Sir you are a life saver ..my family and i will thank you for ever no teacher could show someone with absolutely no knowledge of this the way you do it..thanks to you our hero from my family ..now we are nice and warm thanks to your selflessness kindness to post this video
Glad to see you're still answering these older ones. Used this video and a couple others to keep from freezing the last few years. Had several trips from a professional last winter and my furnace starts more often than not when I flip the breaker but sometimes it doesn't and after about 4-5 seconds I turn it off. If it starts on the next throw it burns a couple seconds then it starts to rumble and roar as if i had a whole lot of oil in there. Already spent over $850 with trips and parts I'm not sure it needed. It never did this before. Spent the rest of the winter in the 40s and 50s turning it on by hand and running it about 45 minutes and used only a quarter tank ( 250 tank I think). Debated on new unit but already spent that. Saw your video on the gun peeing. Hate to think it may have been doing this since spring. I have opened the little door since then a couple times but don't smell a lot of oil. THANK YOU FOR HELPING YOUR READERS !
I'm so happy I stumbled upon this video. I followed your directions and figured out my problem...My problem was with my Carlin 41000 electronic ignitor attached to a Beckett AFG oil burner. I found a place that had it in stock locally for under $40. It took approximately 10 minutes and I was up and running again. A million thanks for sharing your knowledge.
I love how you logically stepped through the troubleshooting steps. I had already been through the first half without success. After looking at the electrodes I saw they were too far apart and behind the face of the nozzle. After a little adjustment, it fired up right away. You even showed how there can be some initial smoke. This warning prevented me from going into panic mode. THANKS!!!♥♥♥
-10 in Vermont right now and I got home at 11pm to a cold wife and kids. I was freaking out and getting ready to spend lots of $$$$ and then I saw this and gave it a whirl !!! THANK YOU SO MUCH! Not only is it running great after a good clean but my house is warm. Your an awesome dude and I thank you man.
Thank you so much. All I did was replace the nozzle and cleaned with some sand paper. Fired up. I do most everything myself and this was one thing I usually paid someone, but now I'll never pay labor for anything again! Wish I could pay you for this video series. Thanks
Thanks a million for this video! I was able to open it up and clean the entire igniter unit! I told my furnace guy I had a fault and I think it needed cleaning. They said if it was a fault it was a service not a cleaning. Service $140 just to show up and I’m not certain I would have not “needed parts” then it was going to be $200 for a cleaning. I had the whole operation opened and shut in 30 minutes. Fired instantly! And consistently! Thanks again I really appreciate you taking the time to make this. You made people’s lives better!!
I would like to say Thank You! I just finished successfully doing pretty much everything in this video and I have a working furnace again. Not only that, I know my furnace much better now. Needless to say, it would have cost me a lot of money to have someone come out and diagnose/fix the issue. Thank you again!
Thanks to your in-depth look at oil furnaces you saved me a hefty service fee and got out house nice and toasty this chilly November day. I also now know all the inner workings of my furnace. All the best.
Adding my thanks to the long list of grateful commenters here. I had learned how to change the filter, strainer, nozzle and electrodes at the beginning of the heating season and it had been working fine. Woke up to a cold house this morning, pushed the reset twice with no luck. Found your video series and figured I may as well watch it while I waited for a call back from the service company, not noted for prompt customer service which is why I had learned to do my own maintenance. Took out the electrodes and they were a tiny bit off, reset them and reinstalled. Hit the button again and voila it started right up. Took me 3 hours to work thru everything and still no call back.. The only problem was that my furnace doesn't have a little door to tell if I have a spark so I don't know how to tell if I have fire. Thank you for posting your videos and helping me stay warm!
Thank you so much for these excellent troubleshooting videos. You explain everything so well, it made the diagnostics very easy. I narrowed down my issue to a clogged spray nozzle, probably caused by a lack of an oil filter in my system. I cleaned it out with some compressed air and it fired up!
I wanted to thank you....you saved my wife and my Dog a very cold night on 15 Dec 2013.....i got it to fire up for the night....wanted to let you know your work and teaching were well worth it to me!!! Thanks GFM from a fellow Gray haired guy!!
Nick Chubb deuterium accelerator on 120/240v open why delta 3 phase super heats water for church dishwasher at 210 deg and is on 225 amp 208v phase fusion reactor!
Thank you for this video! 11:15pm at night I hopelessly looked for a video on my boiler and came across this one. Took it apart looked everything over and cleaned anything I saw. Put it all back. Fired it up and works great!
I can't thank you enough, brother... Sitting here in NJ as a foot of snow is beginning to fall, and I notice it getting colder and colder in my house! No panic. A simple cleaning of the gun did the trick! You absolutely saved the day here for me (plus, my wife thinks I am super cool, and can fix anything). Thanks for taking the time to post this stuff! I can't emphasize enough, though, not to push that button too many times! Ask me how I know that one...
Watched a few of these before I got someone who REALLY knew the likely problem and the "I really am trying to help" tutorial, thanks this helped a million
You're the man. This video was so helpful, I had crude up in there and now we're back again! Very clutch for February in Mass. Thumbs up on this video, you made it super clear and my wife is still proud of me for being handy man of the house.
I cant thank you enough. there are hundreds of videos out there. yours are hands down the best. I fixed my non firing issue with ease after your detailed video and saved hundreds. THANK YOU
Thank you so much for posting these videos. As a first time home owner I appreciate having access to knowledge such as this to repair and maintain my house. I am a master Automotive and Truck technician, but I get lost quickly when I am working on things without at least 4 wheels. :) Videos like this help me to adapt my knowledge of automotive systems to home systems so I can fix them. Thanks again!
Great videos! My mom's furnace stopped running. Had to learn about Beckett burners online. Finally found your videos and it made my life so much easier and didnt blow up her house with me in it. Checked everything electrical and checked out ok. Then pulled the gun and it was gummed up very bad. Replaced the nozzle ($5) and it fired and was ok until yesterday. When I was replacing the nozzle, I noticed the electrode tips were at 1/4" apart. At that time I had not watched your video on setting the gap. Now I have to pull the gun again today and do that. Thanks for doing these videos. They are some of the DYI I have seen, period!
Sir although this is 4 years old THANK YOU. These videos just saved me money and im definitely more familiar with the furnace components and its processes! Furnace was down for 2 weeks...just got it working!
Its 830pm and 42 degrees out .....This video just saved me.....The parts that spark in the furnace were filthy. Cleaned and fired right up! Followed to a "T" testing each piece and found the issue. Thank You for great video!
I can't thank you enough this is the one that got me through and I got my furnace working again thank you so very much, pay attention people he knows what he's talking about
Thanks so much for the time you spent making these videos. An hour of watching videos and ten minutes fixing. (Besides the time to run to the supply house for a new transformer and Lowe’s for a couple extra fire extinguishers just Incase) much appreciated.
