On Fri, 13 Feb 2009 22:14:24 -0500, "benick"
wrote:


"Dick Adams" wrote in message
...
I have an oil furnace with an oil hot water heater.
It has shut off 4 times in the last week in spite
of there being over 100 gallons of oil in the tank.
All I've had to do is to click a switch on its
electrical box and it comes back on.

I had this problem for a while. How old is your furnace? In my case,
the control box on my Carrier had an actual mechanical relay (that was
what the red button reset) and I eventually concluded it was the relay
that was the problem. It woudln't stay reset, in fact sometimes the
relay chattered when I pushed the button.. I couldn't find a relay
just like it, with a reset option, a button on top that the red button
pushed, so I was going to use one like it that didn't fit on the
circuit board, and make a new "red button". But before I got around
to doing that, the thing started working again, and it's been about 8
years since then! I can't believe it myself. Every year I'm amazed
that it runs.

I don't know how this helps you, but do you have a mechanical relay
that gets reset when you push the button?

Other than someone hitting the emergency shutoff
switch, what should I be looking for?

Dick

Probably the eye is dirty or the nozzle is plugging up...Have your furnace

Those sound likely too, and getting a pro-cleaning sounds good too.

I watched what he did, 3 or 4 different times, and asked questions,
and eventually found instructions on the web that cost about 2 or 3
dollars to download, and I found a furnace cleaning company that
actually had a parts desk. I buy the new nozzles 4 at a time, so I
won't look like a total non-pro, and because in at least half of
Baltimore, there was no place else that actually sold retail.
Although actually they were very nice to me, and never told me to buy
more than one. I think it was very cold and I had no heat the first
time I was there, so I must have seemed pitiful.

guy come and give it a good cleaning and replace the nozzle...About 70-100
bucks and I bet it will run like a champ again...You can DIY if you have the
know how and an old shop vac that you don't care about..Not that hard

In my case, I ended up buying a new Shop-Vac, because the old small
one I had wouldn't accept fine-particle filters, and the regular
filters aren't recommended for soot. But I was able to do it the
first time without getting the shop-vac dirty, except maybe the inside
of the hose and plastic pipe, but that part looked ok. All the dirt
went in the bag. Almost everyone except Home Depot sells Shop-Vac,
whether they call it that or not. Sears, Lowes, and the best value
seemed to be Pep-Boys which had a big one that was only 10 dollars
more than a smaller one somewhere else. But anytyhing that takes the
fine-particle filters woudl be fine.

Have you watched the pros do it at least once. One time the big pipe
from the furnace to the chimney was practically full of soot. That
was the time the CO detector went off. Of course new furnaces don't
have such big flues, I hear.

depending on make...A breeze with my old American Standard with Beckett
Burner....Good luck....