Posted by jtown on September 25, 2001 at 06:37:03:
In Reply to: 10 gal of kero posted by jtown on September 24, 2001 at 13:46:44:
Your diff control is a Pressure Controller, probably a P404A1033. You set the main dial to say 0.5psi and the "additive differential to 1psi. The thermostat is in series and when it closes. The boiler will start and raise the pressure to (.5+1=) 1.5psi and shut off. The pressure will gradually drop to .5 and come back on and repeat until the stat opens. Normally there is one safety valve, you may have two. They are all for steam. Hot water coming out would flash into steam and burn anyone working on it. Your glass tube is the sight glass, where you sight (see) the water level. The two or three valves with knobs next to it are Try Cocks to use if you think the glass is plugged or broken. You should raise the water level til you get water from the bottom one and none from the top. The two 3/8 copper tubes to your burner are a supply and return for two-pipe oil setup. Some of the oil recirculates to flush air etc back to the tank. There are electrodes in front of your burner's nozzle that light it off. That is a transformer on your burner that feeds it high voltage. The shelves of soot. You might have (or make) a 3' rod with a little sheet metal rectangle on the end. You start at the top and scrape the soot off the top and then bottom to the hole going downward. Move it all down to the bottom one, catching what you can at all the front ones with cardboard box etc. The last one you want to be careful and get all you can and cover burner first with cardboard etc. A fat brush on a rod can clean it after. Wear a dust mask and don't use a home vacuum on oily soot, it will get into the bearings. The cast iron door in the flue was to clean ash from coal out of the horizontal part probably. There are a bunch of doors to feed air in for coal. The whole boiler should be sealed tight with furnace cement after cleaning it. Download an oil steam boiler manual from weil-mclain.com and burnham.com and see what the burner companies have, beckettcorp.com and carlincombustion.com and get a copy of Audel's book, Oil Burners from interlibrary loan before it gets colder.