Burner problem with Glory Hole

[Lia Howe]

Another stupid newbie question. I came out to the shop and my glory was making an awful sound. Whistleing and puffing. Can anyone help me with a cure for this problem. I just turned it off but I have a half pot of glass to finish in a Stadelman. What causes the furnace to make this noise and what can I do to stop it from happening in the future. I should tell you that I used it day before yesterday and nothing has been played with or adjusted. Help Please.Lia

[Hugh Jenkins]

Is this a blower or venturi driven burner? Usually "woofing" or backburning is because the air and gas flow is too low. Did you leave it unattended while heating up and not turn up the air enough? Or is the gas jet clogged which messes with the mixture? Or is the burner block cracked?

More questions than answers.

[Allan Gott]

I'll guess that you have a squirrel cage blower. Start there.

Clean the blades of the squirrrel cage. Hint - toothbrush.

Turn the blower on by itself. If it doesn't snap, and I mean SNAP, up to speed, the brushes, bearings or whatever, could be worn.

Go get 2 replacement blowers. One for now, one for a backup.

If you're stuck there's always the judicious application of light oil and/or WD40, I prefer the backup fan though.

Good luck.

[Lia Howe]

Thanks for the advice. My glory is venturi. My go to guy is Terry Craig. I had called him but no answer. I was panicing. He called about 2 minutes after I posted this. He said it waas probably not enough air. I will always open up my air. during heat up. I was quite a windy day here and it kept blowing the fins on my fan closed which turns off my gas. Don't know if that has any bearing on it. I just finished blowing for two hours with no problems. I will go out again after dinner and work again. Thanks for the help.Lia

[Pete VanderLaan]

"As the World Turns". Tune in tomorrow. Same Time same channel.

[Allan Gott]

Well, I guessed wrong but stand by my advice for squirrel cage fans.

HEY!

..........a chapter for Ed's next book......

"Lessons learned the hard way."

PS - Great "tape" for any fan related metal flaps/doors, venturi fins etc is that magnetic sign material so grab a fridge magnet and use it to hold your "fins" in place.:thumb:

[Hugh Jenkins]

Originally posted by Lia Howe:

"quite a windy day here and it kept blowing the fins on my fan closed which turns off my gas."


That is a new one on me. Does this mean that there is some sensor on your fan that is connected to the gas? If the gas was going off and on during heat up, I can imagine backfiring being the result.

[Allan Gott]

Yeah Hugh I had a required air pressure sensor thingy wired into the gas valve for the furnace which would shut the gas off when the pressure fell past a certain point.

It was finicky, so in the interest of keeping the furnace running............I bypassed it. My bad.

[Brent Hickenbotham]

weren't we talking about a glory hole? not a furnace?

I'm also not a big fan of bypassing safety systems for non tech oriented people.

I'm glad you are there to help though.

See you in Portland in June.

[Lia Howe]

The sensor was required by TSSA. I just got my approval last week. It only took 10 months and over $800. But I got passed in one inspection. Ya!!! If I had to have another inspection it would have cost me another $800. Husband wants to by pass the sensor too but I am ignoring him right now. It is only a problem on windy days so far. Lia

[Allan Gott]

Originally posted by Brent Hickenbotham
I'm also not a big fan of bypassing safety systems for non tech oriented people.

Me either Brent but given the info and knowledge I had at the time.................well.......ghetto is ghetto.........

My glories didn't have the pressure switch since we operated those without valves/pilots/TC's. The inspector accepted my argument that those appliances were 100% attended operation only. They were never left unattended. Out of sight and/or earshot constitutes unattended IMHO.

[Brent Hickenbotham]

Originally posted by Allan Gott
Me either Brent but given the info and knowledge I had at the time.................well.......ghetto is ghetto.........


Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not going to criticize about doing things ghetto. Cause for a while there I was the king of ghetto, but after dealing with so many customers and contractors associated with this job I am overly cautious. Insanely overly cautious. I barely trust myself without double and triple checking.


I know that so many people have survived with the most dangerous and scary setups due to lack of resources or knowledge, I just can't in good conscious go back that direction.:D

[Hugh Jenkins]

Are we talking about two different things? Lia has a switch hooked to her ventilation fan that turns off the gas to her glory hole when the wind blows. Allan has a pressure switch that turns off the gas to his furnace when his blower loses pressure.

Or is Allan taking responsibility for Lia's glory hole setup and I am missing something?

[Brian Gingras]

it sounds like Lia has a sail switch in front of the fan, these detect air movement with a small sail attached. This would indicate the ventilation system is moving air. they are also problematic for long term use and any back draft will cause a shut down.

The other is an air pressure switch for a blower.

[Brent Hickenbotham]

Yes Hugh we were talking about two different things and I was a little mixed up in my posts. I get it now and will stop now.

[Kraig Richard]

I don't know whose on first, whats on second, but I am pretty sure when a device is shutting off the gas it's gennerally supposed keep the gas off.

There's a bigger problem at stake if a default condition dosent keep it off oafter the solenoid valve closes, unless you have some sort of high end re-ignition control with purge sequencing and all the other bells and whistles.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.