NBR - Oil Burner Issue

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Gerry Heimann

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exMember
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
RO Number
3229
Messages
247
Despite a very recent tune up and nozzle replacement, my oil burner occasionally needs to be reset to fire on. It will work properly for a week or two but upon lowering the stat for the evening on occasion (last night for example!), we will wake to temps well below the setting. At which point, I reset and all is well until the next time.
 
No burner expert and I have a gas burner!
But reasons it will shutdown are usualy safety related.
No flame within certain time amount.
Electric flue damper not opening.
No water flow.

Not sure I would keep resetting it, obviously something wrong and expert needed.

My low voltage thermostat sometimes needs to be reset and I have had issues with my electric flue sticking and not opening.
 
only partially related, my gas clothes dryer has been acting up and shutting down before a full cycle. Got her partially torn down to watch what's happening. Just waiting for someone to do the emergency shut down (open the door) when I got my head down looking up the thermostat function.
 
Are you saying the burner stops firing and when you press the red button (reset) at the burner it fires up and you have heat for a week or two?
Hot water or hot air heat?
 
The reasons for shutdown are similiar. They are usually safety related.
No flame.
No flue.

Those are common to oil and gas burners.
 
Dave I could be wrong, but I think Oil has no flame , hence the "ignitor" , my understanding is when the burner kicks on, the oil mist is ignited, when the burner is dormant, no flame, unlike gas. Also, not sure of the Flue thing you mention. With Oil since there is no flame there is no "electrically controlled damper"
 
Had the same problem with mine a few years back. Tried everything. It was sludge from the bottom of the then 40 year old tank. Tried having it vacuumed, and that worked for a few months, then back to the same problem.
Changed the tank, and the problems went away.
 
Walter, yes, we hit the reset and it fires off and works fine for a few weeks. Tank has been at least half all the time. The mechanic replaced the igniter assembly. Let's see if that does the trick. Hope so. We came back from Marco a couple weeks ago and found the place to be 43 degrees. Wore a lot of close to bed that night! Hot water heat.
 
Assume you have more than one zone of heat, with that said we can rule out the thermostats, and zone valves. Key here is too look at the temperature gauge on the burner, look at the temp when working and when you have no heat. Lower temp confirms boiler problem.

Go to Home depot and replace this item

 
Gerry,
The pecking order with this stuff is as follows:
Thermostat first:
With no heat, remove the Thermostat, short the two wires together , if heat kick on, this is your problem.
If that did not work, reconnect the wires put the therm all the way up, then go down to the burner and manually move the valves to force water through the valves, if after you did that and the burner kick on after three or so minutes, you have a bad valve. Again, if you have more than one zone of heat, and all zones are not producing heat, it is not a valve. Temp on the boiler is key as mentioned!

Assuming ignitor is good , all that is left is that unit i referenced above.
 
Be certain the Cad Cell Eye is clean and plugged in correctly. It may not be sensing "light" correctly
If your nozzle is producing an inconsistent flame (spraying off to one side), the "eye" may not be sensing it correctly.
 
Guys, thanks for all of this information. I figured correctly that, as usual, this group has plenty to share on most any topic!
 
I've owned an oil company. First check to see if the filter is clean. any disruption will cause a lock out. Second could be an air leak at the filter. Check to make sure that the gasket on top is set properly.

If you press the red button and get flame then the thermostat is good, don't touch.

Dirty cad cell could also be the problem.

tom
 
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