Gas and Oil Home Heating Furnaces - Ways to improve an old oil furnace ?

Hello All !

so I have a 1960 Hot air oil furnace that is ok. I cleanned it each year and the repair man kept the original burner in top shape.

I know that the ceramic tube in the center of the furnace is a bit worn as they are keeping it in one piece with metal straps.

The intercoolers are clean and in top shape.

I never put this furnace to the flue test (for efficiciency)

Anyone know how to test the efficiency of that type of furnace ?

Any gain by changing the ceramic to a newer "fiber" tube ?

Any Ways to improve that old oil furnace ?

Yes there are ways to help .Some are useing a smaller nozzle and kick up the pump pressure. Make sure you have the right combustion chamber, You can put a new one in if the old one is in bad shap. There are some new kinds of cone heads that can go on the air tube. Yes there is a way to test the combustion efficiency on the oil burner. I cant see how the guy that took care of the burner didnt have a test kit. The one we use is a Fyrite combustion test kit.You dont say, you do have a barametic damper on the smoke pipe dont you?;) ED

Yes, I have a damper 1 foot away from the Furnace and 1 foot from the brick chimney.

Now, I have a 1.00gal/min jet and I'm burning #1 fuel (red diesel)

Anyone know the price for a new combustion chamber ?

Do you have a link to some web site about cone shaped head ?

Thanks !!

At a loss here for the term #1 red diesel?
Dont have the books here but if im right #1 water white is about 98,000 btu per gal #2 should be a beer color about 132,000btu per gal # 3 140,000 btu per gal last #5 160,000 btu per gal
Now in your gun burner you should be able to use #3.But here we cant get it only #2 and it works real good in a gun. I dont know what you are paying for your oil there .But see if you cant get #2 it should cost less and you see you will get more btu per gal.Look around at this http://www.jcgbs.com
They might have the cost's you are looking for. I dont have them here;) ED

Here in Canada, #1 fuel is a red Dyed diesel fuel used for heating that can be used in carburetor type heater or a gun burner furnace.

The #2 fuel is a less refined, black liquid with a bit less btu and a bit less expensive that only work well in a furnace with a gun burner. (pressurised fuel atomisation)

Also another question : what about mixing my old used engine oil with heating fuel ? maybe in a 10:1 mix (10fuel:1oil)?

I think if you look at the books. The less refined the oil the more btu you will get. Thats why we burn #2 in all of the guns. yes #1 will work in guns but it cost more and less btu. Now you have to use #1 in what we call a pot burner or its the one you call with a carburetor on it.Mix engine oil with the other oil. Have never tried it . But i have seen pot burners start up and after it was hot they had a drip feed of motor oil that had it going all the time and shut off the other#1 oil. There is a gun burner that is made for engine oil its on the web here but i dont have the www for it right now.;) ED

Thanks for your advice !!!

I'm not sure but I think that #0 and #1 are better refined fuels, with a lower viscosity. This is it's only advantage. Some call it Kerosene (#0). Half and half of #1 and 0 is called zero blend. This has a lower viscosity, and is used primarily for people with outside, above ground oil tanks that get cold in the winter. #2 has 140,000BTU, and will start to thicken as it gets cold.
I believe your nozzle is per hour, not per minute.
Junk the antique, your throwing good money up the flue. The old burners don't have near the efficency the modern retention head burners have. The furnace will also be 1/3 the size of the old one. I'll bet it's still in an old converted coal fired furnace, and might even be steam. Flue stack temperatures are higher on these burners because that is where the heat is going. I'm sure the oil company will encourage you to keep that gusler...Mr Scrooge..another piece of coal????

Actualy, I'm throwing 500$/year in the chimney...

if my old furnace is really 60% efficient and a new one is 83%...

I'ts not a converted furnace, It's a canadian hot air furnace designed for oil....

Right Now, I'm burning the red dyed Fuel (#1 or diesel)

See if you cant get #2 or #3 up there it cost less and you will get more heat;) ED

Now the all important question....WHAT's THE LOCATION OF YOUR TANK?

inside our basement so fuel gelling is not a problem

Get a test kit and set the burner yourself. This way you will set the draft and see temp on the stack and how the CO2 is. This will give you a complete check and tell you what the combustion efficiency is. You should be able yo get more than 60%. I still say you dont need #1 in a gun burner;) ED

I'll get the test kit...

but I'm close to burn Biodiesel made from used fryer oil.... well I try not to finance Middle-east problems....

A Bachrach test kit is about $550.00 to a contractor, the civilian population may be even higher.
I heard back from a Canadian guy, and he said, Electricity is even cheaper than gas in Canada, because they produce so much excess from the hydro electric. They get the US to pay higher rates, and share some of the profits to the Canadians in the form of cheap energy,... was he pulling my leg?
I've seen an electric bill go as much as 4 or 5 hundred dollars in a month here. I burn an average of 530 gallons a year ( over the last 9 years ) with my Riello gun with a Pensoti, low mass, 4 section boiler. Thats about $600.00 for the whole year.
I don't really see the payback on a test kit the once or twice a year you may use it. 1960??? How many years you got left where you would be able to use it anyway???

The "efficiency" of an existing system as measured by a stack test is not the same "efficiency" as the AFUE (Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency) rating of new systems.

A stack test efficiency percentage will be lower than the AFUE efficiency. The AFUE is a measurement of how much energy is removed from the burning fuel and transferred into the air inside your house. The stack test efficiency is measuring something else. (not sure what, exactly)

I think if you check the Fyrite test kit will cost a lot less than the Bacharach kit.
Brewbeer-- The stack test test the percentage of CO2 in the flue gas for the highest combustion efficiency.It is accurate to 1/2 of 1% CO2. The kit will also have a draft gauge and a thermometer.
A" Fire efficiency finder" stack loss slide rule with it. So you see if you dont use one to set up the burners gas or oil. In gas you still have a oxygen, monoxor CO indicator and a monoxide detector. You cant say that the furnace you just worked on is up to its AFUE rating.;) ED

I believe this is the rate of fuel consumption for a year(ANNUAL)!!!
The combustion efficiency test tells you how many BTU's are being extracted from the fuel you are burning expressed in a percentage. It's the input minus the combustion inefficiency minus the stack loss; what we are measuring is the steady state of efficiency. For example #2 oil has 140,000 BTU's for each gallon burned, but some of that heat is wasted up the chimney in the form of exhaust.(stack losses). If you had an 80% combustion efficiency test, then you only get 112,000 BTU's still in the house, some will be piping losses to heat up the boiler, the water, then the convector fins...ect. You'll see on a boiler the net IBR rating, this is the one to go by, to match your heat loss calculation to. This is the usable heat that has been extracted by the heat exchanger.