Oil burner not igniting

JoeSelv

Hi, recently I've been having issues with my oil burner not igniting. Initially I had an R7184A unit that went into a lockout state and wouldn't recover after hitting the reset button. The first thing I tried was replacing the transformer since I had a technician come over and he indicated that the strength of it was weak, but wanted to replace the entire oil burner unit which was too expensive. Continued to have the issue after replacing the transformer, so I replaced the primary control with an R7284U1004. After completing setup, it stays in standby mode and never proceeds to call for heat, but doesn't go into lockout. I noticed that it was reading that the cad cell as being 999999 ohms which obviously wasn't correct. From what I've read online and based on the manual, I replaced the cad cell and it still has the same issue. I had a friend use a multimeter to check the older one and it seems that one was actually working fine in the first place. So at this point, I guess the next best step would be figuring out what can cause the unit to read the cad cell as being that value other than replacing the lead and cell itself. Any help or any other suggestions as to what may be going wrong would be really appreciated.

Jamie Hall

Step One. Do NOT press the reset button
Step Two. Get an oil burner technician out there who knows what he or she is doing to find the problem.

That is, unless you are -- or consider yourself -- qualified to diagnose and correct oil burner ignition and wiring problems. Oil burners -- even little ones -- are most assuredly NOT in the do it yourself or let's try this category.

Jon_blaney

Check the thermostat. Change the batteries then check the connections at the burner. Are they in the right place. You have changed a lot of wiring. I think that is the place to look. Also, if you are going to do this stuff, you need to get the tools.

EdTheHeaterMan

I am sorry to be so blunt... But by your original statement, I can tell that you are not qualified to make the next repair. So far you threw 3 parts at the problem and you have are nowhere close to the solution. The original primary control has a hard lockout feature to prevent persons in your situation from making a hazardous mistake. The being hitting the reset button more than 3 times. By doing so you may have loaded 45 Seconds of "running time oil" into the combustion chamber. That oil did not burn. So when a professional comes to get the burner started, all that excess oil will need to burn off.

Consider this. If your burner was equipped with the old style Primary control (Not equipped with Hard Lockout) You would have reset it more than three times... and each unsuccessfully try would have loaded more unburned oil into the chamber for 45 seconds. So after 10 or so tries, you would have given up and finally called a Pro. You would have said that you only pushed the reset once, If he was a rookie (as once was I) he would have believed you and got the problem solved, and fired up your burner. There would be over 7 minutes of run time unburned oil in your combustion chamber.

Now consider this. How much time should it take to burn 7 minutes of runtime oil? 7 minutes right? But you have all that oil in the Chamber already and it all wants to ignite at once. Think about that for a minute. while you call the fire department and EMT to help put out the fire and get the rookie technician to the burn center!

I know from experience. My little brother believed the customer was telling the truth when this happened to him. Heaven forbids, you look like you don't know what you were doing. "I only hit the reset once" is a very common Almost Famous Quote in the Oil Burner Repair industry. You are the reason the Primary controls were redesigned fo 15 seconds with a maximum if 3 trys before "HARD LOCKOUT"

The manufacturers are trying to make things Idiot Proof. The problem is.. someone is making better idiots"

BTW I know why the new primary control is not working and probably know the reason you needed to reset it in the first place. After you get about 2 years of doing maintenance on oil burners, come back and ask the same question and i will tell you how to fix the problem.

Sorry for the rant on reset buttons. It is just not a good idea to mess with fire inside your home. If you are really cold and can't afford a professional, Just build a small fire on the couch in the living room. That will warm you up fairly quickly with a similar outcome and the service tech will not need the EMT You will!

cutter

I had the same problem you have only I did not change any component's in the gun. I learned on here do not press the reset button. My oil burner had not been fired in over 10 years. I cleaned electrodes and set them correctly. Turned on switch and the pump and fan ran, but would not fire. The control may have shut down the pump and blower fan. I tried it one more time and same thing. Now 2 years later a burner man told me that a nozzle that has not had oil going through it regularly would clog up, another burner man told me that nozzle should be changed regularly. So a new nozzle was put in the gun was blown out with compressed air. Oil was turned on switch was turned on and nothing happened. The blower fan would not run, and I believe that also runs the pump. I checked for power in the control at the burner terminals and had no power. I checked for power coming into the controls and there was power. Then I said I wonder what will happen if I press the reset button. With the power off to the control I pressed the reset, then flipped the switch to turn on the boiler. The burner sounded just like I started my car, maybe a little louder, but sure sounded good. Change nozzle and make sure electrodes are set correctly.

