Furnace burner flame color

BlueBSH

Can outside conditions change the burner flame color? I have a direct vented and fresh air from outside high efficiency furnance... was watching the flame color last night through the peep hole and it was burning a lot more orange then normal... but the day before it was pure blue, and today I looked again and it is pure blue, it seems the colder it is outside the more orange it burns... is there something to this or something else going on here?

JohnH1

Yes the wind can affect the burners like you are describing. Watch them durring 1st start up and pay close attention when the main blower starts. If the blower affects the burners you have a problem. Otherwise it is just the wind.

BlueBSH

That's pretty much what I was looking for with the blower last night, and it didn't affect the flame at all.. so I think my heat exchangers are in good shape at least from the quick look at them... just couldnt figure out why I was getting almost a pure orange last night as opposed to what I normally see

Tator1076

Note When it very cool ouside you and everybody on your street is sucking that main gas line. That will lower the pressures and may cause flame be lower with diffent colors.

yuri

"Peak shaving". Some utilities add a small amount of Propane to the gas to help maintain pressure and quantity when they have a maximum load or problem maintaining pressure. A bit of propane is harmless but looks orange/yellow.

BlueBSH

that all makes perfect sense, was just worried a little something happened to the burners, but after looking at them today with the cover off they looked ok and clean.. but the pressure issue I didn't even think about