From white smoke to black smoke

[smithtown]

So my 30yo peerless oil burner which had been blowing a little white smoke each time it fired up is now belching black sooty smoke. (I turned off the power to it). The Petro tech is coming over between 8am and 12pm (it's now 12:09)

Is it likely that I've run out of luck with it? It had been givng me heat and hot water up unitl last night. It seems that there was some sort of leak into it and it would blow a little white smoke each time it fired. Is the black sooty smoke (the inside is covered with soot as well as some soot on the front of the burner) that the problem has gotten to the point that the heat from the burner cant compensate for the water any more?

Any other theories?

Thanks a bunch.

[casturbo]

The burner has an ignition problem for the white smoke and intermittent black smoke.....if the black smoke is continuous, that's really bad and shutting the unit off is best until a tech repairs it.

[smithtown]

"that's really bad"

LOL

Yeah, I had a feeling it was. Thanks.

I'm seeing water accumulating on the front of the burner. Do you think it's some kid of a seal? or is part of the burner/bolier shot? The white smoke up the chimney bit (and some into my basment) has been going on for about two months, maybe more.

[oil lp man]

You should have called 2 months ago. We're all really busy now.

[hearthman]

Call Chief Chimney to check your chimney out. John is the big oil expert for the Chimney Sweep Guild and he lives right in Smithtown.

[smithtown]

Had one of the better Petro techs out to the house, This guy had been to my place about a year ago. He cleaned all of the soot out of the furnace and replaced a blasted blast tube. It had a hole in it. He said that was likely the cause of the problems that I'd been having, accumulation of soot etc. He said he didnt see any water any where and was pretty sure that there was no leak. He thinks I should be good thru the winter at least.

I was tempted to kiss him, But I setteld on a big heartfelt thanks in stead.

; )

Thanks guys. Also thanks for the chimney contact.

[drk]

NEW POPE!

[jdenyer]

Originally posted by smithtown
Had one of the better Petro techs out to the house, This guy had been to my place about a year ago. He cleaned all of the soot out of the furnace and replaced a blasted blast tube. It had a hole in it. He said that was likely the cause of the problems that I'd been having, accumulation of soot etc. He said he didnt see any water any where and was pretty sure that there was no leak. He thinks I should be good thru the winter at least.

I was tempted to kiss him, But I setteld on a big heartfelt thanks in stead.

; )

Thanks guys. Also thanks for the chimney contact.

Cool glad they were able to fix it for you. A message to DIYers out there, see how easy that was, he called a pro, they came in and fixed the problem, no uneeded parts changed, and a very happy homeowner Smithtown, instead of kissing the tech, call the main office and ask to speak to his supervisor, let his supervisor know that the tech did a great job. Customers often only let companies know about the "bad" techs, the good ones often don't get the recognition they deserve.