Water heater burner clogging detection and shutdown system
AssigneeRheem Manufacturing Company
InventorJacob A. Peart
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fuel-fired water heater has main and pilot burners disposed in its combustion chamber. Illustratively, all of the primary combustion air utilized by the main and pilot burners during firing thereof is supplied thereto via an enclosed path extending to the burners from outside of the combustion chamber. A burner clogging detection system is operative to shut down further combustion, upon sensing a condition of the pilot burner flame indicative of a predetermined degree of pilot burner clogging, prior to the main burner being clogged to an unacceptable degree by particulate matter entrained in incoming combustion air being delivered to the main burner.
Claims6
Fuel-fired heating apparatus comprising:
- a combustion chamber;
- a first fuel burner structure disposed in said combustion chamber, said first fuel burner structure including a hollow body with an interior communicating with the interior of an air inlet plenum box projecting outwardly from said hollow body, said air inlet plenum box being disposed entirely within said combustion chamber and, during firing of said first fuel burner structure, receiving unpressurized combustion air from a source thereof;
- a second fuel burner structure disposed in said combustion chamber, said second fuel burner structure having a combustion air inlet tube sequentially extending outwardly therefrom, through the interior of said combustion chamber, and then into the interior of said air inlet plenum box, said combustion air inlet tube having an open inlet end disposed within the interior of said air inlet plenum box and covered with a perforate cloggable structure,
- said first and second fuel burner structures being cloggable by particulate matter in combustion air being delivered thereto during firing thereof, and
- a shutdown system operative to limit the maximum amount of clogging of said first fuel burner structure by sensing the attainment of a predetermined degree of clogging of said second fuel burner structure and responsively disabling further operation of said first fuel burner structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.