Hazard of Kerosene Oil Burners

Hazard of Kerosene Oil Burners

许多调查最近收到了联合国derwriters' Laboratories as to the hazard involved in the installation and use of kerosene oil burners in cooking and heating stoves and also in furnaces and boilers for heating plants. The shortage of coal has naturally stimulated the development and sale of such burners, and a number of these appliances have recently been submitted to the Laboratories for approval. It is probable that, as the result of further cooperation from the manufacturers, some of the devices may be approved in the near future. In the standard regulations of the National Board of Fire Underwriters governing installation of oilburning equipments the use of oil as fuel for domestic purposes is regarded as more hazardous than the use of ordinary fuel, such as wood, coal and coke. Generally speaking, the essential parts of an oil-burning equipment consist of a burner or vaporizer, which is mounted within the stove or furnace; a fuel storage receptacle; piping to convey the fuel from the storage receptacle to the burner; control valves and some arrangement for collecting excess fuel which may be fed into the burner. Many different types of equipment have been presented for consideration, and in the majority of them provision is made for the storage of the main supply of oil in an underground storage tank. Hand and motor pumps, as also suction by steam, are variously used to deliver the oil from the underground tank to a tank (usually of five gallons capacity) located within the building and near the heating plant. This auxiliary reservoir is equipped at the five-gallon level with an overflow pipe which leads back to the underground storage tank. From this point the designs begin to present more important points of difference, some of which are indicated in the following brief notes upon several types:

The equipments thus described are used principally in connection with furnaces, but there are also many devices intended for use in connection with cook stoves. In the greater number of these devices the kerosene is vaporized in a preheating coil and the vapor is delivered to the burner through a small orifice. It may be of interest to note that one of the features particularly to be tested in these burners is whether or not they can continue to consume the full amount of fuel which will be fed by their valves, and whether or not they are subject to frequent clogging from carbonization. The best designs would appear to be those in which there are no unduly restricted passages subjected to heat, so that carbonization and consequent clogging and necessity for cleaning are reduced to a minimum. The overflow receptacle is also important. It should have a capacity of not less than one quart, and should be conspicuously located so that in case the burner is not functioning properly and liquid fuel is escaping, the trouble may be observed without delay.