CHA NG IN G T IME S Changing Times!
Different energy, same old problems BY GEOR GE L ANTH I ER
B
EGINNING IN 2012 FIREDRAGON WILL BE DOING A LOT MORE gas seminars as well as our oil seminars. Don't get upset, it's something we have to do to survive and
evolve. In addition, I'm not defending myself I'm just going with the flow and the flow is energy. Gas, oil, who cares as long as it's heating. We are working on these courses now and may have more as
the demand dictates: Advanced Carlin Gasburner Workshop, Advanced RIELLO Gasburner Workshop, Servicing Gas Conversion Burners, Oil to Gas Conversion Workshop and Getting New Gas Installs Right the First Time and it's that last one I want to focus on for this article. Now, some of you are probably still sitting there saying, "A gas article in Fuel Oil News?" Well, consider these two facts: the first is that the largest oil
company in the oil business is owned by a propane company and second, 80 percent of all New England propane dealers sell oil, so the question is why not? When I started in this business in the USAF, I did as much
gas as oil, but ended up doing more oil throughout my career. So most think of me as an oil guy and I am, but if you're going to be in the heating business down the road you have to be an "energy
marketer" or a "Btu merchant". If you want to hang all of your future on one peg, it is probably time to say good-bye. While building these seminars, I've seen a lot of similarities
and have to tell you that a good oil tech will probably make a great gas tech. First of all we know and are use to testing. Gasfitters and plumbers have not seen the need to test, but they're learning and it's at the school of hard knocks! A lot of the mistakes on gas have direct similarities to the biggest boo-boos on oil. Draft, holy moly and you gotta be kidding me! What is it
about this subject people don't get? I've seen guys play pump pressures up and down, go through a box of different nozzles and try every other trick in the book and still end up with their head up their butt. If the draft is not right, everything else is a waste of time. Is that also true of gas? You bet, and in some cases even more so because gas doesn't burn as hot and it produces a lot more water vapor. Draft and the venting process is a major part of the combustion process, it has to be right! Remember this quote from so many of my articles over the last
20 years and from my book Advanced Residential Oilburners? "Faulty draft conditions cause more flame and combustion problems than any other single factor."
Figure 1 16 JANUARY 2012 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com
