Exhaust Smell From HWH

[wazlife]

Hey gang,

Hope everyone had a good heating season!

Question - went to a service call today for a Bradford-White oil HWH with a BEckett RWB burner. Customer said she was smelling burnt oil/exhaust every now and then. I fired they appliance and did notice some exhaust smell.

So I checked the electrodes with a Beckett 'T' Gauge and the Z depth of the firing assembly. Checked the blast tube for inpingement. Nothing. THen i tested power to the SunTec delayed solenoid valve, it had the required 120VAC and was indeed releasing the solenoid after the listed 15 seconds. I then noticed that the plate that covered the sight hole (into the firing chamber) was not bolted right tight to the HWH body and during ignition, it would waver like exhaust was pushing out on it. I leaned in and smelled the exhaust there.

So, not finding anything else amiss, I screwed an additional self tapping screw into the bottom to secure the plate tight to the body and advised the couple to let me know by MOnday if they were still noticing the exhaust smell.

Am I missing anything? I've basically been teaching myself oil as I have had 0 training on oil service calls and have taught myself everything to this point.

As always, your input is greatly appreciated!

-Wazlife

[Admin]

I haven't touched oil in 18 years but hopefully someone with more experience will have some ideas.  I would take a close look at the venting to make sure there or no signs of spillage, or maybe a damaged liner or blocked chimney.

[Hgye]

Did you inspect the venting?  What were your readings from the smoke test and analyzer?