Furnace in house won't start up after the oil has been refueled. Advice please?
The furnace in the house I am staying at worked fine but needed to be refueled with oil. Once it was refueled it wouldn’t start back up or ‘spark’, and now there is no heat in the house. They said someone will have to come out and look at it when they get the chance which will cost in addition to the refueling price. The main problem is it is suppose to snow in a day or so.
Is there something we can look at maybe a step missed. I know information about the furnace will be needed but not sure what exactly to look for and post all I know is its called the ‘New Yorker’.
Thanks
I don’t wish to be a Popsicle :-)
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17 Answers
Did the oil tank run dry? If so, you probably have air in the line and need to bleed it. It’s a pain and can be very messy.
Yes I believe it did run dry, and just a oil tanker guy filled it up so, if bleed more then likely it should work again? Which will probably be done as soon as possible aside from that is there anything else that could be it if its not that or to look for?
Thanks a bunch.
Does it have a pilot light that went out?
@Judi : I am not sure if it does, how would I check?
Sadly all the ‘mates are out or asleep.
The other problem with it running dry, aside from air in the line, is that the crud at the bottom of the tank could be clogging the line (this is why you should never go below a ¼ of a tank).
I wouldn’t mess with it yourself except, the burner should have a reset button. I would try that once (no more or you’ll risk flooding it).
If that doesn’t work…turn on the oven and get some space heaters.
@cprevite : Yeah i do see the reset button but I am not gonna mess with since i don’t know if they did indeed already. Space heaters have been strategically placed. lol.
@avengerscion is probably right… if your trying to light the pilot, which you usually need to, make sure you push the button in for a long time (like 2 minutes). if theres no electric stater, a small red botton you push in to make a spark, you will have to use a lighter or match.
The line probably needs bleeding if you ran completely out of oil.
This happens to us occasionally, too. The oil company can likely send someone to prime the furnace/bleed the line for you tomorrow.
And if they knew the tank was empty – they should have, they’d know how much it holds and how much they put in – they should have checked this for you. There should be
no extra charge for a second visit. Tell them that.
Did they come in and turn OFF the pilot before pumping? If they did, it was their job to turn it back on, too.
(Long shot.)
Try contacting New Yorker . Our house has a hot water radiator system heated by fuel oil from a 275 gal. tank that runs dry occasionally. In every case the fuel line (from tank to furnace) has to bled of air. Fortunately there’s a fitting at the oil pump for this purpose.
There is no pilot light. Ignition is electrical. As far as I know a pilot light refers only to natural gas systems(?)
Our oil tank ran dry from time to time. The oil company never checked the level or came inside. They pumped 100 gallons and left. The first time it happened, they walked us through the bleeding process and said there would be a charge for them to do it as it is ultimately the occupant’s responsibility to maintain the system. There was a pilot light/reset button that needed to be pushed after bleeding.
there is no pilot light. it starts with electric ignition. your lines have air in them and need bled and primered to get the oil from the tank, up into the lines
hey thanks guys for all the help. We bled the lines and sstarted it back up so i am not a frozen person now thanks so much!
Glad to hear you’ve got heat again!
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