New Vs Old Heating Gun on Oil Burner?

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swyman
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Post by swyman » Fri. Dec. 30, 2016 6:05 am

I have a 5000sqft shop that is heated with a 400k BTU oil fired furnace that I burn diesel in. In know it's not the most efficient means of heat but the reason I keep it is I'm not out there everyday but when I am it heats up the shop fairly quickly. The shop was built in '74 which is when the furnace was put in also. I seen on supplyhouse.com that I can buy a new complete gun unit for $350. Would I see any efficiency increase with a new vs old model or is 2.5 gallon per hour nozzle going to be the same no matter the age? Just thought maybe a new might atomize the fuel better? Would a propane furnace of equal size be more cost effective?

 
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Post by franco b » Fri. Dec. 30, 2016 11:08 am

My advice would be to have someone knowledgeable test the smoke and CO2 in the old burner to see if new would be better. Your oil supplier should have service personnel able to do that. Why diesel and not no. 2 oil which has no road tax?

The combustion chamber and oil gun work together with good design. The newer burners are more efficient because of more exact air pattern which matches more closely the pattern of the oil spray. Less excess air for clean combustion. The nozzle pattern must be exact for that air pattern.

Insulating fire brick in the combustion chamber can make a major difference just by itself.


 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Fri. Dec. 30, 2016 11:46 am

Some of the old burners require a lot of combustion air to achieve reasonable smoke levels. Like franco suggested, you need to see where you are at with your current burner.

If you do decide to upgrade, used burners come up all the time on Craigslist when people convert to NG. You would need to research what size/length blast tube you need, and what kind of nozzle to use, etc.

 
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swyman
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Post by swyman » Sat. Dec. 31, 2016 2:28 pm

[quote="franco b"]My advice would be to have someone knowledgeable test the smoke and CO2 in the old burner to see if new would be better. Your oil supplier should have service personnel able to do that. Why diesel and not no. 2 oil which has no road tax?

quote]

My brother in law has a large farming operation and I buy my fuel from him so no road tax. I guess I have never priced #2 so not sure if there is much of a cost difference. My B-I-L gets a very discounted price due to volume. About the fire brick, inside the burner you can see there have been a lot that have fallen....never fixed because I thought that would just be more surface area of heat? Educate me on the fire brick???? Not being a smart azz, I am confused? Sounds like I could benefit from a new burner unit. I will try and get some pics of the burner and the inside so you can see the firebrick.

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