white particles in burner

[John Dirks Jr]

What causes the white particles in this natural gas burner?

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[John Dirks Jr]

There is also a crusty white material building up over top of the pilot light.

More questions. Should that pilot flame be so orange? Shouldnt it be more blue?

[hausdok]

The byproducts of burning gas are acidic. The white material is the material produced when the acid in the exhaust reacts with the metal it encounters.

If the metal is galvanized, it will react with the zinc in the galvanizing the same way acid reacts with the zinc in the battery posts on a car and produce that material. A little is normal. A lot means that exhaust is losing buoyancy and is thus cooling too rapidly. If there is a lot of this product and it goes on long enough, it can ruin an exhaust vent and/or the heat exchanger.

The rust means that the air/fuel ratio is off. See the rust there? There shouldn't be rust there. That sucker is losing exhaust gas buoyancy. Time for a look-see by a competent HVAC guy.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Scottpat]

What Mike said. I will add that if you found a gas furnace with a standing pilot light like the one in your picture, it is most likely at the end of its life. You need to get a mirror up in those burn chambers to look for cracks, etc.

[John Dirks Jr]

Thanks. It is my burner and it is old. I would say 1962 or so. No signs of cracks and we do have a CO detector in the room that gets the strongest shot of heat. I'm hoping it will hold out for a while longer. The budget is a bit tight now.

[Scottpat]

a 45 year old gas furnace? That has got to be one of the oldest units that is still working. Wow!

[hausdok]

Hi Scott,

I had one a couple of years ago from 1955. It was nothing more than an oil-burning furnace with a gas burner. That in itself is not unusual, but that unit had been built that way from the beginning and hadn't been converted. It was very obvious from the way it was made that the manufacturer had opted to use one housing, heat exchanger and air handler to accommodate both oil burners and gas burners.

It wasn't very efficient - the ducts were sized like those on an oil-burning unit.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[John Dirks Jr]

Its a Mueller Climatrol and it keeps my little brick rancher nice and toasty in the winter. Can anyone look at the picture and tell me where the pilot adjust screw is?

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