Oil Furnace Heat Exchanger Soot Cleanout

    - with Darrell Udelhoven

An Important, Critical & Necessary Human Health & Safety Servicing Procedure

HVAC Contractors, you had better learn to do this most important service procedure to human lives the proper way

A badly sooted interior of an oil furnace heat exchanger can be very costly & even deadly.
How many contractors that you know, are doing this procedure right, or that have the proper cleanout tools?

Cleaning Soot from an Oil Furnace Heat Exchanger

• Clean the furnace flue pipe, barometric damper and chimney base.

• Check the condition of the furnace heat exchanger.

• Removing soot buildup from the heat exchanger interior cavities. Use extra long heat exchanger brushes of the correct diameter and a shop vac with a ten foot long & one inch diameter hose, to remove soot buildup from Thermo Pride OL11 heat exchanger cavities. These are difficult to reach in many oil furnaces, and it takes patience and perseverance to do a good job. (Extremely Important for safe performance and efficiency!)
  

"Getting it RIGHT, - makes all the difference in the world."

All installations and services must be performed by qualified service personnel.
4. With access to the inside of the heat exchanger through the burner cleanout openings and the vent pipe connection, it is now possible to use a long, flexible wire brush and an industrial-type vacuum cleaner to remove any soot build-up.
NOTE: A one inch (outside diameter) vacuum cleaner hose will fit into the radiator.
To vacuum and brush the outer radiator of the heat exchanger, go through the cleanout openings in both directions, as shown in pdf.
This is the best Thermo Pride instructions for cleaning soot from the oil heat-exchanger Go to Page 10 on pdf
Here it is, the graphics for cleaning Thermo Pride heat-exchangers  tools required  scroll down to, or type in 16 & hit enter.

View the graphic on the pdf where you can read it.
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The North Country Oil furnace A/C or heat pump scenario:

Here is just one scenario; the small one story home with a basement requires only 14,000-BTUH of cooling but it has a 112,000-BTUH Oil furnace with a belt-drive quarter HP blower motor.

Three things have to be done right; first, the evaporator coil has to be sized to flow at least 1250-cfm that requires a 3-ton coil.

Second, the evaporator coil has to be mounted at least 6” above the Oil furnace to eliminate an airflow restriction between it and the super large heat exchanger near the top of the furnace.

Third, the belt drive motor has to be replaced by a multi-speed direct-drive blower motor that will deliver the correct 1250-cfm for heating & 600 to 675-cfm airflow for cooling.

I have witnessed a 2-ton evaporator coil being installed directly on top of the Oil furnace & the quarter HP direct drive motor left in place.

Can you cite the horrendous problems this creates?

Think through what you’re doing & the consequences before doing it!
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Required fan motor HP varies as to the cube of the rpm blower speed.

Also, at 700-rpm & .2" SP for heating my Thermo Pride OL 11 with its quarter Hp motor will deliver 1200-CFM;  add a cooling coil, & at .5 SP it will deliver only 400-CFM.

Keeping the total static pressure as low as possible and within mfg'ers ESP requirements for air conditioning is the first requirement in an efficient system design.

BTW, what is the average pressure drop across the new +90 high efficiency furnace condensers?
That pressure drop should be published by all of the companies!

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DISCLAIMER:
Any of the HVAC companies I list on any of my web pages have nothing to do with the information I post on any of my Web pages nor do I assume any responsibility for how anyone uses that information.
All HVAC/R work should always be done by a licensed Contractor! This information is only placed on these pages for your understanding & communication with contractors & techs.

This information is for the edification of contractors and techs. I am NOT liable for your screw-ups, you are liable for what you do! - Darrell Udelhoven

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Air Conditioning EER Levels & Evaporator Air Flow
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  Darrell