www.fueloilnews.com | FUEL OIL NEWS | OCTOBER 2015 43
HVAC/ HYDRONICS
Figure 2, made by Beckett as the Firomatic or you
could use that "vacuum evacuation pump" up on
the burner. The question is, what's the real trick
to getting rid of microbubbles?
Well, it turns out that you do want to use that
vacuum pump idea. See, if you close the inlet
valve to the pump, Figure 3, the pump starts
creating vacuum and will go for broke! It can't
go over 29.9999 inches because that's absolute
vacuum, but it sure will try to. Now when the
pump is at its maximum vacuum, you flip open
the valve and suck those little microbubbles out
of all the places they're hiding in. Where are they
hiding? Everywhere, the filter, the safety valve, the
fittings and the line, that's where those little guys
are. How can you tell the pump is up to vacuum?
Easy, just listen. It sounds as if someone stepped
on a cat. This process of bleeding the pump by
the way is known as a "power vacuum bleed.'
In some situations you may remember having
to prime a pump in the fall and the only thing
done all summer was the annual overhaul. You
naturally blamed the guy who cleaned it, right?
Wrong. Microbubbles.
A way to help you clear this problem quickly
and not beat up your oil pump is the use of that
Firomatic pump I mentioned earlier. The people
Figure 2
Figure 3