Thank you! I followed your directions and was able to restart my furnace, 1st try. I didn't see anything wrong, it had spark, the motor spun freely, tank ha plenty of oil, but I bled the fuel line just in case and bam! Started right up! Thanks again! 2nd time you've saved me from paying for a $100 service call.
Went to start my Williamson furnace this morning. Nothing! Hit the reset button once...nothing! Watched your video and was prepared to give it a go. Turned the thermostat back to Heat mode and it fired up!!! I had hit the reset button after I had set the thermostat to off. doh! Very good info and definitely will bookmark this video! Thank You!
Merry Christmas! Came home from working nightshift to a tripped heater safety. Help of your video and an hour of my time got it back up and running! Thanks for saving Christmas!
Thank you . This gave me enough info to troubleshoot and fix my oil burner heater . Dirty electrodes and the injector was caked up with oil residue. Nothing a wire wheel didn't fix.
Thank you for taking the time to make these video. I watched the 3 part series. Ended up having gunk build up on the gun assembly. Now my boiler is working like a charm.
Just fixed my furnace following your guide. Fantastic information. Dirty igniters and the remnants of some unfortunate critter in front of the nozzle. Thanks you very much for a very helpful video guide Sir! And right before a nor'easter tonight. You saved the day.
Whoa, glad I watched this video before I tried to fire my boiler after hitting the button an indeterminate number of times. I picked up the kit for the combustion chamber, about $200 and spent a few hours replacing that. Looked like it needed replacing anyway so no big deal. My basement filled up with smoke from about 5 buttons pushes while I was troubleshooting after the combustion chamber replacement but it cleared out after a few minutes. Thanks so much for making this series of videos.
This was actually very good as far as instruction is concerned im just starting out in this industry as far as the technical field ive been in a delivery truck for a while now just got my oil apprentice license and going to school end of next month for propane tank set and piping thank you
Just wanted to thank you for taking time to make a vid. The electrode test was key, and then letting me realize I hadn’t done the maintenance to the adjustments at the nozzle in longer than I thought…was wondering why it took a bit to ignite and then cut to red light occasionally. 🤤 All good for now, just have to swap out the aquastat in the am so I can get the thermostat and un-rig the circulator :/ Anyway, nice quick info, thnx !
I just wanted to say how grateful I am to you for making this!!!! The systematic troubleshooting steps were awesome. I work in technology where I have to troubleshoot every day. I was so happy to see this video. I live in nh it was so cold yesterday but even colder last night and today it's fixed thanks to you. I had fuel but no spark. I often love when I don't have a easy time with a particular issue at work. Most issues I have to follow all the way to the end. I am thankful in this case I only had to troubleshoot to the ignitor module and they had it at Home Depot!!! I also through this experience realized how to perform cleaning maintenance to the unit. Thank you again so much for taking the time to make this series!!!!! I hope you have a awesome day!!! John K from stoddard NH. Currently -5 without the windchill but 67 degrees in the house!!!!
Your videos are very well done . Easy to follow , pause n work along with . Or just watch n go . I had some knowledge but you've helped me confirm things I may have only been 75% on so thankyou very much . Working now on my neighbor furnace I think he pushed the button a few times . Fingers crossed . It gets fuel but doesn't light . Hopeful we fix it.. cheers to you sir . Thanks again
You're awesome! Thank you so much for these videos. You made the diagnostic and repair very easy. Testing the ignitor for spark is a bit unnerving....thanks again!
I have an old furnace that runs on Kerosene ( my tank is outside ) due to the cold up here in Upstate NY, and my furnace has been sporadic in firing the past month or so. I followed your video and was able to fix it myself. It was the electrodes on the gun that the tips were melted back creating a huge gap. I replaced them as it fired right up. Thank you very much!
Thank you for this video. We had the same problem and we we did exactly as you said and got us going when needed most with temperatures below freezing. Very much appreciate this. May God Bless you!!!
I enjoyed this and it help mefix my oil furnace. The gun was gunked up with black tar, the previous owner who we bought the house never replaced or cleaned it
Thank you very much ! I just finished fixing my heat myself . I watched a couple of your videos after replacing a filter . I turned the power back on and hit the reset button ,burner would not fire . I took the igniter out I had a spare jet laying around from a earlier repair . Sanded the electrodes a little and the points . Reinstalled everything and PRAYED I hadn't hit the reset button to many times . The heat is back on and working . Great how to video !
Great video, woke this AM to a non-firing burner, watched your video, removed the gun and just needed to clean off the end and furnace fired right up.....little flammage coming out the peep hole but I had extinguisher in hand just in case. Thanks again.
Thanks for the videos. I started with fuel that had some weird hard particulates that got past the filter and clogged the jet, to a replacement jet with a bad thread that didn't tighten down and dumped some raw fuel into the combustion chamber, to an ignitor with a hell-hot spark, but just stopped igniting after 2 or 3 cycles. Anyway, I guess I'm on to the next videos about adjusting the spark gap and checking the spark rods:) **Warning for other newbies** He's not kidding about extra fuel in the chamber - when mine finally lit, it shook, roared, blew open the inspection port and shot out two feet of flame. Even after I shut it down, there was still flame in the chamber for about a minute.
N Ferraro how many times did you pressed the reset button? How did you get it fixed or did it went to normal after burning the oil that the chamber had?
@@mra9273 Three times, but I think the messed up thread on the jet kept me from tightening it all the way and it dumped some raw fuel when it shut down and right before it re-lit. That, or I pressed it 20 times and forgot about it, because it looked like a jet afterburner coming out of the inspection port.
Thank you very much for making these videos and sharing them with us. I have fixed my furnace and it works great now, thanks to you! Your videos are excellent and very helpful. Peace!
VERY informative. Thank you for explaining things in a way for the novice (me) to understand. I can do mechanical work, I've never had to do burners. Thanks again.
Thought I ran out of oil or something. Took the electrodes out, and sure enough, the spacing is almost a quarter inch apart and the tips are burnt away. Adjusted the tips and started burning again. Thanks a lot!
Fog brings back bad memories, cust. pushed the reset , god only knows how many times. Could not remove chamber, lit the chamber with with flaming paper, but first got my fire extinguisher, burned for at least 6 hours, no damages, just time , glad the cust. had widows that opened until the chimney heated to exhaust the odors and smoke. Your thumb nut piece, good advice
Thanks to this and another of your videos (and another guy's, too) I was able to overcome a failed control unit to get the furnace running enough for the long July 4 weekend. New controller being installed Tuesday. Thanks so much for the help!
Farrah Fawcetts beckett oil burner fuses 2 protons form hydrogen into carbon and super heats water into a steam Hotsey steamcleaner making nitrogen and gamma rays! she runs on on 208v single phase 60 hz 32 amp singles phase, Bradley Chubb upgraded to 460v 3 phase 60hz for more fusion Iron Fireman proton accelerator and totally eliminate #2 fuel oil?
