanting to know.

[superduty_59]

Just checking on your boiler. Any new info? Still doing fine? Any upgrades? I want to start a boiler project just like yours. Thanks

[Russ]

Hello superduty_59.  Nothing much to report besides burning oil as I type.  I am still using my constant level tank rather than the metering pump, but that’s because I haven’t taken the time to research and implement a solenoid to cut the oil flow off to the burner.

I have to clean the ash out once a year and clean the nozzle about once a month, but other than that, the system works really well.  There is a lot of heat to be had as long as you have a good oil supply.

Have you found a suitable boiler yet? 

Good luck on your project!

[doug]

russ, are you running your burner 24/7 ?

[superduty_59]

Russ are you still running your heat to the heat exchanger in the crawlspace? Who much does it help with heating you house?

[Russ]

Doug:  no, I still only run it only when I am home.  I dont have an oil supply to keep me going 24/7.  If I did I would have to do a little revamp on the vent stack as well as the supply tank.  I am working on automating some of the system with an arduino board.  I'll update this post when I have something working.  I am still prototyping, but hope to have it running soon.

Super: yes, I still have the heat exchanger in the crawl space.  It only has a 6" intake and exhaust into the house duct system, but it will hold the house at 70 until it gets 0F and below.  Above 20F it will gain temp and I have to shut the blower off.  Part of my automation system is going to solve the manual turning on and off of the blower.

[doug]

russ,
 would you feel safe running the constant level 24/7 ?