# Oil to Gas Conversion.



## plumbcrazy81

I was just wondering if technically speaking any oil fired furnace or boiler can be converted to gas with a conversion burner. I looked at one the other day, it was an Airco BC 120 Oil Fired furnace, contacted the company to ask for a suggestion on a conversion burner and they replied:

It is not listed with CSA / AGA as a gas appliance and we can not suggest at all that it is done.
It was designed as an OIL Fired furnace.

Would any oil fired appliance manufacturer tell you this? I dont think any oil fired appliances are designed to be used with gas, but it doesnt mean it cant be done...right?:blink:


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## Gettinit

It can be done. The question is do you want the liability. NO inspector will pass it.


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## plumbcrazy81

Thats pretty much how I felt as well, thanks for the input.


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## pauliplumber

Most oil fired boilers can be converted to gas. Some towns will make you line the chimney. I would imagine a company that makes oil burners wouldnt be too thrilled about it.


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## Gettinit

pauliplumber said:


> Most oil fired boilers can be converted to gas. Some towns will make you line the chimney. I would imagine a company that makes oil burners wouldnt be too thrilled about it.


It is not the burner people who objects, it is the manufacturer of the furnace or boilers. It seems that you have done this before. If the unit is not CSA or UL approved for gas how does the inspector pass the job. It is essentially illegal. Don't get me wrong it happens quite often but not usually inspected and approved.


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## moonlighter

The gas utility I work for in Massachusetts. Converts them all the time 3 to 4 a week we use carlin ezgas burners carlin reps do not recommend converting any furnace over 5 yrs old and boilers over 15 yrs the newer burners a real sensitive to settings compared to the old e20 economite so they cane have problems in older units


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## Gettinit

moonlighter said:


> The gas utility I work for in Massachusetts. Converts them all the time 3 to 4 a week we use carlin ezgas burners carlin reps do not recommend converting any furnace over 5 yrs old and boilers over 15 yrs the newer burners a real sensitive to settings compared to the old e20 economite so they cane have problems in older units


And who is inspecting them? Why is there a problem if the burner is sized properly with respect to input and flame length?


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## moonlighter

The plumbing inspector In each of the 6 towns/cities we supply gas to. They have a problem with old not air tight boilers like arcoliners. And the old 2 door American standards. Also if used in any positive pressure boiler you need a burner that cost 3 times that of a regular burner


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## theplumbinator

About ten years ago I installed a Carlin ez gas burner on a one year old weil McClain wgo4 just had to line chiminey, and I also replaced chamber. still working fine today, believe it or not the.cast iron inside the boiler dosent care if the flame is made by gas or oil lol. Neither did the inspector he passed the job with the new gas pipe I ran, as long as you line the chiminey. I honestly dont know why you would want to convert one that burner is really loud, the basement sounds like the deck of an air craft carrier launching jets. But the customer was happy with it so I didn't bring up what I thought of it with him. One other thing, dont even think about adjusting the flame on a conversion burner or any burner for that matter without instruments.


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## vinpadalino

theplumbinator said:


> About ten years ago I installed a Carlin ez gas burner on a one year old weil McClain wgo4 just had to line chiminey, and I also replaced chamber. still working fine today, believe it or not the.cast iron inside the boiler dosent care if the flame is made by gas or oil lol. Neither did the inspector he passed the job with the new gas pipe I ran, as long as you line the chiminey. I honestly dont know why you would want to convert one that burner is really loud, the basement sounds like the deck of an air craft carrier launching jets. But the customer was happy with it so I didn't bring up what I thought of it with him. One other thing, dont even think about adjusting the flame on a conversion burner or any burner for that matter without instruments.


I just installed one of those burners.. HO called and said it works fine but they can hear it on the second floor when it comes on.. I thought the z-dimension was off and hitting the combustion chamber too much..


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## theplumbinator

I set the z-dimension with guage, I closed up the air band as much as I could to try and quiet it down, but I found the best way to lower the noise ( this goes for oil burners also) is to move the barometric damper as close to the chimney base a possible. Makes a huge difference in burner noise. Beckett also recommends flue base location.


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