OIL BOILER FULL OF BLACK SOOT SUNDAY SERVICE CALL merch = teespring.com/stores/steve-lav / stevenlavimoniere lavimoniere productions llc subscribe to my channel / @stevenlavimoniere lavimoniereplumbingandheating....
No regular cleaning, running kerosene, wrong size nozzle, no firomatic, no tiger loop on overhead line, running the tank low on fuel. Defers maintenance then calls on a Sunday and wants the job done right away. Makes for a good video that’s for sure! Gotta add a fuel surcharge and I would rather be fishin surcharge too.
He meant to say pump diesel, diesel fuel and heating oil are exactly the same kerosene is more refined and cleaner for torpedo heaters that you run in a garage, k1 kerosene is super clean and refined and for the wick style heaters and oil lamps that get run in your house.
That boiler was so "sooted up", that when Steve began to vocalize/sing/speak in tongues during what may have been an undeclared exorcism, I was certain that I was viewing a "Disney/Mary Poppins" movie, with a somewhat less subdued version of the Dick Van Dyke character cleaning a bird's cage.
I had a furnace that look that filthy once. It wasn't from anything on my part because the company I bought oil from for over 10 years also did the annual service cleaning on it. Can't remember but something pissed me off about them and I started getting oil and service from a different company and the 1st time they came to clean it, it looked like this. He told me that other company were "servicing" it to slow kill. He clean it right for the next 8 years I owned that place.
Had a similar issue with the HVAC company at an old job. AC never worked right. They were out multiple times a year "servicing" the equipment, said they were just barely making it get by and always recommending replacement of almost a dozen units. Boss finally got wise to them and called in someone new. Good lord the crap they blew out of the coils outside was mind boggling, and the air handlers inside were rigged to keep a pool of water in the bottom helping them rust away too. Ran like new after the new guy left.
@@kfl611 It's a combination of things. Some are just shady businesses who do things to milk more money out of unsuspecting customers. Those tend to attract and retain like minded people working for them. Other times it's an employee who just doesn't care because they're paid and treated like crap, so that gets reflected in their work. We've had some real gems show up at my current office. The landlord is apparently so bad at paying his bills that all the reputable HVAC vendors nearby won't do work for him anymore. We get the large service companies paying unskilled workers minimum wage and good lord does it show in their work...
Thank you posting this video. My boiler got choked up over the weekend and your video gave me enough info to clean it myself. Plan to call in a company to do a service on it and check the settings. Too bad I am not in your service area, bought a coffee mug from your merch store in appreciation!!
Whatever they are burning should be burning a bit more completely I would think. If the fuel/air ratio is off, or the oil is lousy, I would think this could be the result.
I recently had my boiler cleaned. It was not anywhere as near as bad as this one. The guy who cleaned it was great. On the other hand the first company we called said our furnace was trash and needed to be replaced, then today they told me you never clean soot off of a boiler furnace. They wanted 14k to replace it. I don’t know what they are teaching these kids that come out for service calls but it seems to be all they want is money for the replacement and to sell you on something. They even tried scare tactics with me. Anyways our boiler is working as good as the day it was installed in 2008. There needs to be more guys/girls like you in the world that aren’t trying to sell you on the latest and greatest thing to them that will more than likely break in 5 years.
aaaa .... the ol' nickle and dime home owners .... there's nothing like the small of a plugged boiler .... often you can smell it outside the house .... sometimes you can see the lil black dust on the snow outside.... I've been retired 15 - 16 years now ... can't say I miss this stuff .... I DO miss most of the work though
Great video Steve! Kerosine cost $13.80 a gallon here in W.Texas and we are the energy caption of the US FYI. Thanks for having us on your “SHIT SHOW”. Bullet Bob From Texas!
Hi Steve. Thanks for taking the time to make these videos, they are really great, very informative and helpful. I'm curious of how you bill for time? Do you begin the clock when you leave your house? or when you arrive at the job? I'm also a contractor in Rhode Island and Mass, and i'm trying to get an idea of how other people charge. Thanks a ton!
We clean cast iron boilers with water down here. Get it clear enough to get it hot, then spray it with water out of a pump up sprayer. Then steam it clean. Might take a couple times of doing that.
But yet you Californication liberals love to tree hug and scream about climate change.. deserve what you get go get another jab to add to your vax card
I had my oil boiler act up one day, had the guy come in, do a service (and replace the busted oil gauge and blow the junk out of the lines) The cost of the service was paid for in the reduction in fuel use!
I am a chimney sweep, I love your videos because I pick up a little bit of important info from your videos like @26:20 there abouts when the tool strikes the metal and his fuel tank sounds like it's doing a bad job on the gong show :) sounds like he needs a lil oil in there. . . . I mean I didn't read the gauge but my ears are usually more accurate than my eyes
I just had that same problem after doing annual cleaning. I hadn't opened the oil feed valve to the pump all the way. It was nearly all the way - not good enough. Boiler had been rumbling. All set after I turned it open a little more. It was starved for oil.