We just had the coldest day of the year and our furnace gave out. Every local HVAC shop was busy and couldn't get to us until tomorrow. Luckily I found your videos and was able to fix it myself. Thank you very much!!
Oh my God you are so right. I'm a general contractor but I also own a bunch of multi families in Massachusetts. The problem is people know you can press that red button and it does something and they have no clue what it does. Years ago I had a tenant. That pressed the buttons so many times there was a half a gallon of oil leaking out of the chamber. They had their kid keep pressing the button for almost two hours they thought if it just made noise would heat up the house.😊 Needless to say all my rental properties I open up the aquastat and remove the button. So that way tenants can't press it. So that way only me or a boiler guy knows you can pull the cover off and he can still press it without that button there.
I'll admit my ignorance with these things I know absolutely nothing about them in mind stopped working luckily I had a neighbor that you were only supposed to attempt at one or two times and then troubleshoot
thank you for your wisdom, I am a tech and love the wisdom of.the masters. the small things make a big difference. i.e. loosening both sides of the line.
grayfurnaceman - First, thanks for taking your time to instruct others on fixing our furnaces. Some people need help because they may not financially be able, and others, just getting someone to come out after a cold spell like we're experiencing on the East Coast now, we can't wait days for an appointment. And in others, you just can't trust your service techs. 3 years ago, I had 6 service calls in one week, only because the techs my oil provider was sending was just replacing all parts hoping to fix the problem. We finally went to their office and complained, and after the 3rd call, I was teaching their techs, and the final guy did what I learned online and fixed the problem. We had no problems in those 3 years.Well, last night I awoke to 60 degrees, and knew there was a problem. I went down into my crawl space and opened the front of the furnace. First thing I see is LOTS of soot. I'm guessing there was a blow back or something. I reset the tripped button, but nothing happened. I have a Beckett assembly, and I know from my last encounter, the igniter was bad and my problem then. I tested for spark as you show in a few videos. None. I went to a HVAC supply house, and bought the 51771U. I came home and replaced the unit, except I still don't have spark. I have plenty of fuel. I tested the motor by spinning the cage, and it had proper resistance, but not too tight. The CAD cell is clean, and was clean when I flipped up the housing. I thought maybe soot got on it, but all looks clean. Is there some advice or a video I'm missing to troubleshoot from here?
The soot could be from a partially plugged nozzle or the wrong adjustment of primary air. At this point, you need to deal with the soot. The heat exchanger is probably plugged and probably the smoke pipe and chimney. Big time cleaning job. Once that is done, you will have to address the failure if there is one. Let me know how you do. GFM
I wish you weren't retired, and lived in Delaware.... LOL You seem like a guy I can hand a blank check to and never worry.I assumed the soot came from when it did spark and had a big POOF. I did let it run a bit longer, but as you advised, to not let it shoot the vaporized fuel too long, but still nothing. My wife finally called a new company today for fear I was going to get blown up. Still waiting for them to show up. Baking pies to keep some heat in the house. Great time for family from Florida to visit. Thanks again. You're the best. I'll post what this guy comes up with.
This may the strong video to bring this up, here goes. Beckett nozzle lines, they are sometimes over tighten by the former service man, when you snug it up, oil leak city. I got I the habit of checking the flare of the line, if questionable, cheap insurance to replace. Got in the habit of watching your videos when I get home from work, being in Florida no more oil burners for me.
Thank you for the great video series. I pulled the nozzle/electrode assembly on my 1978 HBSmith to find out what size nozzle to buy for replacement and had no fire after I had cleaned some carbon off and put it back together. I didn't think I disturbed anything at all… I was able to check spark systematically, and it turned out the electrodes were ⅜" above the nozzle and that must've been too close to the spray. As soon as I set them to ½" above, it fired back up on the first try. The advice on pushing the reset button too many times can't be stressed enough, either…
Thanks a lot bro when I learn from your video today will help me a lot just to let you know my furnace is running right now we had to use backup heat last night so many things
Great video, all the right information I need. I have a 28yr old Miller oil furnace. Usually my problem is air in the lines, easy fix, this time I couldn't get it to kick off. Cycled it about 7 times, a half hour gap in between each, then gave up and called for a repair. Well the next day when the technician lit it off manually, he had a nice surprise when this dragons breath shot out of the hole. Sat him back on his butt and gave him a little startle. He told me how someone he knew had his hair and eyebrows singed getting to close to the inspection flap. Took a good 4 minutes to burn off. I've heard that noise before of built up oil in the chamber finally igniting, so I grabbed the fire extinguisher and went on standby with it. Seems now that the problem wasn't fixed so my next step is gonna be to check out the igniter myself. Thank you for the great information.
I've a Bock 32E oil fired hot water heater that has been giving me trouble periodically for the past 3-4 years after many years of trouble-free operation. The first real problem was an elevated hydrocarbon odor when the burner was operating. This was traced to the Turbo Flue being sooted up. I cleaned it out, put a new nozzle on the burner, adjusted the electrodes and it was fine for a few months until the same thing repeated. Cleaned out the Turbo Flue again, replaced another nozzle ( .75GPH 80A) and it was fine for about a year. This month, I noticed hydrocarbon odors again, so I opened up the air vent on the burner some more. The next morning, we woke to no hot water. I took apart the burner, replaced nozzle, replaced the oil filter (which was pretty clean) and cleaned the electrodes. It started up immediately when I turned the power on and it was fine for three days. Then this morning it had tripped the safety again, so I took it apart, having determined no spark. Turned out the electrodes were way out of adjustment, so I cleaned them again and adjusted to Beckett specifications. Put it all back together and it fired right up immediately when I turned the power on. However, from a cold start, it should normally run at least 15 minutes to get to cutoff temperature, but it shut down about 7-8 minutes into the heating cycle and did so with a fairly unusual "pop" sound. What's strange about this is that the safety did not pop. Nor is it apparent that the motor overload popped. It just shut down abruptly for no apparent reason and none of the safety cutoffs had tripped. Is there a third safety cutoff device that I am not aware of? I cannot get the burner to power on. I'm wondering if the controller just happened to fail in a manner that would cut power to the electrodes and the motor simultaneously. In 55 years of living with this house and various oil burners over the years, I have never heard one shut down with a loud pop and all of the safety trips are not tripped. Baffling.