LS123

@JoeSelv ... please do not make any attempts to fire up it.... with all due respect to you , I totally agree with @Jamie Hall and @EdTheHeaterMan ... just 45 seconds of oil in the chamber itself can have a enough fuel to blow up in side... it sounds like you must have lots of oil waiting to catch fire at once.... it has no place to go all at once.. only some ignited fuel will go out of the chimney... rest of the ignited fuel will cause serious damage to property and serious harm to anyone around... Please find a Pro ( there is a find a contractor section on this site.) Make sure you INFORM the tech what you have done and especially tell him / her how many times you press the reset button... and give him / her heads up of what we all mentioned... that there is a lot of fuel in the chamber ... I would contact the admin of the site and ask her to close this discussion so nobody will try to give you any suggestions on how to fix your burner issue. Contact a Pro...
best!

Steamhead

What @LS123 , @EdTheHeaterMan and @Jamie Hall said. This is NOT a DIY job. Where are you located, @JoeSelv ?

cutter

LS123 said:

@JoeSelv ... please do not make any attempts to fire up it.... with all due respect to you , I totally agree with @Jamie Hall and @EdTheHeaterMan ... just 45 seconds of oil in the chamber itself can have a enough fuel to blow up in side... it sounds like you must have lots of oil waiting to catch fire at once.... it has no place to go all at once.. only some ignited fuel will go out of the chimney... rest of the ignited fuel will cause serious damage to property and serious harm to anyone around... Please find a Pro ( there is a find a contractor section on this site.) Make sure you INFORM the tech what you have done and especially tell him / her how many times you press the reset button... and give him / her heads up of what we all mentioned... that there is a lot of fuel in the chamber ... I would contact the admin of the site and ask her to close this discussion so nobody will try to give you any suggestions on how to fix your burner issue. Contact a Pro...
best!

A pro told me how to fire up my boiler. with a little common sense it worked. I just did not have recent fuel in the fire box. I could not have had recent fuel in the fire box because the nozzle was plugged so no oil could be sprayed through it.

LS123

@JoeSelv , even if you have to put a new burner install by a pro... that money is totally worth it than what you would have to deal with such magnitude of explosion, harm to yourself or others... property damage.. possible law suits etc... agree with @Steamhead

LS123

@cutter .. this is what you mentioned above... " I learned on here do not press the reset button. My oil burner had not been fired in over 10 years. " @JoeSelv situation is much different than yours and it is a dangerous situation ... I know you are trying to help @JoeSelv ... trust me @Jamie Hall , @Steamhead @EdTheHeaterMan knows what they are talking about and they have probably combined over 100 years of experience in dealing with heating systems... Its ok to say to someone, that not to do things that is dangerous.... we are all here to help....

cutter

LS123 said:

@cutter .. this is what you mentioned above... " I learned on here do not press the reset button. My oil burner had not been fired in over 10 years. " @JoeSelv situation is much different than yours and it is a dangerous situation ... I know you are trying to help @JoeSelv ... trust me @Jamie Hall , @Steamhead @EdTheHeaterMan knows what they are talking about and they have probably combined over 100 years of experience in dealing with heating systems... Its ok to say to someone, that not to do things that is dangerous.... we are all here to help....

The three people you mentioned above are pro's, no doubt about that. I just gave joe a suggestion. If he checks the fire box and finds it dry. Which he should if the nozzle is plugged. And if he makes sure the control has power to the burner. But that would be hard without the switch on to fire the boiler. He could remove the black wire from the burner terminal. Without wet oil in the fire box I would think all that could happen would be that the boiler would not fire again just like in the past. In my case here there are very few oil guys. Most residential is natural gas. I was told oil is cheaper in the north east U.S. The oil guy I wanted was going in for hip surgery and would be laid up till February. I was going on a trip so he gave me advise. the trip got cancelled because of Covid 19. I ran the boiler for two days with no problem. I am back on wood so I do not need the oil. Oil here is around $2.30 a gallon and I would burn around 850 gallons a year.