I don’t miss working on oil burners at all . The smell was always nauseating to me . Homeowners rarely have annual maintenance , and inspections . Then you get that emergency weekend call because of it , and might need a special part and everything is closed.
I’d love to see the service tag I’ve run into this weeks after the oil company serviced the boiler Customer wanted an opinion on wether the oil company did the job correctly because boiler seemed to be burning more oil I found a bigger nozzle than needed and the soot caked just like that never been vacuumed
That’s exactly how my Weil McLean looked after about 6 months after I had someone do a clean out (he forgot to tighten the fuel tip) after replacing it
You could use a hacksaw to cut a shallow grove in that stem valve (it doesn't matter if you catch the knurled nut with the blade). Then use a screwdriver to hold the stem while you loosen the nut.
Coming from a night service guy, from the tankless or actual zone water ,either way so temp is the same then you punch wet it down and repair as necessary. Steam cleaned.
At least who piped the boiler offset the return so you could open the door with ease. I had one that looked like that and was leaking water from the middle section. The home owner accused me of trying to rip him off by selling him a new boiler. I told him I wouldn't even give him a price with an attitude like that and told him to have a nice day.
I heard your old truck running in the background, i assume for Miss Molly? also I have heard that low idling those cat motors are bad because of lack of oil flow.
Two things about you Steve that are true, 1 your not afraid to work, 2 your entertaining when you work and the conversations you have with your costumers is classic. My bad, 3 things. Good job Steve. Let me guess, Miss Molly doesn't do weekends. Bad hair day?
That saw tooth tool is interesting...maybe Steve could buy a new one and grind that old one down in thickness - just enough to quickly navigate it in to where it needs to go. Well, Steve, it sounds like something you might do!
yeah that needed to be cleaned... you are right though even if you're not posting to youtube you pretty much need to coveryourass and record everything... whenever i do something important I record everything
Since I started in HVAC when I see boilers like this, especially on emergency calls, I get pissed and charge the customer extra to clean it. This issue can be caught in 99% of annual servicing and often homeowners are either to cheap or lazy to take get it done. Not always, I understand sometimes homeowners are ignorant to the idea of annual service or another company doesn't do its job. But more often than not they homeowner waited 4-5 years to have it serviced since the last cleaning.
I had a Boiler that was Eight times the Size of that one sooted up. Two of us had to go in the sides with a Soot Saw. The fairly new boiler had a G/O Burner on it. The Building “Engineer” decided to add some #2 Oil to the #4 oil that was in the oil tank and burn it. After explaining why you couldn’t do that, he went back to burning the oil. Had to go back and repeat the cleaning. He got fired shortly after that.
Here on the gulf coast we don't see the brutal cold that would warrant a oil boiler, I have never seen one. But watching Steven saw away at the soot while singing a little diddy, much like curly from the 3 stooges would do, while preforming a mundane task made me laugh.
@@trone32 At 1.07 Euro a liter, which is slightly less than a quart here in the US. You would be paying about what we pay a gallon of Fuel oil for heating. $4.72 a gallon (which probably has gone up since the last time I got a tankful , 275 gallons to fill mine. Way too much for oil IMO. The oil companies here will not lower the prices because their stock holders lost money during high Covid numbers when no one was driving. This is right from the companies on a press interview. Total BS.
How do I determine what electrodes mine uses? Repair place the ones I have are too short from cleanings and don't make contact, but part is so old they couldn't find a number
Exactly thank you! So much to do I'm only 32 but dammnnn. Travel, Hobbie like bowling/ crafting/fishing ect, cleaning/fixing, kindle, learning. Like wtf. I could do so much I work with people who could have retire 5 years ago! And they want to work til they die?!??! There so much more out there.
The one who's sputtering if it has air on the line you could probably try a tiger loop that might work besides they're one of the damn tank till dang low
That’s the same boiler in my house, it’s a bitch to clean, and I do clean every year. I found that a 1 gallon 80 degree W nozzle does the best burn and no noise on start up.
You got it right Steve, CYA, in these times . You do the job right and fix the problem. But sometimes you'll get a customer that can be difficult to deal with , they may not appreciate your skills and what their worth, especially when giving them the bill to get paid.
People are all hung up on fuel prices for trucking everything is the reason why prices going up. That’s just part of it. Everything you touch now days is either made from crude oil or its bi-product or like farming how do they grow crops - by tractors, combines and what do they use? Yup that’s right fuel. Factories have boilers, equipment all use fuel. Almost all power plants use fuel oil or coal. Coal is either shipped or by rail. What do they use fuel. Plastic bags, plastic containers, car parts the list goes on and on all from bi-product of crude. Everything you touch in someway has a connection to crude oil.
Running kerosene is good . Everyone treats a gold like a blue. Putting an 80 hollow nozzle in, 70 solid is the way. Either way check the vacuum! After 8" pressure drops etc. Regardless I would hit the homeowner for being that close. I have an " insurance " form that says customers must stay 15 ft away
