SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20180305-EEDDE-2147389505. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: Boyertown Furnace Model ECM RSM 600 (Boyertown Regal oil fired hot air furnace). Incident: New Boyertown hot air furnace installed to replace original fifty year old furnace in house. Furnace was installed by a licensed plumbing and heating contractor October 19. 2017. The day of installation my wife and I noticed that the furnace seemed loud and my wife also detected an odor discharged from the hot air vents. The contractor came back with the representative from the distributing outlet. They did not detect the odor but did recommend two remedies for the noise. A cover was installed over the burner housing and a different section of fuel line was attached to the burner. The noise was reduced but at intervals continued throughout the time the furnace has been in operation. The odor has been continuous and progressively worsened until the furnace was shut down. The fuel nozzle fowled in mid January 2018. This was found after I went down to check on the furnace because it was running continuously and very little air was being discharged through the vents. I checked the air filter and found it to be obstructed with a black carbon color. I removed the filter to allow air to flow. The odor from the vents woke my wife and she asked me why it all of a sudden had become worse. The contractor came in the following day and replaced the defective nozzle. The house was checked by two different fire departments detection equipment for hazardous materials and neither found any. The fumes continued and on February 15, 2018 I removed the side panel from the furnace and discovered the holes from the combustion chamber into the air distribution system. I notified the contractor, he