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Oil Furnace locking out

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  • Lance
    Lance Member Posts: 270
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    Hi I'm the tech, presumably last on this job. I enjoyed reading all the comments. It gave me a new perspective on comments between those who did not work the job to those who do.
    Main problem was locking out now and then. Problem solved.
    Additional problem was soot accumulation, this too was resolved. Loose 24V wires found. Too small a wire gauge, but connections remade. The problem in any job is to do it as cheaply as possible as best as possible. Often these two goals are opposed and compromises are sacrificed or made. While more could have been done, I did not want to chase a rabbit down the hole of "That's not it". Nor did a parts changeout seem valued. So one step at a time, still verifying safety and adding the tincture of time to test the results. Yeah combustion test results not good at first, but a compromise was met with conditions at hand. Later another test with adjustments brought somewhat better results. But to achieve more; more would have to be spent. And while no great owner wants to say no to improvements, they have to manage the budget & I respect that. Anyway that's what warnings are for. A better time can always be found to fix, fine tune, as long as it gets us through the heat season. Anyway the customer and his tenants are happy, and while I am also, I am thinking of the other things that can be done, like adding an oil filter, removing and doing a through reco0ndition of the burner. Or as a building owner might say, "to manage it best I will just replace the whole thing when the time is right." PS: The client asked us for a service agreement. Which reminds me I better send it over post haste!
    To all who regularly respond to those in need, remember we will never know what we don't know! Detection and Diagnosis is much an art as it is a science. Customers are not to blame unless they are wrong. But we and they know they can be wronged by the best and worst of us. Trust is built and earned & until then we all have our doubts.
    EdTheHeaterMan
  • oilbox23
    oilbox23 Member Posts: 31
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    Thanks Lance for chiming in. You guys did a fair amount of work on it and for the most part its been running well. However the unit did lock out once since the last time you were out there. Tenants were able to reset it which is good but I did find out they have the heat set to 80 24/7 which I imagine would just run the **** out of the old girl.
  • oilbox23
    oilbox23 Member Posts: 31
    edited December 2019
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    Me again, nearly a year later.
    Seemed to work well for the most part until this week. Locked out 3 times and I was able to reset it twice but today I couldn't get it back on. When I hit the reset button it ran, made a clunk and shut off (did this twice) and now it wont reset at all. Green light flashes 1/2 second constantly.
    I had a tech (from heating oil supply - Not Lance) out on Friday who replaced the strainer, nozzle and bled the lines but doesn't seem to have made any difference. The strainer was completely black and clogged but I don't think its ever been changed in the 10+ years I have owned the house. I had hoped that would solve the problem but not luck.
    Tech is supposed to come back out tonight but not sure where I go from here? Burner, igniter, control unit?
  • oilbox23
    oilbox23 Member Posts: 31
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    Welp if anyone cares tech came back out and found out that the valve was sticking open on the pump. They replaced the pump, control unit (new Honeywell which tells me why it locks out), ran a smoke test and draft. Cost me $531 and its been purring so far. Fingers crossed its fixed.
  • oilbox23
    oilbox23 Member Posts: 31
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    Me again, still locking out after replacing all that and the motor.
    Tech came back and replaced the motor in the hopes of solving the issue to no avail. Not sure anyone is seeing or reading this but I am not sure what is left to replace or what can be causing this? At my wits end here.
  • DZoro
    DZoro Member Posts: 1,048
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    Do you have the latest combustion numbers, Draft numbers, pump pressure?
    D
  • oilbox23
    oilbox23 Member Posts: 31
    edited December 2019
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    DZoro said:

    Do you have the latest combustion numbers, Draft numbers, pump pressure?
    D

    No. The only number I think they could even provide was draft because that was the only thing they had that measured anything. That tool looked like a meat thermometer. I don't remember what they said it was but apparently it was within spec (-2 maybe IIRC?).

    I will ask them to today to provide all of that when they are back onsite.

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