Montitor lifter pump kero odor

[dougdnh]

have had a Monitor 2400 with a lifter pump for about 10 years, and it works great. However, the past few months I've noticed tho lifter pump is giving off a strong kerosine smell. Everything looks ok, there are no leaks. There is a few inches of kero in the pump, but I suppose that's normal. For some reason the odor is now getting out into the room.

[HayZee518]

lift pump

I have never taken apart a lift pump, but I have to assume there are gaskets to keep the kero smell at a minimum. there is undoubtedly a seal between the motor shaft and the impeller housing. kero comes in via the volute or center of the pump and exits out the circumference of the housing to the heater. you say there are no noticable leaks at the fitting but I would start there.

[hawkins111]

fuel lifter pump

I would look at the stove first. Make sure you don't have a leak at the fuel line fitting on the back right side of the stove. Also check the connection of the stove and flue pipe. This connection is some what difficult to get correct. The flue pipe and stove should fit all the way to the stop ridge on the Z pipe. What model lifter do you have?

Tom

[dougdnh]

I have a 10 year old 2400 with a Monitor lifter pump. I've checked everything pretty close - the kero smell is definitely coming from the pump. Since it's been pretty warm here, the stove hasn't fired up in several weeks, but the smell near the pump is still there. When I take the plastic cover off the pump, and run a rag along the side where the gasket is, the rag gets a little trace of kero on it.

[HayZee518]

pump

then it must be in the gaskets of the pump. a little kero leakage you can smell right off. get a gasket kit and overhaul it. its basically just like a toyo lifter pump.

[hawkins111]

lifter pump

Doug,

Did you ever get to the bottom of the smell? If not, could you send us a picture of your lifter? Both Monitor and Toyo have two styles of lifters, so it would be helpful to see which one you have.

Thanks,

Tom

[dougdnh]

Doug,

Did you ever get to the bottom of the smell? If not, could you send us a picture of your lifter? Both Monitor and Toyo have two styles of lifters, so it would be helpful to see which one you have.

Thanks,

Tom

Hi Tom,

I'm still having the problem. Tonight it was pretty bad, and I noticed kero was actually running down the side from under the top cover. I suspect there may be a shut off float problem? Here is a picture of an identical pump:

[hawkins111]

fuel lifter

Doug,

Both Toyo and Monitor fuel lifters have a duel float system to make it all but impossible to over fill the tank. I my 15 years of working on these kinds of heaters using lifters I have never had a failure of the float system. That does not make it an all out impossibility. Dirty fuel or a gross amount of water with rust in it could cause the floats to stick. I would like to know how high the lifter is above the level of the fuel in the tank it is drawing from? The lifter should be located above the top of the tank it is drawing from. If not, it will siphon fuel into the lifter.

Tom

[dougdnh]

Tom,

The lifter and stove are on the first floor, the tank is in the basement about 10' to the right of the lifter. I've had the Monitor since 2001, never had any problems until last winter. Is the lifter fairly easy to disassemble? I can see if there is anything hanging up the float.

Doug

[hawkins111]

fuel lifter pump

Doug,

The top should come off with two screws. The pump and circuitry should be in the top. The floats should be in the lower part, submerged in the tank. With the top off, valve closed and power off, drain the fuel and clean up the fuel leak. Turn the unit on and watch it with the cover off. You should be able to see the leak. You should also be able to see the level of the fuel when the unit shuts off. The level should not be anywhere near the top of the tank.

Take a picture of the top of the pump with the cover off.

Keep us posted,

Tom

P.S. Is the fuel line teed to a boiler line?

[dougdnh]

Thanks for the info, Tom. I will take a look in the next few days. The fuel line is not tied to anything else. When I spoke to Monitor tech support several months ago, he suggested checking my vent pipe, since a clogged vent could cause the fuel to back up into the pump. I found a small spider nest in there, but nothing major, and cleaning it didn't help with the smell.

[dougdnh]

I spent a few hours today playing around with the lifter pump. I took the float assembly out - it looked fine. I then unscrewed the top metal deck with the pump where the kero is seeping under. Everything looked fine, even the rubber gasket. The kero in the tank was up to about 2" from the top lip. I took a turkey baster and got most of the kero out. I then put it back together, and slowly put the kero back until the pump fired up. I let it run until it stopped, and took it apart again. Again the kero was up to about 2" below the lip - no obvious problems. The only thing that I can see that might be causing the seepage was that there seemed to be kero splashed up from the pump, on the sidewalls and the underside of the deck. Perhaps after 10 years this splashing managed to seep thru the deck rubber gasket? If the problem persists, I may consider sealing the deck to the tank with a silicone liquid type gasket.

[hawkins111]

fuel soaked rubber

Doug,

Some rubber gaskets that are continuously wetted with fuel oil will get very soft and swell. If this is the case the gasket is unserviceable. A new gasket from your dealer might fix it for not much. If you try to use silicon sealer, make sure you let it dry thoroughly before subjecting it to fuel oil. Once dry, silicon is good stuff but it does not do well when wet.

Thanks for staying with the problem.

Tom

[denish]

any resolution

I recently bought a house with 3 toyo stoves and 2 lifter pumps (1 toyo and a monitor 1103). I have no experience with them and have been noticing that there is a kero smell around the toyo with the monitor lift pump. occasional breezes and I'll notice it while sitting about 4 feet away. if I get up close the toyo has a kero odor near the fuel line though no evidence of leaks. also the lifter pump has an kero odor if I'm right up close as well. again no evidence of leak or anything. so i'm interested if this sounds normal or if any resolution was found to the OP's issue. thanks -denis