Oil Furnace w/Boiler - Question

[Peacock]

We have an ancient oil-fired furnace with a boiler, the kind that heats up the baseboard units. I don't know exactly how old it is, but I highly suspect it's original to the house, which would put it circa 1965. We've found a pretty decent repair company, which apparently only has one guy who knows what he's doing on these critters. He gives it a clean bill of health, now that he's replaced the oil pump and the fiberglass firebox seal. Last year he cleaned it all out for us. FWIW, it's Weil-McLain.

Last year it worked fine, for the most part. This year, several times it's just quit working and we have to hit the "reset" button. Not a big deal usually, but kind of a pain in the middle of the night, and would be a real problem if it happened when we were gone for a long time in very cold weather.

Any ideas? I don't expect anyone to tell me how to fix it myself, just wondered how extensive a repair we might have to budget for.

[uncle Will in In.]

Might be as simple as a dirty filter in the oil line. My old furnace would do what you discribe due to a little water in the filter slowing down the oil flow. It would shut down without enough oil to run the burner, but would start back up after a short while using the reset.

[fordson major]

Borrowing my brother's user name. The number one reason oil burners kick off is the flame sensor is dirty or the blast tube/turbulator is not letting enough light through. I'm assuming it has one and not a stack relay. On an old burner (with a new pump) I'd think about the ignition (cracked electrodes or mis-alained) the transformer could be weak and need replacing too. None of these things cost alot (or they should't) but I'd think $200 would cure the worst problem.

Ross

[Peacock]

Well, that's reassuring. Thanks, I'll give our repair guy a call! For $200 I can fix it. For more than that, I think I'd rather keep getting up to reset it at two a.m. for a while.

[rambler]

Mine typically needs a bit of a cleaning & the electrods (sort of a big spark plug to ignite it) re-adjusted to the proper gap. Every so often it needs a new nozzle as well.

Typically just a tune up, not major engine work, if this were a car.

--->Paul