PW Burner Troubleshooting

FoxCPM

FoxCPM

New member
The burner of this old machine decided to give up. It started throwing some smoke and quit heating up the water. This happens once in awhile, but most of the time it works just fine.

Generator is brand new (120v) and holds steady voltage.
Belt is tight
Transformer had very weak spark on the left electrode (I replaced the transformer later on)
Checked both filters: the external one and the one inside the pump. Both ok.
Checked the fuel flow after the pump. Flow good.
Checked the spray pattern of the nozzle. Good. If you do the same test as me, make sure you disconnect the transformer or you might end up with no eyebrows :)..
Replaced the burner gasket with cardboard custom made (works fine so far).

After all the troubleshooting the machine worked fine. Some hours later at the job site, machine did the same problem.
On the video, there is still the old transformer.

What is the next step here, do you guys see anything abnormal at the pics or the vid? I know the insulation needs to be replaced. I will do that next week, but I don't think it has anything to do with the actual problem.

Media:

IMG_1152.jpg

What's that weird plate in the middle of inside the heater? I guess this is supposed to be like that..
IMG_1154.jpg

IMG_1161.jpg

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Pic 1. The flame cone is clogged with soot, so the air isn't swirling properly.

Pic 2. That's a baffle. It's there to force the heat to pass between the pipes instead of shooting straight through the hole. It's rather burnt, but functional.

Pic 3. I don't think corrugated cardboard is going to make a good burner gasket. Get 2 gaskets made for that purpose.

Vid 1. The fuel pressure looks low. Lots of large droplets in your stream. Plus, there's no swirl, due to the flame cone being sooted up.
Were you starting and stopping the burner, or was it doing it on its own?

Vid 2. See all of the above. Get a new nozzle, realign the electrodes, clean all the soot off everything, get real gaskets, and you can try pulling the burner gun (the "J" pipe that everything is mounted on) back just a little.
 
Russ Johnson said:
Pic 1. The flame cone is clogged with soot, so the air isn't swirling properly.

Pic 2. That's a baffle. It's there to force the heat to pass between the pipes instead of shooting straight through the hole. It's rather burnt, but functional.

Pic 3. I don't think corrugated cardboard is going to make a good burner gasket. Get 2 gaskets made for that purpose.

Vid 1. The fuel pressure looks low. Lots of large droplets in your stream. Plus, there's no swirl, due to the flame cone being sooted up.
Were you starting and stopping the burner, or was it doing it on its own?

Vid 2. See all of the above. Get a new nozzle, realign the electrodes, clean all the soot off everything, get real gaskets, and you can try pulling the burner gun (the "J" pipe that everything is mounted on) back just a little.
Click to expand...

Hey Russ,

Thanks again for your help here :).

I will clean all the soot as you suggest. When you say the flow is not strong, you mean right after the pump or after the nozzle?
The cardboard was temp solution, I have a good gasket for that purpose to be put on.
I start and stop the burner, that's why the flow stops and turns back on.

When you say re-align electrodes, that means to make sure the transformer "pins" match the copper "electrodes" or we are talking the two electrodes around the nozzle?

Thanks again Russ and sorry for my ignorant terminology. I am learning... :)
 
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