My thoughts here are the controller has failed. This appears to be unrelated to the sooting problems you have described. You probably have the air too far open. You really need combustion tools to set the air. A smoke tester and draft gauge at the least. GFM
@@grayfurnaceman I made another discovery after really looking over the entire system: the Field Controls Oil Vent Damper was in the closed position. It has to be open before the burner will start. For some reason, it closed while the burner was running about 8 minutes into heating. I took the motor assembly off the flue damper and disassembled it. There's a circuit board inside and several of the traces had burned up. I repaired those with jumper wires, tested the motor itself (it works) and put it back together and reinstalled it. When I turned on the switch, the damper opened and the burner lit off nicely. Odd coincidence that the damper control failed while I was focused on problems with the burner, but I guess it was just a coincidence!
Awesome videos, learned so much. I must have mashed that button 10 times before finding this video. Gonna go try it again wish me luck booooooiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis
I found the air ports completely closed. Flame was sparkling. I moved air adjust to what appears to be marks left from the original setting. Set it there, sparkles gone and instead of the burner running for up to ten seconds at times for a flame, it seems it is firing right away. Thank you. SMV
Man I learned a lot of these digressions and tips from trial and error, wish I would have seen this video first hahaha! Great video =) I'm still working on my own, the reset on the burner area got wet from a leaking pipe and I think I might have fried or tripped something. I have power to the furnace but still doesn't do anything. Tomorrow I'll figure it out =)
great, helped me with my issue, the connection things needed moved. (i did see a tech do it when he was out for a check up too). mine are metal strips that i can just push up some.
Ive got oil hot water& heat. I just had my furnace serviced due to the lack of fire starting on the 20th. Dude took it all apart, did everything exactly as you describe in the video, put it back together and it fired right up all squeaky clean. He mentioned that it seemed i didnt have a strong spark and i saw it myself, but it started up first time and i was okay with that. On the 24th, again, no fire. Confused as all hell, i set up a space heater in my basement and went off to work without a shower. throughout the day, i was trying to think of reasons why it wouldnt light, and it dawned on me that my rigged up house has at least one outlet on the first floor on the same circuit as my furnace in the basement. That outlet had an Edenpure plugged into it, running. I came home took the Edenpure off that outlet, and hadnt had a problem with the furnace for the rest of the week. Sweet. Made sense to me that the draw on the circuit was dropping my voltage in the furnace. Till 30 minutes ago. I realized it hadnt fired up in a number of hours, and went and turned up my thermo. no response. UGH. Current thinking: Due to oil prices and inefficiency of my hot water heat, I had 2 space heaters on opposite sides of the house running all day to minimize my furnace having to run. It was a brilliant 2 degrees this morning, so i put in a third space heater elsewhere. The only possible conclusion I'm at is that with 3 space heaters churning in my house, I'm dropping the voltage in my furnace no matter what circuit breaker i'm plugged into. And i fly out to Greenland in 4 hours, and will be back in 2 weeks...... So hopefully my girlfriend can follow my instructions of having minimal space heaters running to ensure proper fire ignition.
I know it seems logical that space heaters could reduce voltage, but unless you have a seriously undersized electric panel they will not. You probably have a problem with the burner. I would call the service tech back. GFM
What if you’ve already pushed the button a bunch of times before you watch this very intelligent video. Do you need to wait a week until the fuel can evaporate or?
There are 2 ways here. If you have repaired the cause of the failure, You can start the burner and shut it down immediately. It should remain burning the oil in the chamber. This can be dangerous, as the oil will continue to burn and could get out of control. A fire extinguisher readily available is a must. For this worst case scenario to happen, you must have pressed the button over 30 times. If so, you will need to remove and replace the combustion chamber. GFM
Great video! I understand the button shouldn't pressed too many times but consider this. The furnace didn't start the first time, next you pushed the button to try to get it to start. Now you begin troubleshooting so typically you already have 2 cycles of oil in the furnace. If you are testing for spark, it's still spraying oil into the CC so now there are 3 cycles of oil. I don't really see a way around avoiding 2 or 3 cycles of oil being spraying into the CC minimum. If spark isn't the issue and you continue to troubleshoot...
In most cases, 2 to 3 cycles is not an issue. However, as a service tech, I have heard the " I only pressed it twice" then I fired it up and had a fire. What I generally do is remove the gun and nozzle and point the gun assembly into a can and start the unit. GFM
Sir you are a life saver ..my family and i will thank you for ever no teacher could show someone with absolutely no knowledge of this the way you do it..thanks to you our hero from my family ..now we are nice and warm thanks to your selflessness kindness to post this video
Glad to see you're still answering these older ones. Used this video and a couple others to keep from freezing the last few years. Had several trips from a professional last winter and my furnace starts more often than not when I flip the breaker but sometimes it doesn't and after about 4-5 seconds I turn it off. If it starts on the next throw it burns a couple seconds then it starts to rumble and roar as if i had a whole lot of oil in there. Already spent over $850 with trips and parts I'm not sure it needed. It never did this before. Spent the rest of the winter in the 40s and 50s turning it on by hand and running it about 45 minutes and used only a quarter tank ( 250 tank I think). Debated on new unit but already spent that. Saw your video on the gun peeing. Hate to think it may have been doing this since spring. I have opened the little door since then a couple times but don't smell a lot of oil. THANK YOU FOR HELPING YOUR READERS !
I'm so happy I stumbled upon this video. I followed your directions and figured out my problem...My problem was with my Carlin 41000 electronic ignitor attached to a Beckett AFG oil burner. I found a place that had it in stock locally for under $40. It took approximately 10 minutes and I was up and running again. A million thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Glad you got it going.
GFM
I love how you logically stepped through the troubleshooting steps. I had already been through the first half without success. After looking at the electrodes I saw they were too far apart and behind the face of the nozzle. After a little adjustment, it fired up right away. You even showed how there can be some initial smoke. This warning prevented me from going into panic mode. THANKS!!!♥♥♥
-10 in Vermont right now and I got home at 11pm to a cold wife and kids. I was freaking out and getting ready to spend lots of $$$$ and then I saw this and gave it a whirl !!! THANK YOU SO MUCH! Not only is it running great after a good clean but my house is warm. Your an awesome dude and I thank you man.
Its nice to be warm.
GFM
Thank you so much. All I did was replace the nozzle and cleaned with some sand paper. Fired up. I do most everything myself and this was one thing I usually paid someone, but now I'll never pay labor for anything again! Wish I could pay you for this video series. Thanks
rush4ever1 and thanks to people like you the industry is going to be shot
Thanks a million for this video!
I was able to open it up and clean the entire igniter unit! I told my furnace guy I had a fault and I think it needed cleaning. They said if it was a fault it was a service not a cleaning. Service $140 just to show up and I’m not certain I would have not “needed parts” then it was going to be $200 for a cleaning. I had the whole operation opened and shut in 30 minutes. Fired instantly! And consistently! Thanks again I really appreciate you taking the time to make this. You made people’s lives better!!
I would like to say Thank You! I just finished successfully doing pretty much everything in this video and I have a working furnace again. Not only that, I know my furnace much better now. Needless to say, it would have cost me a lot of money to have someone come out and diagnose/fix the issue.
