A lady I work with calls me up and says she has black soot going up her walls above her registers and her filter is all black. I immediately tell her that she has a bad crack or a chunk missing out of the heat exchanger (I've diagnosed/seen that). So she gets ahold of the furnace guy I recommended. But she also got ahold of a relative in some other town, who is a heating contractor, to get his opinion. He told her the same thing I did. The next day the furnace guy shows up (yesterday) and says it is likely the same thing we both did. But after opening up the furnace he found no crack or hole, and said her furnace needs a good cleaning, and he is coming today to do so. Since the combustion and blower sections are separate in furnaces, just what is the cause? The only thing that comes to my mind is that she experiences downdrafts and her barometric damper is not stopping it fully and with the combination of this and a furnace not burning cleanly, the soot enters the furnace room and goes in where the furnace filter is, and gets that black and also comes out the registers. So then I was wondering what would prompt such downdrafts in a small dormerless cape cod house. Maybe a dryer (vent) running, putting the house under negative pressure? And since most people have dryers that vent to the outside, if this is a common occurance as this being the cause, then who'd want an oil burner that can do this to youir house? I lived in a place once where all the walls turned black. This was right out of highschool when I knew nothing. Later I made the presumption the exchanger was cracked/hole. But maybe not?

Just had my new boiler and smart 40 installed in December. I liked my installer and would like to rely on him should anything come up. However, i personally witnessed that when he was installing my boiler, he would get calls for no heat and he even told me those people have to wait until he's done with me until he gets there. So i put myself in the other people's shoes and just figured while i'm happy with his install and continuing to work out a nozzle issue, that he's probably not the best person to rely on with no heat calls. He does have a 'few guys' he brings to help him on installs but he doesnt have 'full time' guys working with him to go on calls etc. So my bill came for a the annual contract from my current oil company (includes annual cleaning and cant be segregated) yesterday for 175 and i was thinking, do i really even need a service contract on a brand new unit and does it need to be cleaned the first year even? I just worry on the off chance a new unit does have issues that in the middle of winter my guy wouldnt be available and if i'm not a 'customer' of the oil company i have now, they of course take care of their own first then the 'outsiders' would get waited on (plus of course id probably have a bigger bill than 175 for just one call depending on the parts. so i'm thinking about playing it safe and keeping the contract at 175 but wanted to hear what you think about the pros and cons of it and if maybe i'm being too cautious. I could almost do without heat for 'a bit' but no way could i do without hot water.