Beckett RWB Leaking oil

**mprotain** · 01-26-2011, 07:57 AM

Hi All, I have a Beckett RWB burner two line system that is leaking a lot of oil through the burner case to the floor. Once I turn on the oil supply oil starts to seep out from the bottom of the burner case. This burner is on my hot water heater and is only about three years old. This began happening yesterday when I changed the nozzle, oil filter, and pump strainer on my heater furnace. Once I started the furnace up thats when I noticed that the burner on the hot water heater began leaking oil. I thought this was strange seeing that I did not touch the burner on the hot water heater. any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Mark

**drizler** · 02-07-2011, 10:17 PM

Just a thought here but I have seen mine leaking a time or two over the years. Most likely you don't have the nozzle screwed in fully or you bent the electrodes out of position a bit and it's not firing correctly. If you have them far enough out of position they don't ignite the spray fast enough / completely and you get that slight excess drool. Chances are that's what is causing it. At least the fix is free..........................

**Tom Sawyer** · 02-08-2011, 12:46 PM

You have a bad oil pump seal. Replace the oil pump.

**david_griffin** · 02-27-2011, 07:43 AM

Originally Posted by Tom Sawyer

You have a bad oil pump seal. Replace the oil pump.

I think he should open this burner and tighten threads and it will be fine :-)

**Tom Sawyer** · 02-27-2011, 08:24 AM

What threads? It's leaking inside the oil burner which is one of three things. Cracked or bad nozzle adapter, bad nozzle, leaking pump seal and judging by the amount he says is leaking it's probably the seal.

**tk03** · 02-27-2011, 04:30 PM

I agree with Tom but, Mark said he did not touch that water heater burner.
The thing that will blow a pump seal quickly is turning on the burner with the return line valve closed. Is it possible Mark did not turn the water heater off when he serviced the boiler.
Mark is there a valve on the common return from both appliances?

**Tom Sawyer** · 02-27-2011, 05:00 PM

What return line valve. Nobody that knows anything about oil burners would put a valve on the return line.

**tk03** · 02-28-2011, 08:21 AM

Maybe not in your area but they are all over the place on the East Coast. The reason is siphoning from the underground oil tank. The oil line comes into the basement above the oil burner and when the line is disconnected it keeps running from the line.
We need to understand this is not a perfect world and many things are not by the book.

**Tom Sawyer** · 02-28-2011, 12:20 PM

I am on the east coast and I have been a NEFI instructor in past years as well as an hvac instructor now and believe me, nobody in his right mind would put a shut off valve on a return line for any reason. All it takes is for the homeowner or his kid to shut the valve off and the pump seal blows and you have a very dangerous situation. Besides which it is against the NFPA code to install one.

**tk03** · 03-01-2011, 06:27 AM

I understand what you are saying but it happens many many times. I have been to hundreds of job sites where there is a valve on the return side. We try to teach the proper way but many still do what they have always done or do not change it when the new heating appliance goes in. It does not make it right because somebody does it as just because it is code that something will always follow the code. How many gas units are installed in exterior chimneys with no liners. Go to Washington DC and that answer would be most of them as their inspectors do not enforce it. Most inspectors only enforce local cosed as they are local code inspectors.
There are codes and classrooms and then there are real world non-code installations which in a percentage is a lot greater number then the code type installations. Do we condone it, NO, but it is reality...Yes.

**Tom Sawyer** · 03-01-2011, 02:11 PM

In almost 40 years of servicing oil burners in Maine, NH, VT, Mass, Connecticut and New York I have NEVER EVER seen one single shutoff valve installed on an oil return line. So I asked a couple other service managers that I know because I have also been a member and past president of NAOSHM and NONE of them has ever seen one either. Nobody in their right mind would install one for that matter.