Thank you again!
Thanks to your in-depth look at oil furnaces you saved me a hefty service fee and got out house nice and toasty this chilly November day. I also now know all the inner workings of my furnace.
All the best.
+David Jacob Harder Welcome
GFM
So I just want to say that this man page needs to be Monetized
Adding my thanks to the long list of grateful commenters here. I had learned how to change the filter, strainer, nozzle and electrodes at the beginning of the heating season and it had been working fine. Woke up to a cold house this morning, pushed the reset twice with no luck. Found your video series and figured I may as well watch it while I waited for a call back from the service company, not noted for prompt customer service which is why I had learned to do my own maintenance. Took out the electrodes and they were a tiny bit off, reset them and reinstalled. Hit the button again and voila it started right up. Took me 3 hours to work thru everything and still no call back.. The only problem was that my furnace doesn't have a little door to tell if I have a spark so I don't know how to tell if I have fire. Thank you for posting your videos and helping me stay warm!
Welcome
GFM
Thank you so much for these excellent troubleshooting videos. You explain everything so well, it made the diagnostics very easy. I narrowed down my issue to a clogged spray nozzle, probably caused by a lack of an oil filter in my system. I cleaned it out with some compressed air and it fired up!
I wanted to thank you....you saved my wife and my Dog a very cold night on 15 Dec 2013.....i got it to fire up for the night....wanted to let you know your work and teaching were well worth it to me!!! Thanks GFM from a fellow Gray haired guy!!
Glad you are warm.
GFM
BJ Hill 460v 3 phase 60hz iron fireman proton accelerator, Saquan barkley has it on 30 amp
Nick Chubb deuterium accelerator on 120/240v open why delta 3 phase super heats water for church dishwasher at 210 deg and is on 225 amp 208v phase fusion reactor!
Thank you for this video! 11:15pm at night I hopelessly looked for a video on my boiler and came across this one. Took it apart looked everything over and cleaned anything I saw. Put it all back. Fired it up and works great!
What did you clean it with?
I can't thank you enough, brother... Sitting here in NJ as a foot of snow is beginning to fall, and I notice it getting colder and colder in my house! No panic. A simple cleaning of the gun did the trick! You absolutely saved the day here for me (plus, my wife thinks I am super cool, and can fix anything). Thanks for taking the time to post this stuff! I can't emphasize enough, though, not to push that button too many times! Ask me how I know that one...
Sooo, how do you know?
GFM
Watched a few of these before I got someone who REALLY knew the likely problem and the "I really am trying to help" tutorial, thanks this helped a million
You're the man. This video was so helpful, I had crude up in there and now we're back again! Very clutch for February in Mass. Thumbs up on this video, you made it super clear and my wife is still proud of me for being handy man of the house.
Daniel Bergman Glad you got it going.
GFM
I cant thank you enough. there are hundreds of videos out there. yours are hands down the best. I fixed my non firing issue with ease after your detailed video and saved hundreds. THANK YOU
Welcome
GFM
Thank you so much for posting these videos. As a first time home owner I appreciate having access to knowledge such as this to repair and maintain my house. I am a master Automotive and Truck technician, but I get lost quickly when I am working on things without at least 4 wheels. :) Videos like this help me to adapt my knowledge of automotive systems to home systems so I can fix them. Thanks again!
Great videos! My mom's furnace stopped running. Had to learn about Beckett burners online. Finally found your videos and it made my life so much easier and didnt blow up her house with me in it. Checked everything electrical and checked out ok. Then pulled the gun and it was gummed up very bad. Replaced the nozzle ($5) and it fired and was ok until yesterday. When I was replacing the nozzle, I noticed the electrode tips were at 1/4" apart. At that time I had not watched your video on setting the gap. Now I have to pull the gun again today and do that. Thanks for doing these videos. They are some of the DYI I have seen, period!
Sir although this is 4 years old THANK YOU. These videos just saved me money and im definitely more familiar with the furnace components and its processes! Furnace was down for 2 weeks...just got it working!
You have the best videos by far. Every year I refer to them. I'm dealing with a 50-year-old oil furnace and trying to make it last.
Glad kit helps.
GFM
Its 830pm and 42 degrees out .....This video just saved me.....The parts that spark in the furnace were filthy. Cleaned and fired right up! Followed to a "T" testing each piece and found the issue. Thank You for great video!
Welcome
GFM
I can't thank you enough this is the one that got me through and I got my furnace working again thank you so very much, pay attention people he knows what he's talking about
Thanks so much for the time you spent making these videos. An hour of watching videos and ten minutes fixing. (Besides the time to run to the supply house for a new transformer and Lowe’s for a couple extra fire extinguishers just Incase) much appreciated.
Welcome
GFM
Thank you. I am a female and I was able to use your videos a couple of years ago to troubleshoot my furnace. It was the cad cell!
Welcome
GFM
Thank you! I followed your directions and was able to restart my furnace, 1st try. I didn't see anything wrong, it had spark, the motor spun freely, tank ha plenty of oil, but I bled the fuel line just in case and bam! Started right up! Thanks again! 2nd time you've saved me from paying for a $100 service call.
Welcome
GFM
Thank you so much for doing these you have no idea how much money you have saved me this year in furnace repair
Glad it helped.
GFM
Went to start my Williamson furnace this morning. Nothing! Hit the reset button once...nothing! Watched your video and was prepared to give it a go. Turned the thermostat back to Heat mode and it fired up!!! I had hit the reset button after I had set the thermostat to off. doh!
Very good info and definitely will bookmark this video! Thank You!
Merry Christmas! Came home from working nightshift to a tripped heater safety. Help of your video and an hour of my time got it back up and running! Thanks for saving Christmas!
Merry Christmas
GFM
Thank you . This gave me enough info to troubleshoot and fix my oil burner heater . Dirty electrodes and the injector was caked up with oil residue. Nothing a wire wheel didn't fix.
Thank you for taking the time to make these video. I watched the 3 part series. Ended up having gunk build up on the gun assembly. Now my boiler is working like a charm.
Glad it helped.
GFM
Just fixed my furnace following your guide. Fantastic information. Dirty igniters and the remnants of some unfortunate critter in front of the nozzle. Thanks you very much for a very helpful video guide Sir! And right before a nor'easter tonight. You saved the day.
Glad you got it going. RIP to the critter.
GFM
bradley chubb iron fireman proton accelerator on 460v 3 ph 60hz
You are a life saver. You have the best series that relates to my type of furnace that I have found anywhere. Thank you!
Whoa, glad I watched this video before I tried to fire my boiler after hitting the button an indeterminate number of times.
I picked up the kit for the combustion chamber, about $200 and spent a few hours replacing that. Looked like it needed replacing anyway so no big deal.
