Heating Help

tiger loop: I don't have one .. do I need one?

I have a residential boiler with a Beckett gun burning about 1.75GPH #2 oil .. two pipe oil feed from an outdoor buried 550gal tank. A contractor who cam through the other day for a boiler replacement quote said I needed a Tiger Loop...is he correct or just trying to upsell me fancy things?

I'm happy to provide more info if needed, I'm not sure what's relevant here.

Big fan of tiger loop

The thing about two pipe systems are they constantly recirculate the oil through the filters, with a tigerloop you are only filtering the oil you are using instead of returning the oil back to the tank. It also acts as a preheater for the oil. Instead of constantly bringing cold oil in to the pump, which can give you an erratic fire.

thanks..

i will add it to my list of upgrades unless anyone has any contrary comments. 

tiger loop

tiger loop explained

http://www.westwoodproducts.com/tigerloop_article.htm

thanks

i had read this yesterday. thanks

tiger loop

My heating contractor also recommended a tiger loop for my system. I told him that the oil filter needed to be changed very frequently and he explained that with my two pipe oil feed, more oil than the burner needs is being passed through the filter and then returned to the oil tank. He said that with a tiger loop we could eliminate the problem. I am still waiting for him to get back to me on pricing though. I guess this would save on the need for changing the filter so often. Do other people recommend it as well?

on the other hand ...

with multi-pass filtering, you can be sure the oil is clean :-)  and I'd probably be happier changing an oil filter myself for $7 rather than a service call to clean my burner .. more often .. thoughts? 

The last two calls I went to

needed tiger loops to operate properly, the contractors sure wish they had done it at installation!
I am of the opinion that too many boilers have been running badly for decades due to high vacuum but people have accepted it as ht way oilheat is, lost too many people to gas beause techs don't appriciate what vacuum does to combustion.  Once the new boiler goes in it is loud, we put an oil watcher on and watch the "suds" move through the line and you know that the old burner did this too, it is just more pronounced with our newer high efficiancy equipment.  Do yourself a favor and don't skip this step on an existing two line system, the boiler will be quieter and cleaner and you will save energy $$.

Charlie from Beckett

fantastic charlie thanks!

Thanks Charlie for your input on this .. it means alot coming from a burner manufacturer. Can I ask what an "oil watcher" is? Is it simply a piece of clear tubing that you put between the original piping and the burner for demonstration/inspection purposes?

Thanks again.

Oil watcher

The Oil Watcher or Vacuum View is a clear tube with male and female flare fittings and a vacuum gage that is used to troubleshoot fuel line problems.
Those two names are two manufacturers names for similer products.

cool .. thanks!

cool .. thanks! as I've said elsewhere before, I don't play with fire, only air and water .. but it never hurts to know about these fire-type things :)