combustion analyser

[gravity]

Word to the wise, never buy an analyzer with the probe attached. That has been one of the biggest cause of failure of sensors when techs didn't disconnect them!!

good point Jim.

So bacharach is back in business?

I dont miss my old slow fyrite pro.

How have you been by the way?

[Jim Davis]

Doing good. Spent most of the summer writing new oil material. Getiing ready to go to Mechanical week in Shaumberg and do a Point/Counterpoint that should be crazy.


got standing room only in Baltimore next week and tons of requests for private in-house training so all is good.

And Bacharach is back!!

[chuckcrj]

Doing good. Spent most of the summer writing new oil material.

And a great job you did on it! Completely takes any guesswork out of oil burner diagnosis.

I just got a copy from my Service Manager who attended your class.

[kamersoutdoor]

Jim,
Are you suggesting the Bacharach over the 320?
Is the 327 better?
And last but not least... What air flow had you buttoned?

sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note

[gravity]

sounds good. wish i could get my hands on the new oil book. the new company i am at does combustion only on oil. any gas we do is set at 3.5" w.c. ;(

[chuckcrj]

sounds good. wish i could get my hands on the new oil book. the new company i am at does combustion only on oil. any gas we do is set at 3.5" w.c. ;(

I'm sure Jim would send you a copy. I don't have a digital copy.

I bet they set all oil burners at 100 psi too....

[gravity]

Do you know how hard it is to set a gas furnace at 3.5" and walk away.

I was talking to a older guy at my company about it and he saids to set it at 3.5" and no other. If they were to go back and find it at 7" or so i'd be in deep $#!t

[Jim Davis]

sounds good. wish i could get my hands on the new oil book. the new company i am at does combustion only on oil. any gas we do is set at 3.5" w.c. ;(

the book it not totally done yet. The Oil CO diagnostics are but final edit is still in process. There will be some techs in Baltimore next week that will get a copy of it. I am giving one copy to each company that attends. Probably not supposed to yet but I don't like to make people wait any longer then they have to.

[Jim Davis]

Jim,
Are you suggesting the Bacharach over the 320?
Is the 327 better?
And last but not least... What air flow had you buttoned?

sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note

The best thing about the 327 which is comparable to the 320 and Insight Plus, maybe just a little less, but the price is nice. We always include a Dwyer Draft Gauge because most built in draft gauges aren't sensitive enough and draft needs to be measured and watched the whole time we are testing on vented appliances.

Both Bacharach analyzers respond to CO much faster than the new Testo's. O2 about the same. 310 Testo needs to be avoided. The InTech is a nice inexpensive unit, around $700, we always include a Dwyer Draft Gauge. For extra $$ you can get Software and printers etc. but that is the same with both Bacharach and Testo.

[Jim Davis]

And a great job you did on it! Completely takes any guesswork out of oil burner diagnosis.

I just got a copy from my Service Manager who attended your class.

Don and Evan were great. Thanks Evan for the class post. Thanks for not mentioning how many paper cuts you got when I threw my material or how many bruises from tossing my equipment.

[jim bergmann]

Testing light-off on gas furnaces is a waste of time if you don't care about:
1. misaligned burners
2. dirty burners
3. defective or misaligned ignitors
4. leaky gas valves

It didn't explode so that's okay with me, just isn't good enough!!

All things that can be seen via visual inspection or found with a combustible gas leak detector. There is no need to subject the meter to a CO spike. It is simply not good for the CO cell and not good practice.

[Jim Davis]

All things that can be seen via visual inspection or found with a combustible gas leak detector. There is no need to subject the meter to a CO spike. It is simply not good for the CO cell and not good practice.

Us people with lots of hair don't stick it near flames for visual light-offs. To check for a gas leak on a condensing furnace gas valve you have to open up the burner box to get to the orifices. This could be determined by CO at shut-down also but the furnace has to light first.

Not in 27 years have I ever used anyone's analyzer that couldn't handle CO at light-off or any other time. I put them in car exhausts and if they can't handle it I recommend another meter, but thats for me to test, not my customers. If an analyzer could be ruined, I have tried everyway I know how and haven't been sucessful yet. At one time I had an analyzer that went to 100,000ppm. When my regular analyzers spiked at 2000ppm or 4000ppm I put it in the flue to see how high the CO went. Even at 100,000ppm I never lost a CO sensor in the past.

CO on oil can easily hit 10,000ppm at light-off, at Zero Smoke, but no meter reads that high anymore but the test is critical in diagnostics.

Bacharach, Testo, UEI, TPI, Wohler, E-Instruments etc., never failed to recover from CO spikes. Yeah, some slower than others, but always recovered if you keep them running. The key is to remove the hose assembly from the analzyer quickly, not the probe from the flue.

[jim bergmann]

That would be fine if manufactures were not using smart cells that record when the cell was over ranged. If you experence a cell failure, and it could happen, protecting the cell from spikes could be the difference between a free waranty repair and a declined free repair due to abuse of the cell.