My basement filled up with smoke from about 5 buttons pushes while I was troubleshooting after the combustion chamber replacement but it cleared out after a few minutes.
Thanks so much for making this series of videos.
This was actually very good as far as instruction is concerned im just starting out in this industry as far as the technical field ive been in a delivery truck for a while now just got my oil apprentice license and going to school end of next month for propane tank set and piping thank you
Charles Poissonnier Glad it helps.
GFM
Just wanted to thank you for taking time to make a vid.
The electrode test was key, and then letting me realize I hadn’t done the maintenance to the adjustments at the nozzle in longer than I thought…was wondering why it took a bit to ignite and then cut to red light occasionally. 🤤
All good for now, just have to swap out the aquastat in the am so I can get the thermostat and un-rig the circulator :/
Anyway, nice quick info, thnx !
I just wanted to say how grateful I am to you for making this!!!! The systematic troubleshooting steps were awesome. I work in technology where I have to troubleshoot every day. I was so happy to see this video. I live in nh it was so cold yesterday but even colder last night and today it's fixed thanks to you. I had fuel but no spark. I often love when I don't have a easy time with a particular issue at work. Most issues I have to follow all the way to the end. I am thankful in this case I only had to troubleshoot to the ignitor module and they had it at Home Depot!!! I also through this experience realized how to perform cleaning maintenance to the unit. Thank you again so much for taking the time to make this series!!!!! I hope you have a awesome day!!! John K from stoddard NH. Currently -5 without the windchill but 67 degrees in the house!!!!
Your videos are very well done . Easy to follow , pause n work along with . Or just watch n go . I had some knowledge but you've helped me confirm things I may have only been 75% on so thankyou very much . Working now on my neighbor furnace I think he pushed the button a few times . Fingers crossed . It gets fuel but doesn't light . Hopeful we fix it.. cheers to you sir . Thanks again
You're awesome! Thank you so much for these videos. You made the diagnostic and repair very easy. Testing the ignitor for spark is a bit unnerving....thanks again!
I have an old furnace that runs on Kerosene ( my tank is outside ) due to the cold up here in Upstate NY, and my furnace has been sporadic in firing the past month or so. I followed your video and was able to fix it myself. It was the electrodes on the gun that the tips were melted back creating a huge gap. I replaced them as it fired right up. Thank you very much!
+Musicmanzer Welcome
GFM
Musicmanzer
Thanks -- Helped me out of a bind!!! --- Came home to 38 degrees inside after visiting trip @ Christmas. Greatly Appreciated!!!
Thank you for this video. We had the same problem and we we did exactly as you said and got us going when needed most with temperatures below freezing. Very much appreciate this. May God Bless you!!!
Its nice to be warm.
GFM
I enjoyed this and it help mefix my oil furnace. The gun was gunked up with black tar, the previous owner who we bought the house never replaced or cleaned it
We have heat tonight because of your video. Wonderfully explained and easy to follow. Thank you very much!
Welcome
GFM
Thank you very much ! I just finished fixing my heat myself . I watched a couple of your videos after replacing a filter . I turned the power back on and hit the reset button ,burner would not fire . I took the igniter out I had a spare jet laying around from a earlier repair . Sanded the electrodes a little and the points . Reinstalled everything and PRAYED I hadn't hit the reset button to many times . The heat is back on and working . Great how to video !
My prongs were gapped at about 3/8", I adjusted the down to 1/8. Problem solved. Thank you Sir cause it's cold as balls outside
Thank you. This video has helped me restart my boiler several times. It really it quite simple just following your steps.
Welcome
GFM
Great video, woke this AM to a non-firing burner, watched your video, removed the gun and just needed to clean off the end and furnace fired right up.....little flammage coming out the peep hole but I had extinguisher in hand just in case. Thanks again.
Welcome
GFM
I can't thank you enough for this awesome video series! I was able to fix my oil burner issues for
hvymetal86 Good to be warm
GFM
Thanks for the videos. I started with fuel that had some weird hard particulates that got past the filter and clogged the jet, to a replacement jet with a bad thread that didn't tighten down and dumped some raw fuel into the combustion chamber, to an ignitor with a hell-hot spark, but just stopped igniting after 2 or 3 cycles. Anyway, I guess I'm on to the next videos about adjusting the spark gap and checking the spark rods:)
**Warning for other newbies** He's not kidding about extra fuel in the chamber - when mine finally lit, it shook, roared, blew open the inspection port and shot out two feet of flame. Even after I shut it down, there was still flame in the chamber for about a minute.
N Ferraro how many times did you pressed the reset button? How did you get it fixed or did it went to normal after burning the oil that the chamber had?
@@mra9273 Three times, but I think the messed up thread on the jet kept me from tightening it all the way and it dumped some raw fuel when it shut down and right before it re-lit. That, or I pressed it 20 times and forgot about it, because it looked like a jet afterburner coming out of the inspection port.
Thank you very much for making these videos and sharing them with us. I have fixed my furnace and it works great now, thanks to you! Your videos are excellent and very helpful. Peace!
+TerriInBC Welcome
GFM
Thanks...you saved me $100s tonight and my family is thankful to have heat!!
Welcome
GFM
VERY informative. Thank you for explaining things in a way for the novice (me) to understand. I can do mechanical work, I've never had to do burners. Thanks again.
Thought I ran out of oil or something. Took the electrodes out, and sure enough, the spacing is almost a quarter inch apart and the tips are burnt away. Adjusted the tips and started burning again. Thanks a lot!
You fixed my furnace via youtube, well played sir. Thank you for the helpful guide.
Welcome
GFM
Thank you for posting this! Thanks to your video I was able to get my furnace up and running on a cold night! Thanks again!
Same here. Did save some some money replacing the$20 oil filter and $4 nozzle.
When I was little, I was repairing sewing machines, then Japanese cars Toyota, Nissan, and after I invented the boiler, I do it now. :-))
Fog brings back bad memories, cust. pushed the reset , god only knows how many times. Could not remove chamber, lit the chamber with with flaming paper, but first got my fire extinguisher, burned for at least 6 hours, no damages, just time , glad the cust. had widows that opened until the chimney heated to exhaust the odors and smoke. Your thumb nut piece, good advice
That 6 hours has got to be a record. Had them run for 2 hours and turn the smoke pipe red, but never that long.
GFM
Thank you for taking the time to make this video. It helped me fix my burner myself.
Welcome
GFM
Thank you sir for taking the time making this video. I followed these steps and the furnace fired right up
Glad you got it going.
GFM
Thanks to this and another of your videos (and another guy's, too) I was able to overcome a failed control unit to get the furnace running enough for the long July 4 weekend. New controller being installed Tuesday. Thanks so much for the help!
