These two Anti-Magnetometer picts only show a small portion of what was cleaned out. Like I said at least one and a half pints of rust was removed! Not quite sure what the metal is. It didn't look too rusted so perhaps it is Stainless? Perhaps some scouring pad? I don't know how it got in there.
OK, we got tired of cleaning and decided to give the burner a try. Added a little Kerosene but not after having to locate an acceptable drain plug gasket. I happened to have a 70 durometer Buna-N O-ring that seemed to fit the bill. I looked up online and Buna-N is OK for Kerosene and even a little alcohol. I replaced the filter and fired it. It was not connected to our heat exchanger but firing into the hangar. It fired, ran for 30 seconds, hissed a big puff of white smoke and blew up into one impressive fireball when I quickly pulled the plug. We called it a night.
The next day I had my friend Otto who services oil burners came over. He is the one who serviced it a few days before and he found the problem. For some reason the filter was sucking air even with new O-Rings. I happened to have that 70 durometer assortment of Buna-N O-Rings and had one twice the thickness of the one that was supposed to be in there. That thicker O-Ring did the trick, a nice smooth 100PSI of fuel pressure. He also changed the nozzle from a .85 / 60 to a .85 x 70 which seemed to help stabilize the flame a little, (5 degrees wider on each side).
Anyway all seems well now. I will add just a tad bit of Isopropyl alcohol when filling the tank, also some HEAT which is a fuel treatment and wait at least 20 minutes before starting the burner after refilling. 10 years is not a long enough time interval before the next tank cleaning.
I am still on the fence, but there is a good possibility that the rust, water and steel was not the problem!
Y10-12-25
