How To Re-Start An Oil Burner After Running Out Of Oil
By When your oil burner runs out of heating fuel which is usually home heating oil there can be a few things that can go wrong and that will prevent you from starting the oil burner again quickly and easily. It doesn’t matter if you have a Beckett Burner, Carlin or even a Riello oil burner, the steps below will be the same. The only difference is that the oil pump bleed screw and a few other things might be in a slightly different place but the principles to get the burner are still the same.
You off course will want to make sure to get an oil delivery before trying to restart your oil burner again. If you do not have enough money to buy oil, you can always use a few gallons of diesel fuel to get your oil burner running again.The first thing to do is to get an adjustable crescent wrench ready because you will need this wrench to bleed the oil lines free from air. The oil pump and oil lines will become “air locked” because the new full you just put in the tank pushed air into the lines.
Looking at the front of the burner you will want to locate the oil pump on you Burner. On most oil burners like Beckett the oil pump bleed screw will be on the left side of the burner. If you have a Carlin burner it will be more towards the front of the unit. Once you find your oil bleed screw on the burner oil pump you will want to crack the bleed screw loose and then just hand tighten it back up for a moment.
Now is the time that you will want to bleed the air out of the oil lines and to do so you will do the following. Place your wrench on the bleeder screw and hit the oil burner safety reset. Once the burner motor kicks on you will want to open the bleeder screw for a few seconds until all of the air is free from the line. You will first see a rush of air and then a stream of oil. The thing to remember is that in the old days oil burner motors would have a 45 second “lock out” and the new models these days will have a15 second lock out because of the new safety reasons. So when you are bleeding your oil you may need to reset the oil burner more then once to get all of the air free from the lines.
Once you open the oil lines the first time and most of the air comes out the burner may possibly start, it will all depend on how much air is in your oil lines, how far away your oil tank is will also determine how much air or how many times you will have to bleed the burner oil pump. Once all or enough of the air is out your oil burner will ignite and you will have a running burner.
At times you can also run into a problem here and there so here is a couple of common scenarios just in case you do get stuck and can not get the burner re started.
Problem: “I don’t have a oil bleeder screw on my burner, or I just can’t find it”
Solution: Every oil burner including Beckett, and many others all have a bleeder screw on the oil pump, look around the pump more and you should see it.
Problem: “I have bleed the oil burner several times but it still won’t start”
Solution: There could be something else wrong with your unit, You may need to keep troubleshooting.
Problem: “I have not enough money for oil, can I use diesel fuel?”
Solution: Yes, you can use a few gallons of diesel fuel to get your oil burner running, and in fact this is common among most people when they run out of home heating oil.
It is always best to not run out of home heating oil, so that your oil burner does not have to be bleed at all and all of this can be avoided.
Thank you for help. I have been trying to get my beckett oil heater running after my wife frogot to order oil. Your article was great and helped me.
Thanks again.
matt
Thanks for your help! Finding this site was a lifesaver.
i too ran out of oil..i replace it with some deisel and bleed the lines and started the furnace…it fires and after 5-10 sec it stop and no more fire.
i changed the oil filters and the nozzel ..with the same results..not sure why it will light but will not maintain the fire.
i have the same problem any suggestions
Randy, you may have sludge blocking the flow of oil, if it won’t maintain the fire. Turn off the petcock on the oil tank and loosen the line coming out of the filter on the tank. Make sure to have a catch basin to catch the oil. Open the petcock to see if any oil comes out. If it doesn’t you make have sludge in the opening of the bottom of the tank. I had that problem. I had to replace my petcock because I used a wrench on it and ruined it. When I unscrewed the petcock, oil was only trickling out of the hole in the bottom of the tank. I pushed a stick in the hole and whoosh! Here comes the oil!! Best done when tank is empty!!! I screwed in the new petcock and was able to hook everything back up and start the furnace. This is best left to a proffesional. Can you imagine if I couldn’t get the petcock back in? There would be 150 gallons of oil on the floor!!!!!!!!! I did this with only a few gallons of oil in the tank, btw.
We have a Beckett burner with an oil tank approximately 50 feet away. After a cold snap of below freezing temps, I changed the oil filter near the oil tank. The line can be bleed, the furnance fires but when the house cools and it is time to have the heat turn back on, the fuelline is once again full of air. I have bleed the lines several times with the exact same results. Changed the oil filter mechanism with new fittings, gaskets, and filter thinking it might be a leak. Same result. The only thing I can think of is I cannot get the mechanism where the oil filter is attached to bleed at the top by loosening the screw. The tank is almost half full. Any suggestions???
Glad we have wood heat as a backup.
It sounds like you may have not gotten a good enough bleed, but you may also be correct in thinking there is a leak.
Sometimes if you are getting aeration in the oil a Tiger Loop can help.
I would want to be there troubleshooting to say for sure.
Sometimes the gasket or the seal is bad at the filter and lets air in
my carlin ez-pro module is in latch up mode. How do I get it out of that mode so I can continue to bleed my system? My systems is a weil Mclain. It only allowed me to bleed it twice then it locked up. any suggestion would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Tim
I have a leaking tank so I ran it down so I could swap it out. The reset button is flash every 1/2 sec but will not do anything. I have a secondary line with clean fuel but can’t get the burner working to bleed the line.