Farrah Fawcetts beckett oil burner fuses 2 protons form hydrogen into carbon and super heats water into a steam Hotsey steamcleaner making nitrogen and gamma rays! she runs on on 208v single phase 60 hz 32 amp singles phase, Bradley Chubb upgraded to 460v 3 phase 60hz for more fusion Iron Fireman proton accelerator and totally eliminate #2 fuel oil?
Nick Chubb runs an Iron Fireman proton accelerator of 120/240v open wye delta with 2 50kva transformers!
Carl Nassib and Baker mayfield 208v powered Beckett proton accelerator heats our church hot water better to 210 deg f better than oil/gas anyday!
kentavius Street says the burner proton accelerator runs on 460v 3 phase 60HZ with 30 amp breaker
Best instructional video on oil furnace ignition problems I've found!!
ryan Ke
We just had the coldest day of the year and our furnace gave out. Every local HVAC shop was busy and couldn't get to us until tomorrow. Luckily I found your videos and was able to fix it myself. Thank you very much!!
Welcome
GFM
Oh my God you are so right. I'm a general contractor but I also own a bunch of multi families in Massachusetts. The problem is people know you can press that red button and it does something and they have no clue what it does. Years ago I had a tenant. That pressed the buttons so many times there was a half a gallon of oil leaking out of the chamber. They had their kid keep pressing the button for almost two hours they thought if it just made noise would heat up the house.😊 Needless to say all my rental properties I open up the aquastat and remove the button. So that way tenants can't press it. So that way only me or a boiler guy knows you can pull the cover off and he can still press it without that button there.
Good idea.
GFM
Well seems i pushed reset way to many times before watching this.
me too
How long did you have to wait before you lit the pilot?
Me too man what the hell
Lol. Same here. What did you end up doing?
I'll admit my ignorance with these things I know absolutely nothing about them in mind stopped working luckily I had a neighbor that you were only supposed to attempt at one or two times and then troubleshoot
Thank you. I watched all parts of your series and was able to repair. Turned out to be a dirty nozzle.
Welcome
GFM
thank you for your wisdom, I am a tech and love the wisdom of.the masters. the small things make a big difference. i.e. loosening both sides of the line.
+sageejumanjee Seems like a no brainer but commonly is not done.
GFM
I missed this one. What was the "loosening both sides of the line" about?
When removing the gun assembly, loosen both fittings on the gun line so you are not bending the tubing of the gun line.
GFM
grayfurnaceman - First, thanks for taking your time to instruct others on fixing our furnaces. Some people need help because they may not financially be able, and others, just getting someone to come out after a cold spell like we're experiencing on the East Coast now, we can't wait days for an appointment. And in others, you just can't trust your service techs. 3 years ago, I had 6 service calls in one week, only because the techs my oil provider was sending was just replacing all parts hoping to fix the problem. We finally went to their office and complained, and after the 3rd call, I was teaching their techs, and the final guy did what I learned online and fixed the problem. We had no problems in those 3 years.Well, last night I awoke to 60 degrees, and knew there was a problem. I went down into my crawl space and opened the front of the furnace. First thing I see is LOTS of soot. I'm guessing there was a blow back or something. I reset the tripped button, but nothing happened. I have a Beckett assembly, and I know from my last encounter, the igniter was bad and my problem then. I tested for spark as you show in a few videos. None. I went to a HVAC supply house, and bought the 51771U. I came home and replaced the unit, except I still don't have spark. I have plenty of fuel. I tested the motor by spinning the cage, and it had proper resistance, but not too tight. The CAD cell is clean, and was clean when I flipped up the housing. I thought maybe soot got on it, but all looks clean. Is there some advice or a video I'm missing to troubleshoot from here?
The soot could be from a partially plugged nozzle or the wrong adjustment of primary air. At this point, you need to deal with the soot. The heat exchanger is probably plugged and probably the smoke pipe and chimney. Big time cleaning job. Once that is done, you will have to address the failure if there is one. Let me know how you do.
GFM
I wish you weren't retired, and lived in Delaware.... LOL You seem like a guy I can hand a blank check to and never worry.I assumed the soot came from when it did spark and had a big POOF. I did let it run a bit longer, but as you advised, to not let it shoot the vaporized fuel too long, but still nothing. My wife finally called a new company today for fear I was going to get blown up. Still waiting for them to show up. Baking pies to keep some heat in the house. Great time for family from Florida to visit. Thanks again. You're the best. I'll post what this guy comes up with.
You saved me a service call I got it working . Thank you so much
Thank you man, you helped me get my furnace going again, middle of the night, Friday, big thumbs up.
Merry Christmas
GFM
This may the strong video to bring this up, here goes. Beckett nozzle lines, they are sometimes over tighten by the former service man, when you snug it up, oil leak city. I got I the habit of checking the flare of the line, if questionable, cheap insurance to replace. Got in the habit of watching your videos when I get home from work, being in Florida no more oil burners for me.
Unfortunately Pat. A hole bunch of them around Tallahassee.
Thank you for the great video series. I pulled the nozzle/electrode assembly on my 1978 HBSmith to find out what size nozzle to buy for replacement and had no fire after I had cleaned some carbon off and put it back together. I didn't think I disturbed anything at all… I was able to check spark systematically, and it turned out the electrodes were ⅜" above the nozzle and that must've been too close to the spray. As soon as I set them to ½" above, it fired back up on the first try.
The advice on pushing the reset button too many times can't be stressed enough, either…
Thank you so much for these videos! My gun wasnt creating a spark. Cleaned it up and fire right back on!!!! Liked and subscribed!
Glad it helped.
GFM
Thanks a lot bro when I learn from your video today will help me a lot just to let you know my furnace is running right now we had to use backup heat last night so many things
Great info. Traced mine down to a weak spark. Replaced transformer from old burner. Good as new.
You sir are awesome for sharing your knowledge and experience with us.
I am so extremely grateful for this video. Very detailed and it helped me.
Thank you so much for these videos. My fuel oil furnace is a bit different but this helped enough to get me going on this 8* morning!
Great video, all the right information I need. I have a 28yr old Miller oil furnace. Usually my problem is air in the lines, easy fix, this time I couldn't get it to kick off. Cycled it about 7 times, a half hour gap in between each, then gave up and called for a repair. Well the next day when the technician lit it off manually, he had a nice surprise when this dragons breath shot out of the hole. Sat him back on his butt and gave him a little startle. He told me how someone he knew had his hair and eyebrows singed getting to close to the inspection flap. Took a good 4 minutes to burn off. I've heard that noise before of built up oil in the chamber finally igniting, so I grabbed the fire extinguisher and went on standby with it. Seems now that the problem wasn't fixed so my next step is gonna be to check out the igniter myself. Thank you for the great information.
Thank you! I was able to fix the furnace and save the day.
100 times thank you
I've a Bock 32E oil fired hot water heater that has been giving me trouble periodically for the past 3-4 years after many years of trouble-free operation.
