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About 1 or 2 times a week I hear a roaring flame when my boiler tuns on. I've check on it and it appears one of the boiler gas burner tubes is internally on fire (see video I took of it).

  • What is the flame able to flow back like this?
  • How do I fix this so the burner tube stops burning internally?
virtualxtc
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1 Answers1

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For most of these possibilities you will need a professional service company to fix. Some possibilities are;

  1. The burner tube may be worn out, distorted , or dirty.
  2. The delivered gas pressure may be too low.
  3. The chimney draft may not be correct for this unit.
  4. Is there any thing stored near the boiler that could give off an odor or vapor that could influence the gas mixture.
  5. The burner orfice may be worn out or partially plugged. If the boiler is an older model this could be the problem and the orfices need replaced. Or,
  6. the orfices may need to be removed and cleaned.
ratchet freak
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d.george
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  • ratchet freak; I would do the same format as your edit if I only knew how.. Since I do not THANKS – d.george Feb 13 '18 at 17:43
  • Thanks for your help! To created a formatted numbers list just place the '
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     – virtualxtc Feb 15 '18 at 07:55
  • I'm voting up, but not awarding the answer yet as I'm confused as to why an older orifice would need to be replaced rather than just cleaned? do they wear out? – virtualxtc Feb 15 '18 at 08:00
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    Yes, gas orfices will wear out if the boiler has been in service many years. Natural gas is a fluid and continual flow of a fluid on any material will cause it to wear. Gas orfices are usually brass although I have some made of other materials. I have only had to replace gas orfices a few times in my career as an HVAC service tech but sometimes it is required. Most of the time they will just need cleaning since natural gas sometimes has a slight oil residue in it. Sometimes , if the unit has sat for a while, say over the summer, bugs will crawl into the orfices and build a home there – d.george Feb 15 '18 at 12:06
  • Ok - I think the rest of my follow-up questions should be posed as new questions. Thanks! – virtualxtc Feb 15 '18 at 16:21