Oil furnace question- HELP PLEASE

[Roadking]

Suddenly, awfully smokey; black smoke (out the chimney) and smells in the basement of heating oil, but no leaks or smoke in the basement. 4 year old Thermoflo JWB 5 (now considered the OWB 5). Chimney cleaned and inspected this season...it seems to have happened suddenly. Possible causes?
I am asking here as when I called our furnace guy, answering machine stated (you'll love this one) "sorry, we're closed from Nov 24 until Dec 5th (deer season). If this is an emergency, sorry, but you'll have to call someone else".
A drawback to living in the mountains, but I found it funny, if not annoying.
Have the manual (in print and on-line), but no FAQ'a or info on fair filter...could it be munged up?
Thanks in advance.
I'm about to shut her down to cool off and do some poking and could use some pointers.
Oh, oil fired, hot water baseboard heat.
Matt

[foxtrapper]

Probably a dirty nozzle, especially if it's been a while since it was serviced. Pull the unit, spray clean the tip with carburetor cleaner and reinstall.

[Roadking]

Something I could do myself (as I have the instructions for assembly. I'm pretty handy and mechanical) or wait for heat guy to get back?
Thanks.
Matt
PS If I'm to wait, I'll have the whole thing tuned up like last year. Seeing as the chimney wasn't sooted up this year when I had it swept, figured all was right with the world...bad choice, apparently.

[ace admirer]

mark how deep the burner is set in the firebox (this is Z distance) before remmoving, reset to same depth.

[davel745]

It sounds like it may be a gummed up nozzle (get some Lacquer thinner and clean it). It is easy to replace the nozzle. Just get the same one as is installed; there will be a number on it. Or the air damper is shut and isn’t working properly. Suggest you change the air and oil filter.

[foxtrapper]

Yes, you can do it yourself. Of course, now that I'm looking for instructions on the web, I can't find any. I do see some listed on youtube, but I can't view them from here. Use "oil burner repair" on the youtube search.

1 Turn the furnace off with the main off switch, likely at the top of the basement stairs.

2 Flip up the top of the burner assembly, this will usually be a grey or black metal box. It will likely be held down by two tabs, those might need to be loosened with a standard screwdriver. You will now be looking down at the burner nozzle unit, and the fan below that.

3 The fuel line plugs into the side of the burner unit and is held on with a knurled ring. With a pair of pliers, unscrew that knurled ring completely. That is the only thing that holds the burner nozzle in place. A little fuel oil will leak out, so you will want a rag or such to catch it with.

4 Reach down inside the opening and wiggle the nozzle so the copper tube clears the side, and gently pull it back and up.

5. Congratulations, you have removed it. The tip will likely be all gunky. You can clean it quite well with brake cleaner and a rag and toothbrush. Then reverse the steps to reinstall it. You can also go buy a new tip for just a few dollars (like $5), and replace it. It comes off with a standard wrench. If you do this, be careful of the electrodes. Those need to be placed "just so" in order to ignite the fuel.

[Ross]

There are three or four reasons to get black smoke constantly. One is the air intake is blocked off, two (and more seriously) your pump pressure has gone crazy pushing too much fuel into the combustion chamber three the nozzle could be out of spec and lettign too much oil past four you have an obstuction in the system somewhere, (found a dead bat in a blast tube once). Now it could have ingition problems if it's starting with a whump or bang and rolling unburned fuel up the chimney as smoke. The could mean a new ingitor/transformer, contacts or electrodes

You can certainly check the air intake slots they get crudded up easily. Not sure what burner you have though. Beckett? Riello? Carlin? ??

If you pull the drawer assembly to clean the nozzle (its a replacment part really) take care to not mess up the Z adjustment. Thats the position within the blast tube that the drawer assembly is set away from the F head. There's no reason the pull the burner off except a thorough insection and you could damage the combustion chamber if your not careful. Still you could have a dead bird of two (or 13+ at one place I cleaned a furnace!) in the furnace.

You really shouldn't try too much more than cleaning the air intakes or perhaps pulling the smoke pipes to check for obstructions if you're good at putting them back. REmember they should be the reverse of wood stove fitting or narrow end up.

[Roadking]

Thanks all.
It's a Beckett burner. Checked and reswept the flue and ductwork; no obstructions, a little dusty soot, but very minimal. I spoke to a buddy of mine about it and was answered with "why the *&^% didn't you call me...I did HVAC for 15 years...I'll be over tommorow".
Without this conversation, however, the advice above was more than encouraging and is greatly appreciated! THANK YOU!
BTW, I'll be watching him closely and doing hands on in the process...never have enough experience or knowledge!
Thanks again.
Matt

[Ross]

At least becketts (well most of them) are pretty straight forward burners. They are a little prone to the air intake blockages I mentioned. If you look beside the pump you will see slots cut in the side and a plate that let air into the burner.
The collect dust bunnies baddly. You might also have some slots open on a band on the body of the burner just beside the pump, again they suck in dust. I'm assuming you don't have an air box and an ABS pipe bringing fresh air right into the burner? If you do its a haven for nesting critters.

You really need a pump pressure tester, it lets you shut off the oil so you can test the controls and ignition without pumping oil into the furnace (which will go off with a bang if it's ignited hot enough) and it tells you the pump pressure and cut off pressure which should hold 80% of operating pressure when locked off from the drawer assembly.