The first real problem was an elevated hydrocarbon odor when the burner was operating. This was traced to the Turbo Flue being sooted up. I cleaned it out, put a new nozzle on the burner, adjusted the electrodes and it was fine for a few months until the same thing repeated.
Cleaned out the Turbo Flue again, replaced another nozzle ( .75GPH 80A) and it was fine for about a year.
This month, I noticed hydrocarbon odors again, so I opened up the air vent on the burner some more. The next morning, we woke to no hot water. I took apart the burner, replaced nozzle, replaced the oil filter (which was pretty clean) and cleaned the electrodes. It started up immediately when I turned the power on and it was fine for three days.
Then this morning it had tripped the safety again, so I took it apart, having determined no spark. Turned out the electrodes were way out of adjustment, so I cleaned them again and adjusted to Beckett specifications. Put it all back together and it fired right up immediately when I turned the power on.
However, from a cold start, it should normally run at least 15 minutes to get to cutoff temperature, but it shut down about 7-8 minutes into the heating cycle and did so with a fairly unusual "pop" sound. What's strange about this is that the safety did not pop. Nor is it apparent that the motor overload popped. It just shut down abruptly for no apparent reason and none of the safety cutoffs had tripped.
Is there a third safety cutoff device that I am not aware of? I cannot get the burner to power on. I'm wondering if the controller just happened to fail in a manner that would cut power to the electrodes and the motor simultaneously. In 55 years of living with this house and various oil burners over the years, I have never heard one shut down with a loud pop and all of the safety trips are not tripped. Baffling.
My thoughts here are the controller has failed.
This appears to be unrelated to the sooting problems you have described. You probably have the air too far open. You really need combustion tools to set the air. A smoke tester and draft gauge at the least.
GFM
@@grayfurnaceman I made another discovery after really looking over the entire system: the Field Controls Oil Vent Damper was in the closed position. It has to be open before the burner will start. For some reason, it closed while the burner was running about 8 minutes into heating.
I took the motor assembly off the flue damper and disassembled it. There's a circuit board inside and several of the traces had burned up. I repaired those with jumper wires, tested the motor itself (it works) and put it back together and reinstalled it. When I turned on the switch, the damper opened and the burner lit off nicely. Odd coincidence that the damper control failed while I was focused on problems with the burner, but I guess it was just a coincidence!
Well prepared video..it helped me to get a better understanding of how a furnace works. Thanks!
Welcome
GFM
Thank you so much. My issue was alot of built up garbage. Great video 😁👍
Awesome videos, learned so much. I must have mashed that button 10 times before finding this video. Gonna go try it again wish me luck booooooiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis
I found the air ports completely closed. Flame was sparkling. I moved air adjust to what appears to be marks left from the original setting. Set it there, sparkles gone and instead of the burner running for up to ten seconds at times for a flame, it seems it is firing right away. Thank you.
SMV
you are the best teacher....god bless you.
Thanks for the support.
GFM
Man I learned a lot of these digressions and tips from trial and error, wish I would have seen this video first hahaha! Great video =)
I'm still working on my own, the reset on the burner area got wet from a leaking pipe and I think I might have fried or tripped something. I have power to the furnace but still doesn't do anything. Tomorrow I'll figure it out =)
great, helped me with my issue, the connection things needed moved. (i did see a tech do it when he was out for a check up too). mine are metal strips that i can just push up some.
Ive got oil hot water& heat. I just had my furnace serviced due to the lack of fire starting on the 20th. Dude took it all apart, did everything exactly as you describe in the video, put it back together and it fired right up all squeaky clean. He mentioned that it seemed i didnt have a strong spark and i saw it myself, but it started up first time and i was okay with that. On the 24th, again, no fire. Confused as all hell, i set up a space heater in my basement and went off to work without a shower. throughout the day, i was trying to think of reasons why it wouldnt light, and it dawned on me that my rigged up house has at least one outlet on the first floor on the same circuit as my furnace in the basement. That outlet had an Edenpure plugged into it, running. I came home took the Edenpure off that outlet, and hadnt had a problem with the furnace for the rest of the week. Sweet. Made sense to me that the draw on the circuit was dropping my voltage in the furnace. Till 30 minutes ago. I realized it hadnt fired up in a number of hours, and went and turned up my thermo. no response. UGH.
Current thinking: Due to oil prices and inefficiency of my hot water heat, I had 2 space heaters on opposite sides of the house running all day to minimize my furnace having to run. It was a brilliant 2 degrees this morning, so i put in a third space heater elsewhere. The only possible conclusion I'm at is that with 3 space heaters churning in my house, I'm dropping the voltage in my furnace no matter what circuit breaker i'm plugged into.
And i fly out to Greenland in 4 hours, and will be back in 2 weeks...... So hopefully my girlfriend can follow my instructions of having minimal space heaters running to ensure proper fire ignition.
I know it seems logical that space heaters could reduce voltage, but unless you have a seriously undersized electric panel they will not. You probably have a problem with the burner. I would call the service tech back.
GFM
Thanks. You just help me fix our furnace. Junk( old oil?)
build up on the firing pins.
Thank you for much help in the dead of winter in the mountains! Great help...thanks again!
+Marty Kirkpatrick Welcome
GFM
Your video saved me a $300 contract...
Glad I could help.
GFM
What if you’ve already pushed the button a bunch of times before you watch this very intelligent video. Do you need to wait a week until the fuel can evaporate or?
There are 2 ways here. If you have repaired the cause of the failure, You can start the burner and shut it down immediately. It should remain burning the oil in the chamber. This can be dangerous, as the oil will continue to burn and could get out of control. A fire extinguisher readily available is a must. For this worst case scenario to happen, you must have pressed the button over 30 times. If so, you will need to remove and replace the combustion chamber.
GFM
Great video! I understand the button shouldn't pressed too many times but consider this. The furnace didn't start the first time, next you pushed the button to try to get it to start. Now you begin troubleshooting so typically you already have 2 cycles of oil in the furnace. If you are testing for spark, it's still spraying oil into the CC so now there are 3 cycles of oil. I don't really see a way around avoiding 2 or 3 cycles of oil being spraying into the CC minimum. If spark isn't the issue and you continue to troubleshoot...
In most cases, 2 to 3 cycles is not an issue. However, as a service tech, I have heard the " I only pressed it twice" then I fired it up and had a fire. What I generally do is remove the gun and nozzle and point the gun assembly into a can and start the unit.
GFM
Thanks. Your videos are very helpful. Keep up the great work!
Great teacher. I learned a lot from you thank you
Exellent tutorial, appreciate you taking the time to share your knowledge.
Thank you, from one gray guy to another.
Thank you cleaned the system working fine now.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Very helpful videos. Learned alot and saved money too.