Timeline, some tribulations

We purchased our first 250 gallons of B100 in January 2008. The refiner/seller gave this advice, which we followed:

1. Replace the oil pump with one that is B100-compatible. B100 is very rough on rubber (my rubber gloves disintegrated working with it). The new oil pump has Viton seals instead of Nitrile.

2. Add a 10 micron oil filter, downstream of the 50 micron unit. Why? B100 may cloud (imagine congeal) below about 50 degrees, forming biowax. These biowax particles will clog your nozzle. Also, putting B100 in an old oil tank will dissolve everything in the tank and push all the sludge into your nozzle. The 10 micron filter will help protect your nozzle.

3. Change the flame detector to one with a wider band. The standard flame detector does not see the B100 flame the same and may cause nuisance trips of the flame safety.

4. Downsize the nozzle and raise the pressure, to decrease oil droplet size in the furnace section, for better combustion. We did not do this at first, we did not have new nozzle.

We put the new pump and filter in-place and set the burner up. Our refiner is still new in this business and is learning along with us. We are a "high-beta" site for him. I really like our refiner, he is a chemist by training, but is really a startup business person. I believe in his product and I want to make it work for me and him.



After running a few weeks with this setup, we experienced the expected afterdrip problem. In running any fuel, there is always a tiny little drip of fuel that drips out of the nozzle after cutoff. Even with a perfectly functioning pump cutoff (or in our case, oil solenoid valve), there is a little bit of unburned fuel that falls out of the nozzle. With fossil fuel, this drip burns off right away, but the viscosity and combustion properties of B100 does not let it burn right off. Instead it turns into a sticky, crusty mess of coke on the flame retention head. Eventually the coking closes enough of the air slots in the retention head and prevents combustion, causing flame failure. This happened to us.

I was away on business when the flame failure happened (about January 30, 2008). With clear telephonic instructions, she was able to open the boiler door, chip off the crud and restart the boiler. Jen is an awesome mechanic.

After returning from that trip, I put the smaller nozzle at higher pressure in the boiler. This was on a Sunday evening (February 17, 2008) before another trip (in real life I have a job that currently requires a bit of travel). On Monday evening after landing in an airport, I receive a message "no heat, call right away." Turns out when I adjusted the burner the day before, I forgot to tighten the screw on the secondary air band, so in 24 hours it loosened up and went out of adjustment, causing a no-flame condition. With more telephonic instruction, Jen was able to relight the boiler, adjust the flame by eye and tighten the band down.

The following Monday (February 25, 2008) we awoke to no heat. This time I went downstairs and watched it go (after resetting the primary control). The flame lit, ran weakly then extinguished. The nozzle was evidently clogged with something (more on that mystery later). I changed the nozzle and restarted, no problem. Nozzles should last longer than 8 days though.

That Friday (February 29, 2008) we purchased 110 gallons of B100. We also bought a line heater and a shut-off valve for the nozzle. The line heater goes on the oil line, inside the blast tube, just upstream of the electrode holder. This 12 watt heater works to warm the oil line to 140 degrees F. We gain a few things with hot oil. We have lower viscosity (better atomization) and will "remix" any clouded components of the oil (from traveling across the state in cold weather).

We also added a Hago oil shutoff valve (medium pressure, MC). This valve is supposed to close below 135 psig, reducing the amount of afterdrip, hopefully expanding the time between services. We'll watch closely.

Bill N.