Because the fan controls the air, power burners can hold tight excess-air settings, fire against furnace back pressure, and modulate over a wide range. They are standard on commercial boilers and oil burners. Atmospheric burners, by contrast, draw primary air by gas jet entrainment and secondary air by natural draft, which is simple and quiet but less efficient and harder to control.
Old atmospheric boiler is coming out and a firetube with a power burner is going in, so we need a new vent design.
Also heard as
- forced draft burner
Related terms
Burner
The assembly that mixes fuel with air and holds a stable flame to heat the boiler.
Draft
The pressure difference that pulls or pushes combustion gases through the boiler and out the chimney.
Excess air
Combustion air supplied beyond the exact amount needed to burn all the fuel, expressed as a percentage.
Turndown
The ratio of a burner's highest to lowest firing rate, such as 4 to 1 or 10 to 1.