Roaring Oil Burner Noise

Causes & cures of roaring noise at oil fired heating equipment.

This article series describes the cause and cure for just about any noise that you might hear at or near an oil burner, where it comes from, what it means, and what needs to be done about it.

Page top photo: we inspected this house fire in New York in an effort to pinpoint the cause and also to observe the effet of having used fire retardant plywood in the home's roof.

Causes of Oil Burner Roaring Sound

Check first for a Chimney fire

WATCH OUT: DANGEROUS, IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED: Very loud noise like a roaring freight train coming from a chimney is likely to be a chimney fire- extremely dangerous, risking a house fire: turn off heat as you run out of the house: call the fire department from your cell phone or from a neighbor's house.

[Click to enlarge any image]

Watch out: some other conditions discussed in this article series can indicate risk of a dangerous

OIL BURNER PUFFBACK EXPLOSION

Photo above: I'm pointing to the ignition transformer on a Beckett oil burner.

Roaring Oil Burner Question: roaring Buderus heating unit with Riello burner

Our InspectApedia reader asked:

We just replaced a crumbling System 2000 hot water heating system with a new Buderus unit with a gross output of 136 MBtu/h and a net output of 119 MBtu/h.

First we had to line our chimney with a steel exhaust pipe 5" - 26 ga to meet code. No problem.

A few days later the new Buderus unit was installed with a Riallo burner ( sp?).

It ROARS! You can hear it throughout the house. Heck, you can even hear roar it out on the street!

The installer replaced the first burner with a supposedly quieter Becket AFG with a 0.8560B nozzle.

No change and the installer gave up. You can still hear it out on the street.

Anybody have any ideas on this one ?- (Mar 16, 2014) Michael

Reply by moderator

Michael,

Watch out: roaring sounds in a flue or chimney indicate a very dangerous chimney fire. If that's going on you should evacuate the building and call the fire department.

See CREOSOTE FIRE HAZARDS

Tell us the model of your Buderus heating boiler;

Also, is the chimney and vent system using a power vent or just natural draft?

And can you trace the noise more precisely to the burner, vs. boiler vs. chimney?

Finally, if the old unit was a slow speed 1725 rpm oil burner and the new unit a hig speed 3450 rpm burner motor, it's normal that newer high speed oil burners are noisier than the older units - which can be a shock to some homeowners.

If we decide that the unit is working normally and safely we'll discuss other noise control measures.

Oil burner roaring, churning water noises?

During recent tuneup on my oil furnace the technician said he cleaned nozzle, oil filter and replaced fuel pump and transformer.

Now furnace makes loud whining noise which I can hear even on the second floor.

Furnace already had a medium roaring sound and some churning water sounds coming out of the furnace box itself, but this new high wining sound is the last straw.

Did he install the pump incorrectly or is it just cheap junk made in China. Liberty Slant/fin, Sid Harvey transformer and fuel pump, Honeywell starter, carlin, taco circulator are labels on parts I can see. On 2017-05-05 by Judy

by (mod) - roaring furnace makes a whining sound after cleaning

Judy

Call the oil company's service manger, staying calm and polite, but let her listen to the whining oil pump (properly called a fuel unit) and ask that they send a more-experienced technician to sort out what may be not just an unreliable heating system (which in freezing weather risks concomitant damages if loss of heat leads to frozen burst pipes), it may also be unsafe.

Oil boiler making mooing noises?

A mooing noise coming from an oil burner (reported by an InspectApedia reader) could have any of several possible sources and might be an alternative word for "roaring" so be sure to see our chimney fire warning at the top of this page.

Once ruling out a chimney fire, the next thing to check at an oil burner making a "mooing" noise is whether you have ignition and a normal flame - an abnormal flame could make a strange roaring sound.

I put that second because I am assuming that you will first rule out a chimney fire which sounds like a roaring freight train. If you had a chimney fire you need to get people out of the house and call for help from the fire department.

A failing bearing or a bad coupling between the electric motor and the driven components which are a blower fan and the fuel unit can also cause strange noises.

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Continue reading at OIL BURNER SOOT & PUFFBACKS or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see these

Recommended Articles

• CHIMNEY CHASE FIRE
• CHIMNEY INSPECTION DIAGNOSIS REPAIR for details of chimney inspection, diagnosis, and repair
• CREOSOTE FIRE HAZARDS
• FIREPLACE DAMAGE & UNSAFE HEARTHS - fireplace and hearth hazards that can be found by visual inspection
• HEATING SYSTEM NOISE DIAGNOSIS
• ODORS in AIR HANDLERS & DUCT WORK
• OIL BURNER INSPECTION - home
• OIL BURNER ROARING NOISE
• OIL BURNER RUMBLING NOISE
• OIL BURNER NOISE SMOKE ODORS - home
• OIL BURNER SOOT & PUFFBACKS
• OIL BURNER TRANSFORMER

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OIL BURNER ROARING NOISE at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.

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