Replies

1. 
   Piffin | Nov 22, 2002 07:25am | #1

   I always see it as bright orange - almost yellow gold.

   I guess my words aren't very accurate either

   .

   Excellence is its own reward!

   "The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are." --Marcus Aurelius

1. 
   nigelUsa | Nov 23, 2002 12:50am | #2

   Thanks Piffin, I'm just not use to seeing oil burning. I always had the impression yellow flame meant too rich in fuel. But I can't find any referance as to color anywhere. Where's wet head when you need him!!

1. 
   rjw | Nov 23, 2002 03:11am | #3

   The current thinking is you can't tell anything by looking at the flame color, you have to use a CO meter or combustion analyzer.

   I know this is true of natural gas, I don't see enough oil burners to have direct knowledge with them.________________________________________________

   "I may have said the same thing before... But my explanation, I am sure, will always be different."  Oscar Wilde

1. 
   ahneedhelp | Nov 23, 2002 06:09pm | #4

   Without the benefit of a gas analyzer, my observation with oil burners is the flame color is a very bright whitish yellow with no visible smoke...

   Had the honor of spending some time with an old-timer (in his late 70s) tune up an old American Standard oil burner in a next door house we bought last year.

   Since he was the one who had been servicing the boiler in this 1950s vintage house since new, he gave me the rundown on maintenance history including the new Beckett burner he installed two years ago.

   He kindly showed me the color of the flame before and after and told me to keep an eye on the chimney for any visible signs of smoke.

   Not very scientific but refreshing and sortof took me back to the days of tinkering with carburated engines with points and condensers.

   We had an oil burning boiler for radiators when we lived overseas in the 1960s. My father and I used to pull the burner and clean or replace the nozzle and set the spark gap. The fun part was when he would fire up the burner to check the flame - flamethrower style into the fairly large burn chamber with the burner not fully seated onto the opening.

   Same way of judging the flame - with the eyes and nose.