How to Reset My Oil-Fired Furnace After Running Out of Oil
Have you ever run out of heating oil in your furnace? When this happens, the oil pump on the furnace must be bled to remove the air that gets sucked into the lines. The burner will not light as long as there is air in the system. Bleeding the air out of the oil line is a fairly simple procedure and can be done with just a wrench, small piece of tubing, and a container to catch the heating oil coming out of the bleeder valve on the pump. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Locate the bleeder valve on the oil pump housing of your burner. It is either on the front or side of the burner and looks like the bleeder on your car's brake calipers.
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Select a wrench that fits the bleeder valve and open the bleeder. Turn it back until it is just closed but can still be easily opened by hand.
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3
Slide a section of 1/4-inch tubing onto the bleeder valve and run it into a container. A bucket, soda bottle or old can works well for this.
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4
Locate the burner reset button on the control box of the burner. It will be in plain sight and is normally red. It will be marked so you can easily find it.
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Open the bleeder valve about 1/4 turn. Depress the reset button until the pump starts to run. Air and fuel oil will flow out of the tubing and into the container. You will see a lot of air and fuel oil mixed at first coming from the tube.
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Continue letting the fuel oil come out until you see it turn to a solid stream of oil with no air. Close the bleeder valve and the burner should start.
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Tips & Warnings
Older burners used to run for 45 seconds when the reset was pressed but with safety concerns, newer burners will only run about 15 seconds before requiring you to press the reset a second or even third time.
Do not attempt to bleed the burner unless you have added more fuel to the tank or you will make the situation worse by drawing more air into the system.
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Comments
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gpickles
Aug 18, 2010
Instead of tubing and a can, you can use a plastic water bottle (24 ounce is a good size). The small neck fits right over the bleeder valve to contain any spraying and prevent splashing, and the bottle makes it easy to pour the oil back into the tank opening when finished.