EdTheHeaterMan

cutter said:

The three people you mentioned above are pro's, no doubt about that. I just gave joe a suggestion. If he checks the fire box and finds it dry. Which he should if the nozzle is plugged. And if he makes sure the control has power to the burner. But that would be hard without the switch on to fire the boiler. He could remove the black wire from the burner terminal. Without wet oil in the fire box I would think all that could happen would be that the boiler would not fire again just like in the past. In my case here there are very few oil guys. Most residential is natural gas. I was told oil is cheaper in the north east U.S. The oil guy I wanted was going in for hip surgery and would be laid up till February. I was going on a trip so he gave me advise. the trip got cancelled because of Covid 19. I ran the boiler for two days with no problem. I am back on wood so I do not need the oil. Oil here is around $2.30 a gallon and I would burn around 850 gallons a year.

Know your audience

By the description given of the situation, the OP has indicated his inability to understand the seriousness of his lack of understanding of the problem. You may be giving the OP more credit than deserved. How can you be sure that the combustion chamber is accessible, or it the OP is able to determine how saturated the chamber is.

I sometimes take my cue from the other comments by the more experienced on this site.
@Jamie Hall does not do service calls for the public but has experience in many other areas and I value his input. And Jamie has more experience on this website with over 14,000 comments. @LS123 with much less experience on this site has good advice. What I have read of his comments are sound. He speaks from experience with caution on hazardous situations like this. Your experience is from DYI on your own system. My experience is from dealing with thousands of customers over decades of time. I had my customers' best interest at heart over all those years and I was paid a fair price for my knowledge and experience.

In the future, You may want to think about who you pass on your advice to, I believe you are trying to do the right thing (as we all are), but I am sure you would feel horrible if you found that someone was hurt or substantial property was damaged because you tried to do someone a favor. Some are not as smart as you are, and may misunderstand or misinterpret your comment, and do something that is obviously wrong for us... but unknown to them.

Respectfully submitted,
Mr.Ed

JoeSelv

I do just want to clarify quickly that while I am new to this, one of the first things I did was do my research online and one of the first pieces of advice mentioned was about not hitting the reset button multiple times so I am not in any serious danger. I mentioned it simply because I thought I should provide as many things that I've tried as possible. Next I only did repairs that were relatively simple and had some help from friends who are more experienced than me. If it was anything too complicated I would've resorted to the technician anyways. I appreciate everyone's assistance and suggestions for my safety. I will be contacting a professional to fix it soon enough. Thanks again.

EdTheHeaterMan

Good call Joe. Keep the original primary control. I believe it is still good, An experienced pro can get it out of Hard Lockout. The experienced Pro will check that you are getting oil flow from the pump to the nozzle and also check the nozzle (or replace it) to see if there is a proper spray pattern and not plugged or partially blocked. fina;y the pro will check the ignition system for a good spark, and the insulators are clean, not cracked, and adjusted properly. Finally, the pro will check for proper combustion air adjustment with test instruments.

Once that is done, you should have no more trouble.


Respectfully submitted,
Mr.Ed

MaxMercy

cutter said:

The three people you mentioned above are pro's, no doubt about that.

They certainly are pros and I am not, but the original post has a glaring hint about why the burner won't start, and it's not a nozzle issue..

EdTheHeaterMan

MaxMercy said:

cutter said:

The three people you mentioned above are pro's, no doubt about that.

They certainly are pros and I am not, but the original post has a glaring hint about why the burner won't start, and it's not a nozzle issue..

Plug nozzle is one cause, partially plugged too. Another is no oil pressure to the nozzle because of a clogged filter or strainer. The oil burner coupling could be slipping, The electrodes could be carboned up or cracked insulators could be an issue. I could go on and on.

I know what the glaring issues is regarding the new control. It’s a wiring thing designed to keep the un knowing from doing something unsafe. If I tell you the “top secret,” I'll have to Kill you.



Yours truly,
Mr.Ed

PS if you look at a previous discussion from many years ago, I have a wiring diagram with the answer. CLUE... There are 1000 posts to look thru. It was before I hit 1000 comments

MaxMercy

EdTheHeaterMan said:

I know what the glaring issues is regarding the new control.

So do I, I just didn't want to be a cad and reveal it...

EdTheHeaterMan said:

If I tell you the “top secret,” I'll have to Kill you.

At least my unfortunate demise won't be on your conscience!!

LS123

@EdTheHeaterMan , @MaxMercy could one of you be able to send me a note to @ls123 what might be the problem and what might be the solution... I dont have a fancy burner... mine is carline / brakkett CDR 100... and its nicely creating steam for me ... thank you

EdTheHeaterMan

@LS123 come on. You can find it in my old post. Don’t you like scavenger hunts?

LS123

@EdTheHeaterMan ... well it seems like a project for me this weekend ....