Need assistance: Having burner issues

[PLD 14]

Anyone every have their burner start putting out white smoke?

Today, one of the employees complained that the burner started smoking badly and the water temp dropped a great deal. I checked it out tonight and the water was scalding hot (no actual measurement) but there was too much smoke. It's not entirely consistent smoke either. For about 30 seconds, it produced alot of smoke and smogged the backyard. Then, it produced almost no smoke from the stack, but a noticible amount from the openings where the coil enters and exits the housing. Previously, there has been no smoke except 5-10 secs after a cold startup.

I visually inspected the fuel tank and filter and the fuel looks very clear. In fact, for a used machine the inside of the tank has zero debris, zero deposits, and not a single drop of water that I can see milling around down there.

I'm don't think it is related, but I'll offer it up just in case it is. During my testing with an open HP hose thie evening I experienced a lot of surging/sputtering like air on the line and dark red rusty/muddy water discharged from the HP hose. The supply water was crystal clear and I was unable to locate any air instrusion into the supply lines (they are clear braided). I've never noticed this problem before and these problems cleared after about 3-5 minutes of running.

Anyway, if anyone can help I certainly would appreciate it.

[squirtgun 122]

Your coil may need to be pulled out and cleaned.You can try running a can of DeSoot(I think Sun Brite sells it) through it.You can also try running a tank of kerosine,since it burns hotter than diesel it may help burn off and build up on the coils.

The rust in the lines may be from not cooling the coil before you shut the machine down.When we run the burner and then shut it off we run water through the system until it's cool at the end of the hose.Don Phelps and I both do this and we agree that it seems to help reduce or eliminate the rusty colored water and trash in the lines.

[John T 744]

If its a 12 volt set-up and not a generator set-up then try charging the battery before you use it next. This may solve that initial problem where the burner smoke's when the powerwasher is first started.

[PLD 14]

Your coil may need to be pulled out and cleaned.You can try running a can of DeSoot(I think Sun Brite sells it) through it.You can also try running a tank of kerosine,since it burns hotter than diesel it may help burn off and build up on the coils.

Thanks, I'll give that a try.

The rust in the lines may be from not cooling the coil before you shut the machine down.When we run the burner and then shut it off we run water through the system until it's cool at the end of the hose.Don Phelps and I both do this and we agree that it seems to help reduce or eliminate the rusty colored water and trash in the lines.

That was my thoughts. That volume and density of rust could only come from a large rust source and that eliminates couplers and joints. I'll start cool down as a new ops procedure asap.

[PLD 14]

If its a 12 volt set-up and not a generator set-up then try charging the battery before you use it next. This may solve that initial problem where the burner smoke's when the powerwasher is first started.

I'll give that a whirl. Is charging something I should do periodically? I assumed that with a 12v generator charging was a thing of the past.

[wesley 15]

My old machine did the white smoke trick one time as well and it turned out to be the squirrel cage. Some fins in the squirrel cage came loose and the air fuel mixture was off thus putting out the white smoke along with inconsistent temps.

[Douglas Hicks 128]

I've had the shaft break, then the fan does not turn at all. I also had the deflector break on my Vertical Delco. Some times the deflector would be jiggled out of the way and the burner would work, sometimes the deflector would obstruct the flame, and no heat at all, just lots of black smoke. My helper pulled the stack, coil cover and I had the deflector welded back in place.

Douglas Hicks

General

Fire Equipment Co of Eastern Oregon, Inc

[Russ Johnson 141]

Is there a delay between the time you squeeze the trigger and the burner firing? When was the last tune up? A partially clogged nozzle or misaligned electrodes can cause what you describe. If you are spraying fuel without ignition, then get a spark, the residual fuel burns off as white smoke. Once the combustion catches up to the overload, the stack smoke will clear up while still getting smoke out of the wrap where the pipes come through.

[Degraffreed 21]

Dolittle, I experienced the same issue the other day. My unit started to smoke as I was cleaning. Check filter.. good, check desiel..good. My problem was that the house I was cleaning was on a hill and I had positioned my truck in a down hill position. What was happining was the the fuel was all in front of the tank ( because the truck and trailer was facing downhill ) and the fuel pump could not pick up the fuel.

So I then got out my tire chock and placed on on of the wheels and disconnected the trailer from the truck....leaving on the security chains attached. and lower the jack all the way down so the the fuel could level out.....BAM.... no smoke from that point on.

Make sure you guy are not parking downhill... Just my .05 worth.