GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR OIL FIRING Lighting the Fire.
Make sure that no oil, due to leaky valves or fit tings, has accumulated in the furnace or ash-pit while the boiler has been standing idle. If such conditions occur, open the flue dampers and ash-pit doors and admit steam through the burners until any gases which may be present have been driven up the stack.
If oil pumps are used, start one of them (taking care that all connections are properly made), and allow the oil to flow back to the oil tank through the over flow line. Maintain the required oil pressure as indicated by the gauge on the discharge line between pump and burners.
Open the damper and ash-pit doors.
Open the steam valve on the line supplying the burn ers with steam, just enough to force out what water of condensation may have collected. After the steam line has "warmed up," light a torch made of asbestos wicking on the end of a twisted wire handle (the wick ing being saturated with oil) and hold this torch at the tip of burner or directly in front of it. Gradually "crack" the valve on the oil line until the oil ignites. Avoid standing directly in front of furnace doors.
In warming up a cold boiler, watch your fire closely, as it may go out, due to irregularity of oil flow, etc., the furnace not being sufficiently heated to ignite the oil when the flow is re-established. Before relighting
the burners in such cases make sure that gases are expelled as per instructions in the first paragraph on this page. Smoking will occur until the furnace and its gas passages have become hot.
Proper Combustion.
It is difficult to instruct a fireman on paper as to proper condition of his fire for perfect combustion, but a very little experience will enable him to tell at a glance if any one burner is producing a smoky flame, and he will soon learn to regulate the steam and draft to obtain the most satisfactory results.
A Common Fault.
If a fireman has no pride in reducing his employer's fuel bill to a minimum, he will be apt to effect the regulation of his fires by the oil valve alone, leaving the steam valve open sufficiently to take care of the maximum oil supply. It should be borne in mind that there is a definite relation between the amount of oil being used and the necessary amount of steam to properly vaporize that oil. The use of more than that amount of steam is a willful waste of fuel.
Putting Out the Fire.
Close the oil valve or shut down your oil pump. Close the steam valve to burners. Drain the steam end of oil pump. Close ash-pit doors and damper after boiler has cooled sufficiently to prevent blowing off.