oil burner shuts off

joe_130

I have an oil burner that keeps shutting off.  Im not an oil tech but I changed the filter and bled it at the burner.  Its ok for a couple of days but then i have to reset it again. Could there be air in the lines?  Any tips?

Jean-David Beyer

I am not a heating professional.

I had a problem like that once when I had an oil-fired boiler.



The problem was the fuel pump. It is a gear pump, like the oil pump in an automobile.



There are two gears in a chamber and oil comes in on one side and goes out on the other. There is a little spring operated relief valve that is used to maintain the pressure.



The problem was that the gears started to wear between their sides and the sides of the chamber, so the pump would pump pretty well, but when it stopped firing, the oil would start to drain back to the tank, admitting air. If the boiler went to fire again soon enough, it would just cough a little and keep going. But if it stopped long enough, there was so much air that the controller would time out before detecting flame.



In that case, replacing the fuel pump did the trick.



Other ways for air to get in are poor connections between the fuel pump and the burner, leaky gasket in the fuel filter, and things like that.

Unknown

JD is always trying to be helpful,,,

so to add to what he says,  it could be cracked electrodes, faulty CAD cell(or sighting position), improper electrode settings, intermittent transformer high-voltage-drop, bad pump coupling, screwy nozzle,,,,, even lack of burner combustion-air.



I`ve also seen burners lock-out because the packing-nut on the tank valve admitted air, and since you had to disturb-it to change the cartridge,, it could be.