My motor reset button has tripped 3 times. The system was fine in June because i added more baseboard. All I did was replace the fuel filter. The motor does not sound like it wants to start. could the fuel pump be locked up or the motor bad ? the system is 16 years old. Slant Fin with Beckett burner. Thanks Larry.
Hi !!I bleed my oil heater , off course my oil container is half full, when i do that no oil comes out of bleeder valve !!
What do i need to do ? Please help i can,t afford a tecnician coming over my house!!
Thanks.
I just wanted to thank the writer of this article, it was very helpful and it saved me a lot of time and money.
In response to louis, to force the oil pump to come on, remove the control box on top of the blower/oil pump. Underneath you should see two yellow wire plugs, unplug one of them. Crack open the bleeder valve then hand tighten it to allow a little oil to come out. Start the boiler, press the reset button for 45 seconds or until the boiler kicks on (about 1-1/2 minute), watch the bleeder valve to see if oil starts shooting out. As soon as it does, turn off the boiler, put the plug back, reinstall the box. Before you do all this, turn your thermostat up to about 80 degrees. Good luck
yup my furnace said lock out 15 seconds. I held the reset for 15 seconds several times. So before I disasembled the %#@&@ thing I tried the 45 second thing , as I was holding it in the light went off still holding it in the light came on and the furnace motor kicked on so I bled the line twice and now my toes are no longer cold. Thanks everyone. Have a Merry Christmas !
Hello! Your site has been invaluable to me. I ran out of fuel oil while hubby was working overseas and with your instructions, I was able to restart my furnace. I’ve got bleeding the line down pat. Only one problem. We have a fuel oil water heater as well and but when I tried to do the same thing with the water heater (a beckett as well) the reset button would not push. There isn’t a click or anything when I try. Is there a way to reset the reset button? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
Hi Joann,
Hold the button down for 30 seconds, I think that maybe your problem, On some of these units there is a longer “lock out” reset,
If that doesn’t work, read the following article also on this website, they are also many many comments and tips on the following articles that are related to your situation, You can also post your question there, as many techs and others have been monitoring these pages since 2007 and helping others.
Here is what I recommend for you:
How To Prime A Beckett Oil Burner
The first thing you will want to do before you prime and bleed the Beckett Oil Burner is to make sure that you have enough or or fuel inside of the tank. If there is no fuel or very little in the fuel storage tank, you may have a hard time getting all of the
Locating The Bleed Screw On Beckett Oil Burners
If you are having trouble bleeding your Beckett Oil Burner you should first check out this article: How To Troubleshoot A Beckett Oil Burner Learn how to properly troubleshoot and repair a Beckett oil burner just like a season oil professional. That above article will introduce you to the process of bleeding out your Beckett Oil Burner.
How To Bleed An Oil Burner
There can be many reasons why you will need to bleed the air out of the lines from the oil tank to the oil burner. The most common reason why you will have to bleed an oil burner is because you either ran to low on oil, clogged the lines, or you ran completely out
There are LOTS of helpful comments and tips on the above article,
Let me know if you need anything else.
Joseph
Thanks so much, Joseph! The 30 seconds was the key. It worked like a charm and you’ve made me just that much smarter today!
Hi JoAnn,
That’s great news !! Have a wonderful holiday season!!
Joseph
Hi; I have a beckett, learning about it from reading here, it keeps doing a lock out.
I opened the bleed line and got fuel after turning the thermostat up past 65 with the door
switch all the way forward (the “on” position?) this switch is spring-loaded and with the
door closed the door pushes the switch inward (another “on” position?) I have figured
how to reset the control box from a lock out and with the door closed
and the thermo up past 65 I can here the starter clicking and then the pump turns
on but doesn’t ignite the burner and cuts off after about 15 sec.? Please let me know
now what to do? Thank you
I called a tech and he found the nozzle was clogged with some fuel laying within it. He, I think removed it
and sprayed some cleaner on it and put it back together, something I’m glad I left for a pro ($115.) to do!
Our church has a fuel oil boiler—it stopped working last Sunday, on Monday I determined that the fuel pump was bad and replaced it. Yesterday, I had the boiler burning just fine….got there this afternoon and it would not work again. I have a steady, clean stream of fuel coming from the bleed screw; but no oil will come from the outlet side. This system is a 2 line system that circulates back into the tank….If this was working great yesterday, what’s wrong now? BTW…we do not run the furnace except for days our church has meetings (fuel oil is so expensive). Thanks for your help.
Okay, We ran out of oil and it took a few (3) days to get more (running fine before this), I bled the oil line (as I have done before) and the boiler started up and the burner ignited and all seemed fine. On my way back up the stairs I noticed smoke coming from behind the furnace, have never noticed this before. I immediately shut off the whole thing but now can’t find any other reason for this except that there is debris in the small square hole in chimney, which I will clean out. In December of 2010 we had a technician who cleaned and vacuumed out the whole system so it can’t be too dirty. I also don’t know where to find the air filter if there is one? It is a Beckett burner and a Weil-Mclain furnace, I have searched all over (the internet and the unit) for where it should be but can’t find any access? The furnace is a one family smaller size than I have seen on most of the sites…are there maybe screws I have to undo? Also on one of the water pipes at the bottom left side of the boiler it looks like it may have been leaking but there is no puddle on the floor. It also seems that is was leaking at the release water valve as well. At this time I can’t afford a repair man as my husband and I are out of work so I really would appreciate any help you have!