Here are a few oil furnace maintenance tips:
Most of the home oil systems in use today are called pressure burners. In this type of system, oil is sprayed into a combustion chamber at high pressure, propelled by a blower, and ignited by an electric spark.
The oil continues to burn as the mist is sprayed. While there aren't many quick fixes you can undertake yourself on these types of furnaces, good regular maintenance can help eliminate many problems. Here are a few oil furnace maintenance tips:
Oil Furnace Care Guide
From annoying noise to low heat, there are many problems that can strike your oil furnace. Click here for instructions on how to deal with specific issues.
* During the heating season, check the smoke from the chimney. If the smoke is black, the furnace is not burning the oil completely and fuel is being wasted. Call a professional service person for adjustments.
* Clean the blower at the beginning of the heating season and again about midway through the season.
* Clean soot from the stack control about midway through the heating season.
* If the blower motor has grease or oil fittings, lubricate the fittings midway through the heating season with cup grease or 10-weight nondetergent motor oil (not all-purpose oil), available at hardware stores.
* Clean the thermostat before each heating season.
An oil furnace is a complex assembly. The maintenance and repair work for this type of furnace is limited to simple parts: the filters, the blower, the motor belts, the switches, and the thermostat. Electrodes, an oil nozzle, air tubes, a transformer, a pump, and other components require special tools and testing equipment and are best left to a professional for service.
To become familiar with your oil furnace, remove the access panel covering the burner blower by removing the retaining screws around the rim of the housing. You can access the air blower and filter through a metal panel on one side of the furnace. The panel is held by either hooks or retaining bolts; slip the panel up and off the hooks or remove the bolts and lift the panel off. Most furnaces have switches and reset buttons located on the motor or in a switch box outside the furnace housing. These are usually identified with stampings or labels, such as DISCONNECT SWITCH, RESET, and so on. The stack control sensor, a safety device that monitors burner operation, is positioned in the stack and held with a series of retaining bolts.
The oil filter should be changed or cleaned at the start of the heating season and about midway through the season.
Some oil furnaces have two master switches. One is located near the burner unit, and the other is near the furnace housing or even at a distance from the furnace. Make sure these master switches are both turned to the ON position.
There are many problems that can strike your oil furnace go here to read about how to deal with them: (you will have to have a program that reads pdf files such as Adobe reader)
http://home.howstuffworks.com/pdf/how-to鈥?/a>I want to service my oil burning furnace myself other than replacing the filter what other steps should I take
call a reputable company to service it and buy a contract. the last thing you want it for the furnace to take a shiit in the middle of the winter on a friday night and have to call an oil company for emergency repairs... the money you saved on the service is now going to cost you 100x that...
go take a good look at the furnace then go to the phone and call a service man to service and watch him very closely then keep him in mind the next time you need service
might need a new fuel nozzle and the points set.(turn power off to furnace first)..new oil filters and air filters. pop the front off the furnace and vacuum out all the old flake rusty junk. Those are a few of the things I can tell you. There's a number on the old nozzle that you need for buying a new one...local hardware store should have them.
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