Posted by Frank Robey on September 27, 2000 at 06:07:27:
I have recently moved into a house that has oil-fired steam heat.
On our walk-through before buying the house I shut the boiler off since I knew we
would not need it for a while. Yesterday I replaced the sight tube to fix a leak and turned the
furnace back on. After a minute or so smoke started pouring out of the firebox area.
I verified that there is good draw up the flue.
Being new to oil and steam heat does this mean that the system needs cleaning or is
there something simple that needs to be done? It is almost as thought there is too much pressure
in the firebox. I also wiped off soot and dirt from the boiler when I replaced the sight tube so
could have bumped something.
thanks, Frank