Process for repairing a furnace using an oxygen-fired auxiliary burner

A method is claimed for producing a looped flame in a glass furnace incorporating in its back part a fusion zone for glass, heated by means of at least a first burner with a fuel and a combustion agent comprising in excess of 50 % by volume of oxygen, and in its leading part a refining zone. In this method a stoichiometric coefficient Ks for the flame in a zone of the furnace is defined as: Ks = real volume injected into the zone/stoichiometric volume of oxygen. The injection of fuel and combustion agent into at least a first burner is regulated to obtain a value for the coefficient Ks of at most equal to 0.8 in that zone. A mixture of fuel and combustion agent is injected into the refining zone to obtain a stoichiometric coefficient Ks greater than that in the fusion zone and with a value of between 0.8 and 1.5. The combustion agent alone is injected into the fusion zone, situated close to the fume evacuation zone, to obtain a quantity of oxygen in the fumes of between 0.5 and 3 % by volume. L'invention concerne des fours de verre notamment des fours boucles à récupérateurs dans lesquels la réparation du récupérateur nécessite pour le maintien de la production à un volume acceptable l'utilisation de brûleurs à l'oxygène pendant la réparation du récupérateur.